8 Scary Good Ideas for Increasing Halloween Sales

Companies spend about $60 billion annually on in-store displays and shopper marketing (source: Path to Purchase Institute). Through photo/video verification and other means, mobile audits ensure vendors’ displays are properly executed during critical shopping events like Halloween.  

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2. See prices as customers see them

Fear is a natural part of Halloween, especially for vendors who worry their products may be incorrectly priced in stores. Mobile audits have price-checking capabilities, and can even provide photo proof to calm your fears. To illustrate, we had 300 agents determine the per-ounce price of candy corn (overall average = $0.15) as well as a popular Halloween candy mix ($0.19). The mass merchandisers in the study, however, sold the candies at $0.11 and $0.14, respectively.      

Did you know there are actually 2 Halloween shopping seasons?

 

 

 

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3. Monitor on-shelf availability

The 3 scariest words in retail: out-of-stock. Shoppers are primed and ready to buy, but your products are MIA. RIS News reports companies lose a staggering $93 billion a year to out-of-stocks. Thankfully, with mobile audits, out-of-stocks can’t hide this Halloween. 

 

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4. Ensure modular/planogram compliance

Are your brands correctly placed on store shelves? Is your modular positioning inferior or superior to your competitors' products? Mobile audits furnish photos and videos so companies can see store shelves anywhere their products are sold. 

 

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5. Collect competitive intelligence

Stay aware of your competitor’s every move. Our agents are standing by this Halloween to supply you with information on competing products as well as their prices and in-store promotions. As part of our 300-store audit, agents calculated how long it took, on average, Halloween shoppers to find the candy aisles of eight retail chains. One drug store chain came in at 26 seconds, while its fiercest competitor averaged 38 seconds.

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6. Acquire in-the-moment consumer insights

What’s really going on in the minds of Halloween shoppers? With mobile research, consumer attitudes and behaviors are always close at-hand. For instance, while our agents were shopping eight different retail chains, we asked them whether the Halloween-themed packages and displays in their assigned store made them more or less likely to buy candy there. Combined, 56% responded either “much more likely” or “a little more likely.”    

Check Out “3 Monster Insights on Halloween Shoppers"

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7. Actually shop-along with customers

Smartphones, with their high-quality video and audio-recording capabilities, make it possible to shop right alongside customers. As shoppers hit stores to purchase Halloween merchandise this year, why not go with them? Mobile shop-alongs give you access to consumer behaviors and thoughts at the most critical moment: as they're shopping.  

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8. Seek shopper suggestions

Mobile research is also the quick and easy way to collect suggestions and feedback from customers. For instance, we asked 300 agents to tell us what retailers might do to better serve Halloween shoppers.

As an agent from Atlanta, Georgia suggested to one store, “They need to move the [Halloween candy] aisle to a prominent location, one where it's not blocked. It needs proper signage and a whole makeover.”

Or maybe you prefer video and/or audio of customer suggestions and feedback? We can do that, too. 

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Dominate the Halloween Scene

Mobile audits and research from Field Agent help vendors, retailers, and agencies better serve customers, refine in-store executions, and outperform competitors. Through the powerful combination of crowdsourcing and mobile technology, Field Agent offers fast, affordable, and accurate auditing and research solutions.

This year, why not dominate the Halloween retail scene? 

 

Consumer Study: The Top 13 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Halloween Candy Shoppers In Stores And At Home from Field Agent