by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 21, 2017

Fashion search engine Lyst has teamed up with Pinterest to predict what everyone will wear this Halloween. The report analyzes searches, pins and saves across a combined 180 million monthly users worldwide.

Saves and searches for clown make-up and costumes are up 941% year-over-year. Saves on giraffe makeup and costume images are up nearly 1,200%. Searches for giraffe print rose to about 27% on Lyst since June.

Since Pinterest saves on Stranger Things, images are up 40 times, and the site predicts more people will dress as Dustin, Mike and Lucas this year, with data showing that searches for trucker caps and 1980s print tees are on the rise.

Pinterest also notes an increase of more than 680% in pins for Beauty and the Beast characters.

Consumers are also searching for specific pieces around Wonder Woman. In fact there are more than 230,000 Wonder Woman costume ideas saved on Pinterest. Searches for red corsets are up 115% year-on-year, and sales of chunky gold cuffs are up 15% since June.

Findings from a study by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics shows somewhat similar results.

More than 3.7 million children plan to dress as their favorite action character or superhero, 2.9 million as Batman characters and another 2.9 million as their favorite princess, while 2.2 million will dress as a cat, dog, monkey or other animal, according to the study.

About 5.8 million adults plan to dress like a witch, 3.2 million as their favorite Batman character, 3 million plan to dress as an animal such as a cat, dog, and cow. Still, 2.8 million say they will dress as a pirate.

U.S. consumers in aggregate will spend a record $9.1 billion for Halloween stuff this year, up 8.3% from last year’s previous record of $8.4 billion, according to data.

The survey asked 7,013 consumers about their Halloween shopping plans. It was conducted September 5 through 13, 2017.

The NRF expects consumers to spend an average of $86.13 — up from $82.93 last year — with 179 million Americans planning to participate in Halloween, up from 171 million in 2016. Only 12.9% say the economy will impact the amount they spend, down from 14.1% last year.

Data from the survey also suggests consumers plan to spend $3.4 billion on costumes, purchased by 69% of Halloween shoppers; $2.7 billion on candy, 95%; another $2.7 billion on decorations, 72%; and $410 million on greeting cards, 37%.

Some 35% of consumers say they will go online to search for the perfect costume. About 30% will go to physical stores, 20% will ask friends and family, 18% will look on Facebook or Pinterest, pop culture will influence about 17%, and print media will influence about 14%.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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