Halloween Costumes – Consumer Trends In The UK

With Halloween fast approaching, one can easily notice a growing demand online for Halloween costumes, fancy dresses, terror city tours and generally ideas for spending this night in a different way.

Wirral (I-Newswire) October 28, 2012 - For online marketing specialists holidays are the perfect time to develop fresh campaigns and increase sales. For online marketing specialists in the entertainment sphere, 2012 has been a tough time as the interest in the fun field has been pretty meagre. In this respect, interesting conclusions can be drawn about the trends across the UK concerning the search of “fancy dress” in the last several years.

There is a prominent trend in online search for fancy dresses and party costumes. What is easily visible is that for a fourth year in a row the online search for fancy dresses marks a serious drop down. If in 2008 the search has reached its peak of 100%, today the market sees a dramatic plunge down - for the last 4 years the search has shrunk with more than 30%.

The good news is that in 2012 searches are marking a small increase compared to 2011, but they are a far cry from the full potential of the market. But looking at the forecast for 2013, the prospects are not very bright compared to 2008 either. Still, there is a possible tendency for searches to go up.

This information comes to say a lot about consumer motivation, needs, purchasing power, interests and psychology. Above all, it signifies stressed economic situation and its reflection on market demand.

More importantly, in the conditions of a financial crisis, it is interesting to see how marketing specialists deal with difficulties. They have to devise various ways to attract potential customers despite the drop in demand and the reduced purchasing power.

Upon kick off of a campaign in the entertainment sphere, marketing specialists answer questions such as “Why does a buyer buy a product with the brand Y and not with the brand Z?”, “Why would they buy my products?”, “When do buyers buy fun stuff and why exactly at this moment?”, “What can influence the final decision to make a purchase and how can I enhance this decision?” and so on. Above all, in order to carry out an online marketing campaign properly, most online marketing specialists analyze the current trends at the market, the recent customer behaviour; they compare it to previous seasons. Only after this do they draw possible and probable scenarios in order to achieve greatest possible effect and build campaigns based on the results.

So, in 2012 online marketing specialists in the sphere of online shopping of entertainment and fun items have to deal with several problems: reduced purchasing power, general economic difficulties, shrinking interest in entertainment and increased competition.

As a result, this year there is a strengthened presence of party brands online. With more people going online and mobile, and companies hardly being able to sustain the burden of radio and TV advertising, they take upon themselves to carry out fresh and innovative ways to attract consumers. Hence, online campaigns as a possible solution. This trend is all the more visible among smaller companies, who are are looking for guerrilla and viral methods to present their brand to the world spending less money and achieving greater effect.

The top online promotion channel this year again is Facebook. Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram have also been used a lot throughout the months preceding Halloween. But Facebook pages have proved an effective channel for turning present customers into fans, promoting the brand itself, thus attracting fresh potential customers and eventually increasing sales. In 2012 more than ever smaller brands communicate, educate and entertain their fans in social media in order to engage them with the brand much more frequently.

Finally, as the forecast for the searches in the entertainment industry for 2013 shows that the interest will not increase dramatically, it is safe to conclude that online marketing will keep its essential role in the marketing mix in the following year.