The ‘Spooky Season’ brought another significant boost to the high street this year, as Halloween falling on a Saturday led to a surge in shoppers hitting the town for sweets, costumes and other purchases.
Data from Sensormatic Solutions’ ShopperTrak Analytics platform, which captures 40 billion store visits globally each year, showed that footfall on 31 October rose 29% year-on-year, while week-on-week it delivered a 13% boost to High Street shopper traffic.
This is a significant increase on last year, during which Halloween sales jumped 4.6%, according to BRC- Sensormatic data. Consumer spending on Halloween this year is forecast to exceed £700 million – showing that the date is becoming firmly cemented in the British retail calendar.
ShopperTrak’s data showed that Retail Parks saw the biggest boost, with shopper traffic rising +32% year-on-year, followed by High Streets (+30%) and Shopping Centres (+26%). The event also saw store visits jump +36% when compared to the daily average for the prior two weeks.
The Sensormatic data dovetails with BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker figures for October, which also show a significant jump in spending – up 4.6% year on year. While BDO attributes at least some of this to the long heatwave delaying autumn seasonal spending by a month, Andy Sumpter, head of consulting & analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, said that retailers will be hoping to sustain this momentum throughout the Golden Quarter.
“After a Halloween boost to footfall, retailers will be looking ahead to the Golden Quarter and hoping to sustain that momentum as they get into the business end of the year,” Sumpter said. “The Black Friday weekend will once again be a key barometer of consumer mood but will also be a make-or-break start to festive shopping in full.”
Analysis in its latest ‘Christmas 2026: UK Shopper Insights’ report predicts that the Saturday after Black Friday (28 Nov 2026) will be the biggest day for Peak Trading store visits, followed by Boxing Day (26 Dec 2026) and Super Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas (19 Dec 2026).
Stay informed
Our editor carefully curates two newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research. Click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter sent straight to your inbox. Why not follow us on LinkedIn to receive the latest updates on our research and analysis?
