The goblins and gremlins mucking up the U.S. economy are not likely to bedevil Halloween sales this year, supermarket operators told SN.
"Halloween continues to be a strong dollar holiday for us," Ron Taylor, vice president, marketing and procurement, Hy-Vee, Des Moines, Iowa, said. "In fact, Halloween is getting up there behind Christmas in terms of total sales."
Companies contacted by SN all said they are optimistic Halloween sales this year will equal or exceed last year's results.
However, concerns about children's safety may result in shifting sales, as reduced levels of trick-or-treating in some parts of the United States led to increased sales of party-related items, according to several of the companies interviewed.
"We're seeing less trick-or-treating each year," Taylor said. "But people are having more parties to make up for that, so sales remain steady."
Jack Brown, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Stater Bros. Markets, Colton, Calif., also said he anticipates more party-oriented buying this year, citing the kidnap and murder of a 5-year-old girl in Southern California last month as part of the reason he believes trick-or-treating activity will be down.
"Kids will still celebrate Halloween, but in a more protected environment -- that will be the ultimate effect of that little girl's murder. So parties at home will be a more popular way to celebrate," Brown said.
Joseph V. Fisher, president and CEO of Penn Traffic Co., Syracuse, N.Y., expressed similar thoughts. "With kidnapping of children in the news, the whole issue of safety has sunk in a little deeper with parents, so one area of focus for us this year will be to make sure we promote items keyed to children's parties."
For Food Circus Supermarkets, Middletown, N.J., "Halloween is not as big as it once was due to the fact that parents are more protective because of concerns over possible negative consequences from trick-or-treating," Lou Scaduto Jr., vice president, operations, said. "We still move through our inventory levels as usual, but sales are based more on parties being held for kids."
Halloween is still Halloween in some parts of the country, however, with executives at Clemens Family Markets, Kulpsville, Pa.; Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh; Lund's Food Holdings, Edina, Minn.; K-VA-T Food Stores, Abingdon, Va.; and the corporate stores of Associated Food Stores, Salt Lake City, reporting no change in traditional trick-or-treating patterns and no particular uptick in holiday parties.
Of the chains surveyed, Giant Eagle expressed the most optimism for increasing sales. According to Ann Marie Frattare, a chain spokeswoman, Halloween sales jumped 23.5% last year, "and this year we expect to improve on that," she told SN.
Last year's Halloween promotion marked the first time Giant Eagle committed itself to a storewide effort for the holiday under the guidance of a single marketing manager, Frattare explained. "Until then, each department did what it felt was appropriate for each seasonal event, with no overall coordination. But by combining the efforts of all departments under one person's coordination, we felt our efforts were more successful."
Giant Eagle will repeat that formula this year, building its Halloween effort around the theme, "Monster Savings," Frattare said. Halloween promotions are scheduled to begin right after the back-to-school season ends, she noted, with bag stuffers and direct-mail pieces "to let shoppers know about some of the value-added programs we'll have and the savings we'll offer on trick-or-treat items."
Giant Eagle also plans trick-or-treat events at its stores, in which children in costumes who are accompanied by an adult can go to designated spots in the store -- set off by colorful balloons for easy identification -- to get rewards. Last year's treats included candy at the checkstands, potato chips at the prepared-foods counter, goldfish crackers in the seafood department, coloring books in the pharmacy, coupons for free video rentals in the Iggle Video departments, small magnets in the child-care centers and pennies from the in-store banks.
"We've done that kind of thing in the past on an individual-store basis," Frattare explained. "Last year, we looked at what some of those individual stores had done and recommended that all stores follow that plan. And we're making sure we let customers know in advance the event will be happening."
Stater Bros. anticipates doing more party business this year, reflecting the way the holiday has changed, Brown said. "Halloween used to be a happy, no-cares kind of holiday, but with kids who go out trick-or-treating running into more potential dangers, more people are having parties and other Halloween events at home, so we're seeing more sales of cakes, cookies and party trays."
Also contributing to that trend are the lingering effects of last year's terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, which occurred just six weeks before Halloween, Brown pointed out. "There was much more emphasis a year ago on staying at home, and we did a tremendous business in party platters. People didn't feel like going anywhere -- they wanted to sit with loved ones and spend time together to reflect on the tragedy.
