This article was originally published in the special Halloween issue of The Mobile Connection digital magazine. Download the entire publication for free (no email required), to receive additional articles and insights on Halloween shoppers.
As shoppers hit stores to make ready for Halloween 2016, many questions surface: Where do they expect to purchase all those candy bars, suckers, and other trick-or-treats? Where will they buy costumes for their little ghouls and goblins? And what candy brands will they distribute as trick-or-treaters make their rounds?
Mobile research firm Field Agent recently posed these questions, and many others, to 668 households across the country. Below we identify the preferred retail channels and candy brands of Halloween shoppers.
Field Agent asked hundreds of households where they expect to buy their Halloween treats and costumes this year. As you can see below, shoppers don’t necessarily patronize the same retail channels for treats and costumes.
Consider this: 81% said they will most likely purchase Halloween candy from mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target. Yet just half (51%) predicted they’ll visit a big box store for their kids’ Halloween costumes.
Halloween specialty stores (36%) and online-only retailers (e.g., Amazon; 31%) were much more prevalent for costume purchases than candy purchases. Only a meager 3% of households expect to buy their treats from online-only retailers, party supply stores, and Halloween specialty stores this year.
There’ll of course be no shortage of choices as millions of shoppers converge on stores in search of Halloween treats.
What'll it be? Kit-Kats or M&Ms? Sweetarts or Twizzlers?
Field Agent paired several popular chocolate and non-chocolate candy brands against one another in a head-to-head competition. The company queried over 600 households, asking them to identify the one brand they’re most likely to distribute to trick-or-treaters in 2016.
The overall winners? Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (27%) won the chocolate category, while Skittles (35%) bested its competitors in the non-chocolate category.
The special Halloween issue of Field Agent's free digital magazine, The Mobile Connection, contains a vast assortment of articles and insights on Halloween shoppers. Feature articles include:
Download the magazine (no email required) now to better understand the 2016 Halloween scene.