Well despite the national tragedy and concerns about safety, it seems that consumers still want children to have a happy Halloween. Consumers will spend about $6.9 billion, or an average of $45 per household, in Halloween candy, costumes and decorations, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Of that $6.9 billion, about $2 billion will be spent on candy, $1.5 billion on costumes, and $2.7 billion on greeting cards, pumpkins, party supplies and other products. The remainder will be in Halloween decorations. Last year, Halloween decor alone generated $756 million, making it the fastest-growing category in the seasonal decorations segment, second only to Christmas, said NRF officials.
Now on to Christmas.
Online holiday shopping is expected to increase his year. Holiday shoppers are expected to spend about $11 billion this year, up about 10 percent from 2000, according to Forrester Research. Worldwide, online holiday sales are expected to reach $25.3 billion, according to GartnerG2, a unit of research firm Gartner. Consumers concerned about travel after the Sept. 11 attacks will turn to online gift-giving instead of visiting family, said Forrester analysts. The research firm also expects about 6 million more households to start shopping online this holiday season. The relative ease with which urgently needed charitable donations were made via the Web after Sept. 11 undoubtedly will encourage those donors new to e-commerce to return for holiday shopping, said Forrester analysts.
I expect retail sales to be slightly down this year, but not as much as previously expected. Retail traffic in brick and mortar stores may be down, but the slack will be picked up by new online shoppers and increase shopping online.
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