Halloween is now America’s second-largest consumer holiday, surpassing Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day in total spend, especially in categories like home decor. From the high street, the UK is catching up fast due to the rise of community-driven events, third spaces, and niche internet communities.

Melissa Minkow, Global Director of Retail Strategy & Insights at CI&T, joins Phillip and Alicia from London to share what Halloween looks like on the other side of the Atlantic. Melissa explains why UK Halloween is getting “Americanized,” how algorithms shape our real-world rituals, and why fandom keeps stretching the season.

Spooky Season Goes Global

Key takeaways:

UK Halloween spend is expected to hit £705M, driven mostly by Gen Z and millennials. Meanwhile, US Halloween spend is projected to reach $13.5B, with households spending an average of $285.
UK Halloween isn’t a carbon copy of America’s. In the UK, community lives in third spaces like pubs and transit, not front porches.
The retail calendar is stretching earlier, largely driven by fandoms inflating moments into months of licensing, drops, and ticketed events.
“People want the moment when it is the moment.” — Melissa Minkow
“There’s no temperance in the algorithm.” — Phillip Jackson
“I have often wondered… if I ever was actually a sneakerhead or if performance marketing and algorithms made me one.” — Phillip Jackson

In-Show Mentions:

Catch up on Ep. 484: Aubrey Horowitz of Home Depot, “We Plan Halloween 3 Years in Advance”
Deloitte’s 2026 Halloween survey
Treatonomics: Morning Consult x Hershey’s research on the new Halloween calendar
Chanté Joseph, “Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?” (Vogue)
Kate Berlant on Good Hang
Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Get tickets to VISIONS Summit, February 10, 2027 at MoMA

Associated Links:

Spooky Commerce: What Halloween Shopping Trends Tell Us About Modern Culture
Consumers are Overindulging on Halloween. Disney is Meeting the Moment.
Aug-tober is Here (The Senses)
Memory Morphing: How Media Reshapes Recall and Taints Nostalgia (Ep. 334)
Where Were You When the Monoculture Returned?
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We Traded Family Dinners for Haunted Houses: Halloween Spending Data Shows Shoppers Want to Escape

Future Commerce

We Traded Family Dinners for Haunted Houses: Halloween Spending Data Shows Shoppers Want to Escape