4 tips for Halloween sales

The Lempert Report
October 28, 2014

Have some fun with Holiday Shoppers

With Halloween just days away, the holiday season is upon us, so why not enjoy the season and let shoppers experience a fun side to your stores! 

We all know that holiday shopping can be stressful. Lists grow longer, time to shop gets shorter and millions of households feel the need to save money.  So, in our opinion, retailers need to give them reasons to spend at full price, or close to it.  We feel that family fun is a great way to put people in a position to buy.

With Halloween for example, autumn weather remains mild enough for retailers to consider setting up a haunted tunnel outside the store. Maybe a 50 cents kid’s admission to a haunted tunnel could go towards a known local charitable cause – and each kid could get a bottle of store-brand water at the end.  

Play up other fun aspects of Halloween too – possibly with a bouncy house, face-painting and pumpkin-carving stations.  And put holiday goods at the forefront. Set up a stand where people could pay for pumpkins, candles, carving tools and decorations, as well as candy- and caramel-apples, cider, candy, corn and other seasonal treats. Halloween is no longer just a candy and treat holiday, since more families get together these days to host parties where kids stay safe and don’t have to trick or treat. Why not let multiple departments share in the fun of meeting these increased food needs creatively?

Also, the holidays are a great time for retailers who purchase from local farms to also help brand them. Halloween really kicks of the autumn season where everyone has their eye on pumpkin pies, apple pies, why not advertise local farms and have local farmhands in your produce department helping people pick all the seasonal goods.

Efforts like these will appeal broadly to fun-loving shoppers. The holiday season is fun, but too often it’s the shopping that makes is stressful. Time for supermarkets to help turn this feeling around.