Dive Brief:
- The Home Depot is launching its “Halfway to Halloween” limited collection, the retailer announced Wednesday.
- The company is bringing back its signature 12-foot skeleton, Skelly, with new features, including 20 different “life eye options” and servo motor movement. Skelly owners can also record voice lines with modulation using an app on their smartphones, per company information sent to Retail Dive.
- Other items available include a 5-foot hearse with two life-sized skeletons, a 9-foot T-Rex skeleton and an undead horse, among other products. The collection is priced between $129 and $399.
Dive Insight:
The Home Depot is bringing back Skelly as skeletons have become more popular decor among consumers. The retailer launched Skelly in 2020, which became a viral decoration during the pandemic. A trend soon followed where many owners left out their Skelly year-round, and The Home Depot soon launched into similar products including Skelly’s dog and cat.
Home Depot’s launch of an early Halloween product line comes as the spooky season has become elongated in recent years, and as more consumers celebrate Summerween — the unofficial Halloween celebration that begins well before the pumpkin patches open.
Many retailers have benefited from increasing their offering of Halloween products, including discount stores, other home retailers and craft stores. These retailers have also gained seasonal market share from the closures of specialty retailers like Party City and its Halloween City banner.
Consumers continue to spend more on the holiday. In 2023, shoppers were projected to spend $12.2 billion on Halloween, according to an analysis from the National Retail Federation. That figure fell to $11.6 billion in 2024 and rose again to a record projection of $13.1 billion in 2025, the NRF found. Meanwhile, a PwC report predicted that consumers would spend $290 on average for Halloween last year.
The Home Depot is gearing up for Halloween after reporting a 3.8% year-over-year sales decline in Q4 to $38.2 billion. The company’s net income for the quarter dropped 14.2% to $2.6 billion. However, the company saw a 3.2% increase in full-year sales from the previous year to $164.7 billion.
