October 31st is just around the corner and is great opportunity for you to do some seasonal selling! Did you know Americans spend over US$20 million on candy each year! That's a lot of candy (and a lot of hyper-active kids on a sugar high!). They also spend up large on costumes and other Halloween traditions, so make sure you take advantage of this seasonal niche market!
As Halloween is only a few weeks away, your best bet is to start now so find a few things to sell then get into some product sourcing! Costumes are always going to be a big seller around Halloween but so will other Halloween tradition-related items like house decorations (both indoor and outdoor), candy sacks for trick-or-treaters to carry their bounty in, pumpkin carving knives, and props like skeletons and creepy Halloween lanterns!
To make sure the costumes you buy will be hot sellers, keep up with trends and current events – the most popular costumes for 2008 were Sarah Palin, John McCain, Barak Obama and Heath Ledger – all of whom featured highly in the news last year.
Costumes that will be hot sellers for Halloween 2009:
- Bo Obama, the First Family's Portuguese water dog
- Michael Jackson
- Dr. Conrad Murray – Michael Jackson's Dr who was arrested in relation to Jackson's death
- Kanye West and Taylor Swift – would be great if sold as a pair
- Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing
- Susan Boyle
- Ted Kennedy
- Dora the Explorer
- Hannah Montana
- Nadya Suleman, mother of Octuplets (sell with 8 cheap baby dolls)
- Harry Potter
- Sarah Palin (will she ever go away?)
Halloween Costumes that are popular every year:
- Princesses
- Adult style costumes for female college students such as 'naughty nurses' and 'cat women'
- Ghosts
- Grim Reaper
- Batman
- Fairies
- Vampires
- Super heroes
5 Easy Halloween Sourcing and Selling Tips
- With time between now and Halloween running out, keep your product sourcing local suppliers– now is not the time for importing! Check out your local Yellow Pages for wholesalers near you or search for “Halloween” in our Supplier Directory then narrow your search by clicking “Advanced search” and selecting “supplier location” or entering your state or region into the search bar.
- Wholesale buying will be your best bet for Halloween selling – any amount you buy from a manufacturer will probably exceed what you can sell between now and the big night. Similarly, drop-shipping can work well for Halloween selling, but be aware that you will need to be very organized and have a reputable supplier to make sure buyers get their items on time. People using drop shippers should amend their final cut-off date for auctions to finish in accordance with their suppliers delivery times.
- Aim to have your product range ironed-out by the first week of October so that you can have a good three weeks or so of selling.
- Make sure you give yourself at least 3-4 days to receive the payment and ship the item out to your buyer. This means all auctions and ecommerce sales of Halloween-related items should be completed by October 27th.
- Give as much detail as possible when selling costumes. Buyers are more likely to shop with you when you give them all the measurements and features of the outfit. Generally, buyers will be stretched for time (which is probably why they are shopping online), and won’t have time to go out to a store to buy their costumes, so make sure you describe your costumes in plenty of detail. It also helps to take great pictures. Aim for at least 5 high quality pictures per listing (optimum size is between 600x400 and 1000x1600). It is proven that items with at least 3 great shots which really show the condition and features of a product sell much better than those that don't.
Don't delay - get listing for Halloween now!
