Australian retailers tap Halloween spending as displays grow

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Australian retailers tap Halloween spending

Highlights

Australians are projected to spend more than $500 million on Halloween in 2023, according to the National Retail Association and Roy Morgan.
Retailers report year-on-year growth in Halloween participation and sales, driven by broader household engagement and advanced decoration products.
Businesses leverage Halloween momentum to stimulate end-of-year spending, aiming to capture demand early despite ongoing consumer financial pressure.

Gold Coast displays build community engagement

As reported by ABC News, Halloween is becoming a bigger fixture in Australian households, with elaborate home displays drawing neighbourhood crowds and encouraging more participation from residents.

Gold Coast resident Zoe McKavanagh, who lives with autism, has spent the past six years building a collection of pumpkins, spiders and skulls for Halloween. She says the occasion makes people happy and creates a way to share something with the wider community, not just family and friends.

Her mother and full-time carer, Colleen Millard, says that change is especially visible when trick-or-treaters arrive. In the early years, McKavanagh helped create the displays but stayed inside once visitors came; now she remains outside and speaks with people on her own, a shift Millard describes as a major step forward.

Another Gold Coast display creator, Ian Kane, says he has expanded his annual setup by applying skills from his work as a DJ and lighting technician. His front-yard installation includes smoke machines, lasers, lights, motion sensors and pneumatic effects, reflecting how Halloween displays are becoming more complex and more costly to produce.

Seasonal demand supports retail sales

Griffith University business analyst and retail expert Graeme Hughes says consumer spending on Halloween has risen year-on-year over the past decade, turning the event into a meaningful retail moment. Research from the National Retail Association and Roy Morgan predicts Australians will spend more than $500 million on Halloween this year.

Hughes says few consumers marked the occasion 10 years ago, but participation has broadened significantly as retailers promote the event to households across age groups. He adds that once spending begins, businesses move quickly to build momentum and extend that activity into the wider end-of-year shopping cycle.

More advanced decorations featuring electronics and movement sensors are also lifting the value of purchases. Hughes says retailers see Halloween as an important signal for seasonal spending, particularly as they try to capture demand ahead of Christmas even while consumers remain under financial pressure.

Our earlier article on rising U.S. toy prices ahead of the holiday shopping season explained how tariffs, higher energy-linked input costs, and shipping disruptions have pushed shelf prices up faster than many other consumer categories. It also noted that manufacturers have faced margin pressure, while the lingering effects of earlier tariff regimes and elevated logistics costs can keep prices higher for longer as households plan end-of-year purchases.

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