Scare Up Some Sales: Spook-tacular Halloween Marketing Ideas for Your Store

Halloween is also a huge opportunity for retailers and e-commerce sellers. Every year, shoppers go all out for this spooky season, spending tens of billions of dollars on decorations, costumes, themed snacks, and gifts. For store owners, this means: if you're not leveraging Halloween in your marketing strategy, you're missing out on a spooky and wonderful opportunity to boost sales. In this article, we'll share 20 practical, easy-to-implement marketing ideas to help you maximize sales this season.

Why Halloween Is a Golden Opportunity for Your Store

Halloween has evolved from a night for children to trick-or-treat into a major shopping holiday for all ages. It attracts more shoppers than any other holiday except Christmas. In the United States alone, consumers have spent over $11 billion on Halloween-related merchandise in recent years, and that figure continues to grow. That's not just a small amount of money; it's a lot of money.

And Halloween isn't just popular in the United States; consumers in countries like Germany, France, Australia and the United Kingdom also spend heavily on this holiday.

Best of all, Halloween isn't limited to any one niche. Fashion, food, home decor, beauty, pets, and even tech brands can all find ways to capitalize on this trend. Halloween offers a brief but powerful window to boost awareness and attract new and existing customers.

Consumer behavior and Halloween trends

creating marketing campaigns that actually convert is understanding where people shop and what they're interested in.

How much do people spend on Halloween?

In the United States alone, consumers are expected to spend over $11 billion on Halloween-related merchandise in 2024. The average consumer will spend between $100 and $120 on various holiday products. Halloween costume sales are particularly impressive, offering print-on-demand businesses a great opportunity to expand sales by selling a variety of fun, custom Halloween costumes.

What do people buy for Halloween?

Obviously, costumes and candy are essential, but people buy a lot more than that. Understanding what people loved last year can help you spot trends this year. Here are some of the Halloween items people are loving:

• Costumes. To create a spooky atmosphere, consumers spent $3.8 billion on costumes last year.
• Decorations. More than half of consumers will purchase Halloween-themed decorations, and sales are comparable to those of costumes.
• Candy and snacks. Sales of holiday essentials reached $3.5 billion.
• Greeting cards. In 2024, Halloween shoppers spent $500 million on horror-themed greeting cards.
• Party supplies. Various themed cups, plates, games, and props for horror parties are also popular items.
• Pet costumes. One of the fastest-growing Halloween categories is unexpectedly pet owners looking to bring their beloved pets into the holiday spirit.

Where do people buy their Halloween festivities?

Besides large retailers like Walmart and Target, online shopping has become a major shopping channel for people. 32% of consumers shop through online stores, and online platforms such as Amazon, Estée Lauder, and Shopify saw a surge in traffic in September and October.

In addition, 40% of consumers will choose discount stores, especially some horror-themed stores and clothing stores.

20 Halloween marketing ideas for your store

1. Start prepping early

The holiday spirit will begin in early September, and consumers will not wait until October 31st; most people will start shopping in advance.

Your marketing campaign will last at least a month, which means you should be planning your marketing campaign by the end of August at the latest.

Why prepare in advance? Most consumers start looking for exclusive deals and custom designs before the main event. And you can attract these early-bird shoppers.

Additionally, your marketing campaigns and SEO efforts take time to work and get you to the top of the search results.

2. Create Limited-Edition Halloween Products

Limited-edition products can create buzz. Think glow-in-the-dark T-shirts, spooky mugs, or pumpkin-print totes. Limited-edition releases create a sense of urgency and foster the fear of missing out (FOMO).

With over 1,000 products in the PeaPrint catalog, from T-shirts and hoodies to rug tote bags, you can create unique Halloween gifts with exciting designs. You can also add elements of vampires, monsters, or other ghostly characters to create personalized clothing and decorations with a spooky Halloween atmosphere.

3. Decorate Your Online Store With a Spooky Theme

Decorate your store and replace your regular website banners and icons with Halloween-themed designs. Subtle changes can put your customers in the holiday spirit. While overhauling your store might look cool, it could also cause issues. Keep it simple and avoid making the shopping process cumbersome to ensure a pleasant shopping experience for your customers.

4. Run a "Trick or Treat" Discount Campaign

Here's a Halloween marketing idea. Make discounts interactive, delight customers with surprising offers, and encourage them to shop at your store. For example, every time a customer visits your store , create a pop-up message asking shoppers to "Pick a Pumpkin" to reveal a 10%, 20%, or 30% discount. Gamification can boost engagement and sales.

5. Leverage Social Media Challenges

More and more shoppers are turning to social media platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram to find unique designs and products. Encourage your followers to post their costumes, decorated homes, or your products in a Halloween setting. Create a unique hashtag for your store and offer prizes for the best posts.

6. Re-engage last year's shoppers with email marketing

It's time to reconnect with your old customers. Take advantage of the holiday season by offering them exclusive Halloween deals or promotional codes. Invite them back with targeted email marketing and social media based on their purchases from last year.

7. Create special Halloween bundles

Often, Halloween shoppers don't just buy one themed item or costume; they want matching products. This is the best time to upsell and cross-sell. Bundle themed products into bundles, such as a "party set" (cups, plates, napkins) or a "scary costume set" (shirt, hat, accessories). Bundling can increase average order value.

8. Halloween-Themed Email Marketing

Email remains one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience and promote your products. A unique and creative Halloween email marketing template can significantly increase click-through rates and entice customers to visit your store and view your products. Use a fun subject line like "No Tricks, Just Treats: 20% Off Halloween Specials." Add bats, pumpkins, or ghosts to your email design.

9. Create time-sensitive offers

The festival's festivities only last one or two nights, making it a highly time-sensitive event.