"So it'll be interesting this year to see how much back to normal things get. Obviously, some of the anguish of Sept. 11 has worn off and Americans are more in a mood of trying to get back to normal so the terrorists don't win twice, and that's how our advertising will be geared, with the theme, 'Be great at your own party."'
That stay-at-home attitude resulted in a sales jump of 5.5% last year, Brown said, and he expects Halloween sales this year to be even or just slightly lower.
Stater plans to put out Halloween merchandise about two weeks before the holiday, as it usually does. However, the chain will run two Halloween ads this year, whereas last year it cut back to one ad after Sept. 11.
Brown said he doesn't expect the downturn in the economy to affect overall sales. However, he does anticipate picking up additional business at the expense of Kmart stores in his area now that their corporate parent has filed for Chapter 11.
Richard Gunn, director of grocery operations for Food City Stores, the 97-store chain operated by K-VA-T, said his company will do two things differently for Halloween this year: Create a specific window during which it promotes the holiday, and display merchandise on specially designed promotional vehicles.
In prior years, the chain did not designate specific start and end dates for promotions, and it offered small, fragmented Halloween displays scattered around its stores, Gunn said. "But since May 15, we've been pursuing a 'back to the basics' program that sets specific start dates for our seasonal programs, and by coordinating events at all stores, we've been seeing sales increases of 25%, and that's what we expect for Halloween this year," he said.
K-VA-T will begin promoting Halloween on Sept. 15. Instead of fragmenting displays, Gunn said the stores will integrate all Halloween merchandise into a single display utilizing special promotional vehicles: 3-by-10-foot display pieces with shelves and pegboards. "That may seem small," Gunn said, "but we can get 100 different items on it."
The centerpiece of its promotional effort will be the annual best-costume contest, Gunn said. "We've been able to grow our Halloween business every year because of that contest. We advertise it weeks in advance, and that gives people the idea we are their Halloween headquarters," he explained.
Gunn said he anticipates stronger Halloween sales this year because of Food City's growing commitment to general merchandise. "We're taking more chances in general merchandise over the last three years, which has allowed us to grow our nonfood business by up to 50%, and we believe we can continue to grow our market share with holiday-related, in-and-out merchandise," he said.
Fisher of Penn Traffic said Halloween displays will go up shortly after Labor Day this year, about 10 days earlier than last year "because a number of key, basic items are impulse, and putting them out early allows you to grow your market share.
"Items for early promotion will include candy and basic general merchandise geared to impulse sales. Then, as we get closer to the actual date, we'll shift to more perishable products, and we'll also feature batteries, flashlights and a lot of film."
He declined to pinpoint last year's sales but said Penn Traffic expects to improve on those results.
Fisher said it's difficult to determine how Sept. 11 affected last year's results "because we were in the middle of rolling out our loyalty card at that time, and we were enjoying very strong sales."
Food Circus, located within miles of the site of the World Trade Center, experienced "probably the most low-key Halloween ever last year because people were still on their backs from the tragedy," Scaduto told SN.
However, sales were strong, he said, and the company anticipates increases of 2%-5% this year.
Food Circus will stick to the basics for Halloween at its 10 stores, with the four highest-volume stores doing more extensive decorating and hosting "costume parades" for kids, and the six smaller stores holding coloring contests, Scaduto said.
Candy displays will go up right after Labor Day and remain in place through the holiday, he said. Food Circus will also promote caramel dips for apples and chocolate dips for bananas in the produce department; cookies and cupcakes in the bakeries; and salty snacks in the grocery department. "Things like popcorn and pretzels have been a growing category for us at Halloween," he said -- an indication that more in-home parties are being held, he noted.
The 21 corporate banner stores of Associated Food Stores -- encompassing Dan's Supermarkets, Lin's Supermarkets and Macey's -- will begin promoting Halloween earlier this year, initially as part of the stores' fall harvest program, with in-store displays going up Sept. 1 and ads beginning Sept. 8, John Harris, general merchandise and health and beauty care supervisor for corporate stores, told SN. Candy will be a small part of the program early but will become more prominent as the stores move into novelty candy Sept. 15, he said.
