THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

By Ed Avis

Halloween is still several months away, but it’s not too early to start planning how to make this year’s season a resounding success. It will be the first truly post-COVID Halloween, since the crisis officially ended only this year. So, very few people will be concerned about the potential risks of Halloween parties, parades or trick-or-treating. Which will mean, hopefully, that your store will be full of costume-buying customers.

Here are seven tips to maximizing sales this Halloween:

1. Help those who help themselves. In other words, be sure to stock lots of accessories, make-up, fabric, used clothing, wigs, hair dye, moldable materials and other items useful to customers who want to make their own costumes this year. Individuality is a big deal — just see how popular cosplay is these days — and DIY customers love to patronize businesses that support them. If you have room, consider setting up space where these customers can create right in your store (after they pay for the materials, of course).

2. Be different. It’s not likely that you can compete on price with Walmart, Target or Spirit Halloween, so why bother? Instead, stock products they don’t stock. Start by checking out the discounts offered by NCA’s 50 Vendor Members. You can find them by clicking on the Buyer’s Group tab at www.costumers. org. Our Vendor Members offer an enormous range of products that are never found on the shelves of big box stores, ranging from extra high quality costumes to truly Hollywood quality makeup to impulse items perfect for your counter. Need some basic Halloween décor items like cauldrons and pumpkins? Check out Blinky Products. Need awesome shoes to offer customers who want the complete look? See the amazing line from Ellie Shoes. Want some fantastic one-of-a-kind masks? Zagone

Studios offers many. Want to expand your make-up section with theatrical quality goods? See what Graftobian, Camden Passage, Mehron, Wolfe and Kryolan offer. Bottom line: You have lots of options among NCA Vendor Members to offer great items that your competition will not stock — check it out!

3. Do something fun. A great way to bring attention to your store during the Halloween season is by sponsoring or hosting some kind of fun event. A zombie workshop, where you help attendees apply zombie makeup and create outfits from old clothes, is one idea. If you have the space, maybe you could sponsor a classic Hollywood horror movie night in your store or in your parking lot. Better yet, combine those ideas: Show “Night of the Living Dead,” the ultimate zombie movie, and then follow it with a zombie make-up class! Creativity rules the day when you’re planning events to bring folks into the store, so put on your thinking cap.

4. Create a welcoming environment. Our weirdly polarized political environment may have made some of your customers nervous about showing their own colors. Let them know that you welcome all customers and will continue to stock the costumes, accessories and make-up any customer may want to create the look they desire. Make your store the place everyone can come to feel safe and part of a community that understands and appreciates the fantastic diversity of humans.

5. Remember customers with disabilities. In 2022 the NCA developed the “Halloween for All” campaign, which encouraged members to welcome customers with disabilities. This campaign generated ideas such as holding a special “sensory-aware” night where customers who are not comfortable with crowds, noise and bright light can shop; stocking costumes and accessories that can easily accommodate individuals who cannot wear tight costumes or are sensitive to certain fabrics; and offering masks on sticks for customers who don’t want anything touching their face. There are more ideas in the Halloween for All booklet; if you need a copy, email Ed Avis at executivedirector@costumers.org or visit the NCA Member Portal to access a digital copy.

6. Partner, partner, partner. Halloween is a fun time of year for many organizations, and you can make your store the hub of the fun by partnering with them. For example, talk to your local PTA about holding a fundraiser event — such as a costume workshop, movie screening or special sale. Or see if your local Kiwanis or Chamber of Commerce would like to co-sponsor a Halloween parade or zombie walk. Or talk to the local chapter of an organization that serves people with disabilities and partner on a special day when that group alone can shop in your store, which may make them more comfortable. The point behind all of these ideas is that your store will be perceived as a bona fide community partner, which will be beneficial to your business in the short and long run.

7. Space out your sales. The last two weeks of October are probably already busy for your store, so you don’t need an event that brings in more customers then. Instead, try some sales techniques that get customers to shop early. For example, advertise a 10 percent discount on costumes in September, a 5 percent discount the first two weeks of October, and full price thereafter. Or offer a series of declining value coupons — $10 off in September, $5 off in the first two weeks of October, and zero after that. Try a similar strategy with your costume rentals, if those are part of your business. You could say that customers who pick up their rentals two weeks before Halloween can keep them until the first week of November at no extra cost. This gives them the option to wear a costume for more than one event, and it takes the pressure off your store during the super-hectic days prior to Halloween.

Do you have any other ideas on how to make Halloween 2023 a blockbuster success? We’d love to hear them, and we’ll share them on NCA’s social media and website! Send your ideas to Ed Avis, executivedirector@costumers.org.