Key announcements · 8 October 2026
Halloween is now a £779m moment in UK grocery
Spend is up 29.8% in five years, 91% of people bought something Halloween-related last year, and 57% of purchases land in the final week of October.
Halloween keeps getting bigger. UK spend has grown 29.8% in five years, from £600m in 2021 to £779m in 2025, and 91% of people bought something Halloween-related in 2024, at an average of £44 per person on food and drink.
The shape of the season matters as much as its size. Around 28% of shoppers start planning a month ahead, so early inspiration drives the biggest baskets — while 57% of all Halloween purchases happen in the last seven days of October, perfect timing for last-minute impulse formats at the shelf.
The optimal campaign works the whole path to purchase: high-reach awareness media early (social, window screens, bollards), longer dwell-time engagement media through October (email, recipes, digital screens, in-store radio), and point-of-sale signposting in the final week, right where the decision lands.
Sources: Worldpanel by Numerator; YouGov, Oct 2025; Money Wellness Retail Index / GlobalData Retail Occasions Report; Finder.com. Figures from the Media360Coop Halloween event pack.