This Report focuses on the key seasonal events in the autumn – back-to-school, Halloween and Bonfire Night.

The events covered in this Report were worth a combined £916 million in 2015, an increase of 5.8% on the previous year, we estimate. The supermarkets dominate the market, yet the discounters and the pureplays are a growing force. A third of shoppers bought Halloween products from a discount retailer in 2015 and Amazon ranks third in terms of shopper numbers for back-to-school.

Back-to-school is the second largest seasonal event behind Christmas; some 80% of parents make a purchase for their child in time for the school term. The market remains highly price-sensitive, yet a willingness to trade up suggests potential for future growth. The retail boost from Bonfire Night is relatively small, overshadowed by Halloween and the pre-Christmas build-up. Millennials have emerged as a key consumer group driving spend on Halloween.

For an in-depth analysis on Christmas (and Black Friday), please see Mintel’s Christmas Shopping Habits – UK, February 2016 Report.

This Report focuses on the key seasonal events in the autumn – back-to-school, Halloween and Bonfire Night.

We also look briefly at Christmas, though the information for Christmas (and Black Friday) is taken from Mintel’s Christmas Shopping Habits – UK, February 2016 Report, which explores these events in depth.

For each of these events we provide an estimated market size along with in-depth consumer research, which focuses on:

• Which products consumers are purchasing for each of these events.

• How much on average they spend.

• Which retailers consumers have purchased from.

• Which consumers are participating in Halloween eg dressing up, decorating their home etc.

• What consumers’ attitudes are towards certain key issues around each of these events.