Flash sales and holiday promotions like "only 24 hours left" create a sense of urgency for consumers. When customers see that the offer is about to end, they worry about missing out, which prompts them to buy immediately. This can effectively reduce shopping cart abandonment rates. You can add a countdown timer before the event.

10. Use social media hashtags for exposure

Adding hashtags is a great way to get extra exposure to your content on social media, and it works across all major social media platforms. Content with relevant hashtags can be matched to users who are searching for that content, helping potential customers find you. It's also the easiest way to direct users to your Halloween-themed page on social media.

Here are some popular Halloween hashtags:

• #Halloween2025
• #TrickOrTreat
• #Pumpkin
• #HalloweenCostume
• #HalloweenGiveaway
• #SpookySeason
• #HalloweenSale
• #HalloweenMakeup
• #Spooky
• #HalloweenDeals

11. Create Halloween-related blog posts

Many consumers do their research ahead of the holiday season, searching online for creative posts about Halloween. You can publish themed blog content in advance, such as costume ideas, DIY decor, or Halloween gift guides. This can help with SEO and drive organic traffic directly to your store.

12. SEO your store for Halloween

Optimizing your Halloween campaign specifically for search engines can help shoppers find your store and event more easily. Discover these seasonal keywords with keyword tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. Then, you can naturally incorporate these relevant keywords into your website pages, product listings, and descriptions. Create keyword-rich Halloween content, snippets, meta titles, and meta descriptions.

13. Collaborate With Micro-Influencers

The power of social media can amplify sales, and influencer recommendations can directly boost your sales. You can find micro-influencers on various social media platforms and collaborate with them to promote your events and store. Micro-influencers' high engagement rates and targeted audiences allow you to effectively connect your brand with targeted customers without the expense of mega-influencer campaigns.

Check out our article to learn more about how to work with Micro-Influencers to boost sales.

14. Offer free shipping

Offering free shipping is a classic marketing tactic, but it's incredibly effective and can significantly boost sales. 39% of shoppers abandon their carts due to extra costs like shipping, and this strategy addresses a major barrier. For seasonal promotions, even if it's just a few bucks off shipping, customers appreciate the added bonus.

15. Halloweenify your packaging

Customers love the unboxing experience, especially when they're experiencing the changing seasons. You can create some fun with your packaging. It doesn't have to be overly creative; just add some spooky elements to bring in the Halloween spirit. For example, add themed stickers, orange tissue paper, or a pumpkin-themed thank you card.

16. Run Halloween ads

The holiday season is a great time to promote your brand and products to new audiences. With Thanksgiving and Christmas just after Halloween, why not run promotional ads during Halloween to boost your brand awareness and expand your audience?

You can create different themed ads for your products and Halloween promotions on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, with eye-catching visuals and slogans to entice users to click. You can also try Google Ads to direct search users to your website.

17. Send Halloween gift cards

Sending customers gift cards via email that can be activated during a promotion is a simple and effective marketing campaign. Not everyone knows what to buy, and festively designed gift cards make it easy for them to choose. Promote them as the perfect last-minute gift.

18. Create a Halloween style guide

You don't need to attract an audience through advertising and promotions; creating engaging content can also enhance your Halloween event. For example, create tips on holiday decorations, costumes, and theming to help customers find holiday inspiration. If you're a culinary expert, you could also try posting some horror-themed recipes. Sharing this content on your social media can increase engagement and boost sales for your store.

19. Partner with other brands

Consider partnering with businesses that complement your brand. Leveraging their customer base to expand sales, they can also leverage yours – a mutually beneficial partnership. For example, a clothing store could partner with a makeup brand to launch a bundle giveaway. This shared resource makes the campaign more cost-effective.

20. Offer "build-your-own" Halloween-themed products

Let shoppers personalize their items—whether that's adding their name to a spooky mug or designing a custom trick-or-treat bag. POD makes this easy and highly appealing.

How to Prepare for Halloween in Advance with PeaPrint

Getting your Halloween marketing plan ready early is half the battle, and PeaPrint makes it easy.

Launching new product designs for Halloween is essential to attract holiday shoppers. Want to see how your creative ideas will actually look in the flesh? Use PeaPrint's free mockup maker to create professional product visuals in minutes. This helps you test different ideas and create polished designs before your products go live.

Also, we offer a 20% discount on samples, allowing you to test your products at a lower price and ensure high-quality products for your customers.

Are you Looking for inspiration? Browse our Halloween collection. Find ready-made spooky products you can customize and sell right away.

FAQs

When should I start my Halloween marketing campaign?

Ideally, you should start planning in late summer and launch promotions by early September. Many shoppers start buying before October, so the earlier you get your products out, the better your chances of capturing those early birds.

What products sell best during Halloween?

The classics still dominate—costumes, home décor, candy, and party supplies. But don't overlook fast-growing categories like pet costumes, themed apparel, and custom gifts. POD products like T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and posters also perform well because they're unique and easy to personalize.

Do I need a huge budget to market for Halloween?

Not at all! Even with a small budget, you can use free tactics like social media challenges, Halloween-themed blog posts, and email campaigns. Creativity often matters more than budget when it comes to seasonal marketing.

How can small businesses compete with big retailers during Halloween?

Focus on what big-box stores can't do: personalization and niche marketing. Limited-edition designs, custom products, and strong community engagement (via social media or email) give small businesses a big advantage.

By partnering with PeaPrint, you can start selling your customized products immediately and expand your sales reach by capitalizing on this holiday traffic without any upfront investment.

Conclusion

So, those are the marketing tips for your Halloween promotions. Now is the time to unleash your creativity and stand out from the competition by connecting with your customers in fun and memorable ways. Don't miss out on this massive holiday traffic, start planning your marketing campaign now and see if your store can achieve impressive sales.