"It is fascinating to see cinema and television fuelling purchase motivations and habits, not only across fashion but a number of sectors."
Gavin Lowther, head of digital at Visualsoft
Priest costumes are among this year’s top sellers, as Brits take their Halloween costume inspiration from the TV screen, according to data from leading ecommerce specialists.
Ecommerce and digital agency, Visualsoft has revealed that sales of priest costumes have increased 92% year-on-year, in the wake of Fleabag fever. In the popular BBC TV series’, lead character Phoebe Waller-Bridge, has a Catholic clergyman love interest, played by Andrew Scott, which is providing many with this year’s costume inspiration.
The North East business, which manages ecommerce and marketing for more than 1,000 businesses, analysed thousands of searches and transactions for costume, fancy dress and party supply businesses, identifying trends and spending habits in order to optimise its client’s websites.
Ahead of the 31 October, the most searched for adult costumes across the fancy dress and party supply businesses were:
1. 1970s costumes – Narcos, Charlies Angels
2. 1920s gangster – Peaky Blinders
3. 1920s flapper – Great Gatsby
4. 1950s costumes – Grease
5. Clowns – Joker, Pennywise (IT)
While the most searched for children’s costumes were:
1. Wizards and witches – Harry Potter, Hermione Grainger
2. Superheroes – Avengers, Captain Marvel, Spiderman
3. Clowns – Joker, Pennywise (IT)
4. Victorian – Oliver Twist, Chimney sweeps
5. Skeletons
Gavin Lowther, head of digital at Visualsoft, commented: “We constantly analyse and seek insight from our client’s websites in order to improve their future performance. It is fascinating to see cinema and television fuelling purchase motivations and habits, not only across fashion but a number of sectors.
“Insights allow us to improve the 1,000 ecommerce websites we manage on a daily basis and ensure they are fully optimised, so they do not fail at times of high traffic. We can also better anticipate customers on-site behaviour and ensure websites are easy to navigate and processes payments seamlessly, so a business doesn’t miss out on additional sales and revenue at key periods.
“Allowing retail clients to make the most of the biggest sales events of the year is key, and any insight we can share among clients from different sectors, to forecast the future, gives retailers an advantage in their industry. It also enables businesses to ensure they have enough stock of those products which are in high demand.
“As ever, we expect to see a last-minute flurry of activity and dash for costumes in the coming days, as consumers leave it until the last minute buy their Halloween wares.”
