Though witches, ghosts, and vampires will be out in full force this Halloween, the good guys will prevail, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF 2004 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch for NRF, found that Spiderman will be the most popular Halloween costume for kids this year, with 2.15 million children planning to dress as their favorite superhero on October 31. Other popular costumes this year will include princesses (1.8 million children), witches (1.3 million) and vampires (899,000).
"With the popularity of Spiderman for Halloween this year, it's easy to see how frequently children take cues from pop culture," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. "For retailers, identifying and ordering the most popular costumes months in advance can be the real trick to a successful Halloween."
Survey results indicate that 54.1 percent of consumers plan to buy a costume for Halloween this year. Those purchasing costumes will spend an average of $28.11. With an estimated $3.12 billion to be spent on the holiday, Halloween ranks as the sixth-largest spending holiday of the year.
| Top Halloween
Costumes for Kids, 2004 |
| |
Rank |
Percent
|
# of Children |
| Spiderman |
1 |
8.4% |
2,150,116
|
| Princess |
2 |
7.2% |
1,837,372
|
| Witch |
3 |
5.0% |
1,290,069
|
| Vampire |
4 |
3.5% |
899,139 |
| Monster |
5 |
3.2% |
820,953 |
| SpongeBob |
6 |
2.9% |
742,767 |
| Ninja |
7 |
2.6% |
664,581 |
| Athlete (Football, Baseball,
etc.) |
8 |
2.1% |
547,302 |
| Ghost |
9 |
2.1% |
547,302 |
| Power Rangers |
10 |
2.1% |
547,302 |
| Angel |
11 |
1.7% |
430,023 |
| Pumpkin |
12 |
1.5% |
390,930 |
| Batman |
13 |
1.4% |
351,837 |
| Yu Gi Oh |
14 |
1.4% |
351,837 |
| Pop Star |
15 |
1.2% |
312,744 |
| Barbie |
16 |
1.1% |
273,651 |
| Harry Potter Character |
17 |
1.1% |
273,651 |
| Pirate |
18 |
1.1% |
273,651 |
| Clown |
19 |
0.9% |
234,558 |
| Firefighter |
20 |
0.9% |
234,558 |
About the Survey
The NRF 2004 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to Halloween. The survey, which polled 7,680 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from August 31 â€" September 8, 2004. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.
BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch's syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.
The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet and independent stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 23 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2003 sales of $3.8 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations.
