National Retail Federation
NEWS RELEASE
THE VOICE OF RETAIL WORLDWIDE
Liberty Place, 325 7th Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kathy Grannis or Scott Krugman (202)783-7971
grannisk@nrf.com or krugmans@nrf.com
Adults, Kids and Pets Celebrate Halloween in Style
-From Devils to Pumpkins, Pets will be All Decked
Out this Year-
Washington, September 26, 2007 – Children aren’t the only ones
who will be celebrating this Halloween; their furry friends will actually be
joining them on Halloween night in the search for treats. According to the
National Retail Federation’s 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions
Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, an estimated one in ten celebrants (11.0%), or
7.4 million households, plan on donning their beloved pet in some sort of
costume this year.
Devils (12.0%) and pumpkins (9.2%) top the list of pet costumes, with witches
(4.5%), princesses (3.8%) and angels (3.3%) rounding out the top five.
“Many consumers who own pets think of them as family members,” said NRF
President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Pet owners will go all out to include dogs,
cats and other critters in Halloween festivities, including trick-or-treating,
handing out candy or even celebrating at a friend or family members’ house.”
The survey also ranked top adult and children’s costumes. Once again, little
girls everywhere have ranked princess as their top choice for dressing up this
year (10.7%). Spider-Man comes in second at 4.8 percent, followed by a pirate
(4.7%), witch (4.2%) and fairy (2.8%). New additions to the list this year
include Disney’s Hannah Montana, which comes in at 23rd on the list, immediately
followed by the wizard himself, Harry Potter.
“Many consumers choose their costumes based on their personal style and
personality, while others stick to traditional favorites like witches or
ghosts,” said BIGresearch Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist. “Either way,
showing off their selected costume with friends and family is a tradition that
will never get old.”
With nearly 60 percent of consumers planning on celebrating Halloween in some
way, adults will be hitting the town Halloween night as well. One-third (33.8%)
of adults will dress in costume this year, and of those, nearly three-quarters
(74.8%) already have a costume in mind. The top five choices consist of
traditional favorites such as witch (16.9%), pirate (3.8%), vampire (3.1%), cat
(2.5%) and princess (2.2%). Other favorites include a Star Wars character
(1.2%), doctor (0.9%) and an athlete (1.0%).
The NRF 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to
gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Halloween season. The
survey, which polled 8,877 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from
September 4-11. 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.
www.bigresearch.com
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,
independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery 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 2006 sales of $4.7
trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100
state, national and international retail associations.
www.nrf.com