The company is moving much earlier than in previous years "because we found that, by starting to promote back-to-school the week of July 14 instead of waiting till early August, customers who see our displays are remembering us when they decide to buy, and that's what we plan to do for Halloween," he explained.
Harris said sales were flat last year because of the Sept. 11 attacks, "but we anticipate good sales increases this year because of our new merchandising plan."
At Hy-Vee, Halloween displays will move outside the stores as the chain converts its outdoor garden centers into pumpkin patches and ties in Halloween-themed general merchandise, along with closeouts on summer merchandise, party supplies, apple bobbing events and fresh cider, Taylor told SN.
"Virtually all stores that can, do a huge volume of pumpkin business -- we'll probably ship 300 full loads of pumpkins from our distribution center this year," he noted.
Hy-Vee gives its store directors complete autonomy on how to merchandise any season, Taylor pointed out, "but this year we're encouraging them to develop outside promotions for Halloween because that results in bigger sales."
Inside the stores Hy-Vee will use its seasonal aisles to display some of the same merchandise that's displayed outside, excluding pumpkins.
Hy-Vee also plans to merchandise larger bags of Halloween candy this year, Harris said. "We do a tremendous amount of business in palletized candy, and this year we plan to stress 24- or 30-ounce bags instead of the traditional 16-ounce size. That's something we've learned from the club stores -- that customers will embrace larger packaging."
Taylor declined to pinpoint Hy-Vee's Halloween sales last year but noted the company had an overall 5% increase for the year. He said the economy is having a minimal impact on sales. "We're definitely seeing people trading down, but the total dollars spent are still very healthy," he said.
Lund's Food Holdings, which operates eight Lund's and 12 Byerly's stores, also gives its stores autonomy for Halloween promotions. "We take more of a direct-marketing approach rather than a mass-marketing approach," Steve Vuolo, vice president, marketing, told SN. "There's so much tradition in the stores at Halloween that it's become like a turnkey program."
However, one part of the tradition that will change this year is the way Lund's markets candy, he said. "We'll be working to provide more value to customers by keeping our retail prices more competitive as we heat up our price points to prevent leakage."
Lund's has built its store-level Halloween program around the theme "Boo Blast" since 1994, "and we're not going to change this year because it's a tradition the communities we serve expect."
The crux of Boo Blast is a costume event that's promoted through a series of flyers the company sends to elementary schools, day-care centers and community newspapers, "to give it a local flavor," Vuolo noted. "We have hay bales and a holiday background set up in each store, and kids in costume have their picture taken and then get to take the pictures home."
Vuolo said Lund's expects Halloween sales this year to be about even with last year.
Candy will be the centerpiece of Halloween at Clemens Family Markets, as it has been for the past two years, Tom Roesener, vice president, procurement and merchandising, told SN. The 20-store operator will begin featuring bagged candy in August, will replenish its displays in September and then will drop the price to loss-leader levels two weeks before Halloween, he said.
Last year, Clemens undersold mass merchants on candy just before the holiday when it dropped the price on a 20-ounce bag to $1.88, compared with $1.99-$2.29 at the discounters, Roesener pointed out.
Halloween sales a year ago were negatively impacted the first two weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks but went back to normal after that, Roesener said, "and they began to increase as people remained closer to home." He declined to discuss specifics of last year's Halloween sales' increase but said Clemens expects to beat those results this year.
Merchandising Tricks and Treats
Most of the supermarket companies surveyed by SN said they are approaching Halloween merchandising differently this year. Following are some of initiatives planned for the 2002 trick-or-treating season.
Giant Eagle will coordinate all storewide seasonal merchandising through a single marketing manager.
Penn Traffic and the corporate stores of Associated Food Stores will put out seasonal displays earlier than usual to take better advantage of impulse buying.
Stater Bros. will offer more Halloween party options for adults.
Lund Food Holdings will price candy more aggressively.
K-VA-T Food Stores will integrate Halloween merchandise into a single promotional vehicle at each store.
