Halloween can pick up Our Economy

Alyssa Van Altena

Mr. Reuter

Economics

25 October, 2014

Halloween Can Pick Up Our Economy

Halloween is one of those holiday’s that you either love or hate, but no matter your opinion it has a great impact on the economy, halloween is expected to bring in $7.4 billion this year and has brought in billions each year in the past. We can assume that those who have embraced it, have spent thousands on it, just for the thrill of one night. Every year stores fill their shelves with some of the best candy, funny and scary costumes, along with every type of decoration you could possible think of.

We know that stores usually have a massive supply of anything halloween but they know that the demand is always going to be high. The last couple of years spending has been down, because of the economy, but this year will be different. As finally consumers are saying that the economy is not going to impact their spending. This year only 19% of consumers say that the economy will affect their halloween plans, compared to last years 25%, which is the least since 2009.

Costume sales are a major aspect of halloween, and make up 40% of the total sales. Everyone is getting costumes, from adults to children, even to animals. It is expected that retailers will bring in $1.4 million from adult costumes and $1 million from childrens costumes. This year 75 million adults are planning on dressing up, while 14% say they will dress up their pets, with a total of $350 million in sales of just pet costumes. Half of the people buying costumes will purchase them at stores such as Walmart and KMart. These stores thrive on providing cheap, yet popular costumes in order to satisfy their many different customers. Also one third of the people purchasing costumes will visit popular halloween stores such as Party City. Each and every retailer wanting to sell their halloween items have the goal of catching the “shoppers' eyes with fun and festive spots promoting costumes, candy and savings” (Rodriguez). Many of you will admit that you have tempted before by these retailers techniques.

Candy sales are yet another huge aspect of halloween for retailers, as 41 million trick or treaters are expected each year between the ages of 5 and 14. Not only do retailers have to sell the candy, it has to be produced by large companies such as Nestle. This is huge as they anticipate large earnings and make more and more product each year. Since there is high demand, businesses are willing to supply more of the candy, but they must still keep the equilibrium price fairly level as they know that they will lose business if they raise the price too high.

Other attractions of Halloween are haunted houses and pumpkins. Each year haunted houses bring in $400 million to $500 million in ticket sales. The owners of these haunted houses spend at total of $50 million on supplies, the money is then being put back into the economy through them. If you don’t like the scary side of halloween you are probably the pumpkin kind of person. On a goodyear pumpkins can bring in about $113 million into the economy. This can be a difference maker for many farms that thrive on these kind of sales.

Halloween parties are yet another major impact on the halloween economy, because those who throw these parties go all out from the decorations to the food and beverages. To them halloween is the best time of the year and are constantly planning and thinking of ways to make their party one of the best and beat last years. I know one of these families, and over the years they have filled their basement with endless boxes of decorations. They decorate their garage excessively, just for one night every year when they host a party. This year they are even building a temporary extension onto their garage, so it can hold more people and of course food! For them the benefits always outway the cost, making the opportunity cost of Halloween positive and anything halloween is always inelastic.

The economy is coming up and people are willing to spend the money on things such as specialty chocolates, which in return is helping the small businesses, which is talked about in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki4Na64f5nI

In the end halloween lifts our economy, by getting money into it, so even if you don’t like the holiday, it is still a huge aspect in restoring the economy. You can also take into account the fact that the average person is planning on spending $77.52 on halloween, so we can also see that more money is in consumers hands and that the economy is on its way up.

Works Cited

"Discount Halloween Costumes from SPooKY HaLLoW - Www.CostumeHunters.com."Halloween Costumes Buy Discount: Costume Hunters. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

"Economic Impact of Halloween on Businesses." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

Fottrell, Quentin. "How Halloween Candy Explains the Economy." MarketWatch. MarketWatch, Inc., 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

"Halloween 2013 By The Numbers: A $7.6 Billion Treat." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

"MetamorFit." MetamorFit. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

Mont, Joe. "Halloween Tricks Bring Economic Treats." The Street. The Street, Inc., 07 Oct. 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

Petrecca, Laura. "Halloween to Scare up Big Bucks for Retailers." USA Today. Gannett, 19 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

Rodriguez, Ashley. "Halloween Shoppers Will Buy More Costumes Than Ever in 2014." Advertising Age CMO Strategy RSS. Advertising Age, 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

"The Real Cost, and Value, of Halloween Is More Than $10 Billion." 247wallst.com. 24/7 Wall St., 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

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