Let’s face it: We’re all still kids when it comes to Halloween, sneaking candy from the handout bowl or swiping a treat or two from the kids’ booty – in fact, 83% admit to doing so. An NCA survey found about 80% of American consumers sneak chocolate or other candy while satisfying trick-or-treaters.
The National Retail Federation’s annual survey found Americans plan to spend $13.1 billion on Halloween this year, spending $3.9 billion on candy alone.
The most popular thing to hand out at Halloween is chocolate, the NCA survey found, with 94% of the 1,000 people queried saying that’s what they do.
“Halloween candy is evolving beyond classic chocolate bars and candy corn this year,” Deidre Popovich, associate professor of marketing at Texas Tech University, told The Food Institute. “One trend to watch for is flavor innovation and limited time offerings, since consumers crave novelty and social-media worthy sharable excitement.
“There may be more ‘mystery flavors’ as well as flavor mashups, such as sweet-spicy chocolates, caramel apple gummies, pumpkin pie flavor, and premium chocolates for adult ‘splurge’ treats.”
A second trend to watch for, Popovich noted, is related to ‘permissible indulgence.’ This consists of better-for-you options with lower sugar and plant-based ingredients (e.g., stevia). A third trend is sustainability, so expect brands to offer more eco-friendly packaging and ‘fair-trade’ chocolate.
And don’t forget the glow-in-the-dark wrappers and DIY treat kits, the marketing expert added.
When it comes to eating candy corn, NCA respondents were split on the best way to eat it: 58% said all at once; 28% said they start at the white end, and 15% said they start with the yellow.
Candy Inflation Creeps In
Americans favorite Halloween treats are chocolates, followed by gummy candy, hard candy and lollipops, and the best time to eat candy is while handing it out to trick-or treaters. Other popular times were while decorating the house, at a party or going trick-or-treating themselves.
According to research by Instacart, the most popular candy types on its platform in October 2024 were Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, followed by Peanut M&M’s and original M&M’s, respectively.
Trax took the data from a Shopkick survey of 6,000 people and examined the economic side of Halloween.
Approximately 86% of survey respondents said they’ve noticed candy prices are higher this year than last.
Meanwhile, 83% of consumers said they planned to spend less than $100 this year on candy, decorations and costumes. Of that group, 79% said they’re cutting back on their total purchase compared with last year.
About 69% of consumers said their budget is less than $20 for candy, 41% said they nabbed their supplies while they were on sale earlier in the year, and 41% said they don’t look for healthier alternatives.
Those who are interested in healthier brands gravitate toward SkinnyDipped Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (24%), BarkTHINS (19%), TruFru (18%), unreal Chocolate (18%) and SmartSweets Low-Sugar Gummies (15%), the Shopkick survey found.
