Halloween in C-Stores

We look at how Halloween confectionery and other themed items perform in UK convenience stores.
Halloween 2021 How does Halloween perform in C-Stores?

In the UK it used to be that Bonfire Night was a more prominent celebration than Halloween but this seems to be changing, perhaps influenced by social media. The tradition of dressing up and visiting door to door has long existed in the UK – it was traditionally called guising in Scotland and Ireland. Pumpkin carving in the US probably originated in these areas with turnip lantern carving when immigrants couldn’t find turnips and resorted to pumpkins instead.

Trick or treating it seems, prompts the purchase of confectionery, and this is reflected in a rise in the average basket spend for stores for Halloween week (£8.60 vs £8.08 the previous week) in 2020.

Halloween Average Basket Spend Per Store (all products)

Though the average spend increases, this isn’t necessarily all based on Halloween specific items. There were 54 ‘Halloween specific’ confectionery barcodes sold, but none featured in the top selling barcodes when looking at all confectionery barcodes.

We counted 563 ‘Halloween’ barcodes sold between the 19th Oct and 8th Nov 2020, including:

957 pumpkins

404 toffee apples

351 witches’ hats

258 Halloween make-up sets

And Halloween isn’t all about confectionery – Let’s not forget the spooktacular costumes and party decorations! A quarter of all sales from ‘Halloween specific’ barcodes were for non-food items such as costumes, decorations, make-up, toys and tableware.

Top 5 Halloween
barcodes

BarcodeProductShare of sales
5027342001316Brothers toffee apple cider26%
5000221604655Cadbury Mini Bonfire Logs8%
5000221505228Kipling Toffee Terror Whirls7%
5000221501053Mr Kipling Fiendish Fancies7%
505552407727Scary Carving Pumpkin5%

Top 10 Confectionary Barcodes 19th Oct - 8th Nov 2020

Barcode Product
76222104497383 Cadbury Dairy Milk 95g PMP 100
7613039869048 Nestle Aero Peppermint block 90g
5012035962401 Haribo Tangfastics Bag 160g pmp100
5000159501745 Galaxy milk chocolate block 110g pmp100
40099361 WrigleysExtra Peppermint sugar free chewing gum 14g
40084107 Kinder Surprise Egg 20g
7622210654175 Maynards Bassetts Wine Gums 165g pmp100
5020379153959 Happy Shopper Raisins Chocolate bitesize 100g pmp89 2 for £1.50
5010478468917 Swizzles Drumstick Squashies Original Raspberry & milk gums 145g pmp100
5000159503631 Maltesers Treat Bag Chocolate Bitesize 68g pmp100

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