Chills & Thrills: Halloween Candy Prices Have Increased Compared to Past Years, Retailers Biggest Challenges for Halloween
It’s that time of year… Halloween! In the U.S., Halloween is a popular holiday celebrated by many. Whether it’s trick-or-treating on the night of Halloween (or sometimes before), indulging in the many treats and goodies of Halloween, or the chills of going to a haunted house with friends, many are looking forward to this upcoming holiday, on Monday October 31st.
Prices on Halloween Candy Have Seen Increases This Year
Prices on Halloween candy have been a bit more spendy this year, compared to last year. Specifically, candy prices were up 13.1% compared to last year, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Additionally, the National Retail Federation reported Americans spent more than $10 billion on Halloween goods last year, $3 billion of that on candy alone.
The main reason for this is expensive sugar.
Drought has hurt beet-sugar crops in the northern states, which has caused U.S. refined sugar prices to soar this year. Chocolate has also been hit by inflation in the past few months, again, because of the higher costs for chocolate makers, plus the supply chain challenges and world events overseas have impacted the cocoa markets.
How much do consumers plan to spend on Halloween this year? The National Retail Federation is predicting that the number of consumers participating in Halloween-related activities is set to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Additionally, this year U.S. consumers are expected to spend an all-time high of $10.6 billion on the Halloween season, which would be an increase of about half a billion dollars, Bake Mag reports.
Retailers Biggest Challenges
The biggest challenge for retailers during the holidays, especially Halloween, is getting the correct amount of inventory to the correct locations when demand is at its peak and ‘not a moment after.’ Every one knows as soon as you walk into a store the day after Halloween, you’ll get all that candy at a pretty nice discount. Just more reason for retailers to accurately plan ahead.
Kristen Howell, Global Vice President of Retail Industry at SAP discussed the importance of making sure you plan out your inventory management and allocation extremely well, as seasonal products have a much shorter shelf life at full price.
“To take advantage of Halloween’s tremendous, yet relatively short demand spike, retailers are using intelligence from connected data that helps calculate not just the number of products, but also assortment allocations based on local demands,” Howell says.
For retailers, trying to have a real-time visibility of accurate levels of stock availability across channels –is essential for achieving a high level of speed and accuracy in fulfilling execution.
Looking Ahead
InterlogUSA wishes everyone a happy and safe Halloween!
Should you have any questions regarding this and how it could impact your shipments, please reach out to our team today. Additionally, we have our weekly market updates that can provide you with relevant freight news, updates, developments across the industry, and more.