Halloween candy costs more this year — but most of us will likely pay up rather than go without our treats.
Why it matters: Soaring inflation and supply chain wrinkles have come for even the sweetest parts of life.
The big picture: Spending on Halloween surged over the past decade, as consumers simply got way more into the holiday — buying $300+ giant skeletons and other spooky stuff to deck out their homes, plus the typical loads of candy that you swear you're going to save for trick-or-treaters.
- Halloween is the biggest season for candy sales — more than Easter or Christmas. "It's our Superbowl," an industry executive told CNBC a few years ago.
State of play: Planned household spending for Halloween fell this year to $100.45 billion, compared to $102.74 billion in 2021, according to the National Retail Foundation's Halloween Spending Survey. In 2019, the number was just $86.27 billion.
Prices for most treats surged this season fairly in line with inflation for overall food, but Skittles and Starburst prices jumped way more — up 42% and 35% from last year, respectively — according to analysis from Datasembly.
- To get their numbers, Datasembly scraped price information across the web and looked at the price of candy sold by retailers, who operate both online and in-store.
The delicious intrigue: Skittles and Starburst are cheaper than others on the list, including Snickers and Peanut Butter Cups.
- Relatively small price increases, on a dollar basis, look huge when measuring in percentage points.
- Meanwhile, Starburst's supply chain is vulnerable to the vagaries of hurricane season, according to a blog post from IBM. It's possible there are weather impacts here, too.
- Axios has reached out to Mars Wrigley, which makes both candies, for comment.
The bottom line: Halloween candy is delicious and relatively inexpensive, despite inflation. Happy Halloween!
