Stores vie for Halloween bonanza but growth ‘unlikely to continue’

The grocers are all devoting more space to it this year, while the value retailers are also upping their game. Tesco is expecting sales to top £50m this year, while Sainsbury’s said its Halloween sales should be up 50% on last year and Asda said sales were growing 12% year on year.

Poundland and 99p Stores are stocking more Halloween items than ever before. 99p Stores said it was extending its lines after a 28% rise in Halloween sales last year.

Tesco UK marketing director Carolyn Bradley said as Halloween falls on a Sunday, “customers will be looking to celebrate at the weekend”, and its research had shown more adults were getting involved as well as children. She said Halloween was the third biggest event in the retail calendar, bigger than Mother’s and Father’s Day combined.

Tesco has started selling an exclusive DVD through its partnership with DreamWorks called Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space. Asda is harnessing its links with parent Walmart - as Halloween is huge in the US - and claims it has 46% market share in the Halloween products, making it the top retailer for Halloween for the past four years. A spokeswoman said: “We intend to be again this year.”

Verdict consulting director Neil Saunders said the past five years had seen “an explosion in the amount of products sold and the number of retailers getting involved” in Halloween.

But he warned: “It’s unlikely the boom we’ve seen will be sustained,” and that growth would start to “slow down”.