Should small businesses cash in on Halloween?

Halloween rears its spooky head every year, and Australian feelings are mixed. Halloween is an American cultural export, where costumed kids take the streets searching for lollies, and adults either hand out treats at the door or attend dress-up parties with varying degrees of effort. 

Regardless of what Aussies think, however, data shows that consumers regularly splurge during the spooky season, cementing that Halloween is here to stay.

In fact, Aussie consumers will confidently spend during seasonal events even without a cultural connection. It wasn’t long ago that shoppers observed Black Friday with caution; now, every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Aussies rush to get a bargain.

This begs the question: should small businesses cash in on the holidays?

Spooky Season

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Roy Morgan, and the Australian Retailers Association confirmed that Aussies love to spend during seasonal events. This year, the retail industry has been forecasted to earn $450 million for Halloween.

Although down from last year’s forecast of $490 million, this is still a significant amount of spending. As a small business, it could be worth considering the sale opportunities during Halloween 2024.

The season to sell

Using seasonal events to your advantage to drum up sales and improve your small business comes down to planning. Knowing your product and your industry will give you an idea of how to market and prepare for the lead-up and day of a relevant calendar event.

As a small business owner, what you sell is your bread and butter. For some calendar events, it can be easy. For instance, if you sell confectionery, you shouldn’t have trouble creating a theme around your product to get parents to stock up for trick-or-treating this Halloween. If you run a bakery, bake for the occasion and add a theme to your pastries and cakes.

You may need to get creative if your product or service is less relevant. Avoid shoehorning your product and investing resources when calendar events don’t make sense for your small business. Would a plumber use ANZAC day to advertise their services? No. Don’t always get caught up in the hype; the last thing you want to do is damage your reputation and lose customers trying to cash in on the holidays. 

Industry advantage 

As a small business owner, you need to be aware of calendar events and, in a broader sense, how your business performs during certain periods of the year. Having data on how your business has performed in the past is essential so that you can accurately forecast your own resource investment in key areas:

• Payroll
• Inventory
• Operating hours
• Marketing & advertising

As we move into the holiday season, Aussies are projected to spend 69.7 billion in the lead-up to Christmas and 6.7 billion for Black Friday.

It also matters what industry your small business operates in, as it will determine your commitment to certain calendar events. The retail sector, for instance, has shown steady growth this year from 2023 previously. 

With the upward trend in the economy, it is important to take advantage of consumer spending habits when you can. Predominately, the industries that benefit from Halloween are:

• Food
• Clothing 
• Home and cosmetic 

The data shows this; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative and create your own sales opportunities. Remember that you should only commit to calendar events if they make sense for your brand, product, or service. Whether it’s for Halloween, Easter, or Christmas, there are plenty of ways to keep your business growing throughout the year. Whether you have an established business or trying something new, having dedicated cloud accounting software could help you track your business performance and identify which trends are worth it.