Winning product categories for Halloween on Amazon and Google

Halloween on Amazon and Google is approaching fast! It’s one of the most important holidays (at least for online store owners) during Q4. We researched top-selling Halloween products on Google and Amazon by investigating trends, surveys, and data, to show what eCommerce owners and drop shippers can expect for 2021. We will share what you need to consider in preparing your online dropshipping store for this autumn holiday.

Reasons to consider Halloween products

First, let’s go through some interesting statistical data about Halloween shopping in the USA. This chart shows planned annual Halloween expenditure in the United States from 2005 to 2021.

(source: • Annual Halloween expenditure in the United States 2005-2021) 

In 2021, consumers in the United States are expected to spend an all-time high of ten billion US$ for the Halloween season. Compared to 2020, this is a significant increase of over two billion US$. Average spending per person was also noticeably higher in 2021 when compared to previous years.

Here we can also see a planned annual Halloween expenditure in the USA by item for 2021.

 

In 2021, consumers in the United States are expected to spend a combined total of roughly three billion US$ on trick-or-treat candy for the Halloween season. Americans were planning to spend the most on spooky outfits and costumes, namely about three billion US$ in total or just under 35 US$ per person.

How to know when people shop for Halloween?

(source: • Halloween: shopping time United States 2021).

In 2021, about 40 percent of consumers in the United States said they were planning to begin shopping for Halloween during the first two weeks of October, making it the most common time frame in which people buy items for the spooky holiday. Ranking a close second, many Americans also intended to shop for Halloween in September. 

Winning product categories on Amazon

According to the National Retail Federation, projections for this year show that Americans plan to spend more than ever, and Amazon sellers should take advantage of this. With more Americans celebrating Halloween this year, average spending is also up. Searches for Halloween-themed products started earlier, and those who began advertising on time will have better results.

Halloween is a great sales opportunity. As we are approaching the second most important holiday at the end of the year, we have selected several product categories showing an increase in search terms and sales. 

Here are some interesting trends in the top search terms on Amazon.

Unlike last year, when COVID-19 changed the top 100 terms related to Halloween, we have decorations and costumes as the most relevant categories in this period. As Europe has fully embraced this mainly US tradition, we are also finding enlargement on those markets. 

Phrase	Search Volume	Sponsored ASINs
halloween decorations	3,783,045	1158
halloween decorations outdoor	2,311,789	1043
halloween decor	823,472	1102
halloween decorations indoor	657,888	1183
halloween lights	480,063	915
outdoor halloween decorations	478,033	1328
halloween inflatables	387,335	558
halloween decorations clearance	289,351	1068
halloween lights outdoor	234,755	974
skeleton halloween decoration	203,181	830

(Source: Helium 10)

We found the most relevant search terms presented in the table above and found many products running sponsored ads in Decorations for Halloween. 

Phrase	Search Volume	Sponsored ASINs
halloween costumes for women	2,508,679	1233
halloween costumes	773,461	1157
sexy halloween costumes for women	535,262	790
halloween costumes for girls	480,534	1102
women’s halloween costumes	480,027	1096
plus size halloween costumes for women	477,163	933
toddler halloween costume	465,896	849
baby halloween costumes	391,552	838
costumes for women	390,147	877
halloween costumes for men	379,606	1077

(Source: Helium 10)

Costumes are the second most attractive category for Amazon users, and we found great potential. We suggest sellers explore subcategories to overcome high competition and focus on keywords with good search potential and lower competition. 

Your product could be more relevant to Halloween than you think. If you can improve your product for the upcoming holiday with some detail for Halloween, it can improve your results for October. Minor adjustments such as different packaging in line with the holiday or adding something to the main product that can be used as a gift or other category can significantly affect the customers’ perception. 

Winning product categories on Google

We analyzed the top 3 Halloween products categories from the Statista chart in Google Trends and found interesting results. Same as on Statista, the most popular category is Costumes, but it’s much more dominant than Candy and Decoration.

(source:https://trends.google.com) 

In the last 30 days, interest in Halloween costumes has been five times higher than interest in Halloween decor and candy. Also, there was a real surge in interest at the beginning of October. But that’s not for all the Google assets. For example, on YouTube, interests in these three categories are even.

(source:https://trends.google.com) 

Some of the most popular search terms are related to the Squid Game series, so considering Halloween products with Squid Game motives would be a jackpot.

(source:https://trends.google.com)

Let’s look at the prices of potential keyword ideas from last year’s data from September to November.

 (source:https://ads.google.com)

As expected, the average monthly searches peaked in October with almost equal intensity of increase and decrease, prior and after. Around 2.5 million “Halloween costume” searches happened last year during these three months, proving that costume is the most popular category. 

The competition for these keywords during the season is expectedly high. But the top-of-the-page bid is below 1 dollar, which is an ok price for the US market. 

“Three-month percent charge” is the new metric in the Keyword Planner that shows us the percent change in monthly search volume over the last three months. It can help plan the performance in the short term, and we see that the highest increase is for Halloween decor.

Conclusion

How to get the most out of Halloween on Amazon and Google? We recommend using Amazon DSP and Google campaigns in the following weeks to increase your visibility and plan your remarketing campaigns accordingly!

Increase your average purchase value by targeting your audience, who already bought your product with cross-sell and upsell offers. In this way, you can target them with separate product remarketing campaigns.

With some minor adjustments in creatives, like changing your product images in alliance with the holiday spirit and creating excitement for buyers, you can expect better sales results! 

About the authors

Igor Kecman is a PPC Specialist within Google Ads Team in Sellers Alley. He has three years of experience in the Digital Marketing Industry, working with clients from various industries. He specializes in Google PPC Advertising, Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform), site analytics implementation, and performance analysis.   

Danijela Petković is a PPC Specialist within Google Ads Team in Sellers Alley. She helps clients to get a broader audience and increase sales through different sales channels–Google and DSP (Demand Side Platform). Her previous work experience includes creating and executing digital marketing strategies and performing analyses for improving various clients’ results.