Australians are expected to spend around $159 million on chocolate and confectionery products this Halloween as celebration of the holiday continues to grow across the country, according to new research from Mars Wrigley Australia.
The confectionery manufacturer's research found 43 per cent of Australians plan to celebrate Halloween tomorrow (31 October), with nearly 60 per cent claiming Halloween is growing as a celebration in their residential area. Tasmania is expected to take the lead in Halloween participation (88 per cent), followed by both South Australia and Western Australia (82 per cent).
On average, money spent on confectionery during this time of year is $21.89 per celebrator, with one-third spending between $15-30 each year, 28 per cent spending between $30-45 and 24 per cent spending between $5-15.
Chocolate is the preferred treat (56 per cent) over lollies (22 per cent) or other snacks, such as muesli bars (22 per cent). Mars Wrigley states it “has distributed over six million party share packs to stores, making this the largest four weeks of sales of share packs for the entire year”.
“We’ve seen big growth in our chocolate sales over the last few years leading up to Halloween,” said Mars Wrigley Australia general manager Andrew Leakey.
“Spending time together, sharing treats and connecting with friends and family, is what it’s all about. It’s pleasing to see many Australians view Halloween as a reason to come together and celebrate.”
The research also found that those who will not be celebrating Halloween say it's because it is “too American” (71 per cent), while many respondents believe there needs to be “our own, unique Australian way” to celebrate.
Some suggestions included dressing up as Aussie characters including ‘the bogan’, adding Australian treats to trick or treating, and introducing a ‘zombie kangaroo’ as an Australian Halloween symbol.
Mars Wrigley says its top selling confectionery for Halloween 2019 will be its Milky Way and Skittles products.
