According to the Georgia Retail Association (GRA), the average Georgian will spend roughly $83 on Halloween candy, decorations, and costumes for a nationwide total of $8.4 billion.
“More families are making a bigger deal out of Halloween each year, with consistent increases in per consumer spending, which should make for frighteningly good sales figures for retailers this month,” said GRA President and CEO Randy Miller.
“Savvy Georgia retailers will utilize sales and discounts on top of the increased consumer interest to help spur even more sales and separate themselves from their competitors."
The total amount spent on the holiday in Georgia in 2015 was $74 on average per person. GRA Communications Director, James Miller, believes the high total is a great sign.
"This shows that the economy is doing well, people are feeling better about their personal finances and they are willing spend a little more on the holiday this year," he said.
"People are feeling more and more confident about their finances. 83 dollars is extremely high. This was really shocking to us because 74 dollars last year was an all time high then it jumped almost 10 dollars in one year, which is almost unheard of," Miller said.
"It shows people are feeling good and people are going to spend larger amounts of money on candy, decorations and costumes which is a great thing for local retailers."
According to GRA’s partners at the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, more than 171 million Americans planning to partake in Halloween festivities this year.
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend $3.1 billion on costumes (purchased by 67 percent of Halloween shoppers), $2.5 billion on candy (94.3 percent), $2.4 billion on decorations (70 percent) and $390 million on greeting cards (35.4 percent).
When it comes to preparation:
- 71 percent of consumers plan to hand out candy
- 49 percent will decorate their home or yard
- 47 percent will dress in costume
- 46 percent will carve a pumpkin
- 34 percent will throw or attend a party
- 30 percent will take their children trick-or-treating
- 21 percent will visit a haunted house
- 16 percent will dress their pet(s) in costume
The survey asked 6,791 consumers about Halloween shopping plans. It was conducted September 6-13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
