Key stat: Almost half (49%) of consumers plan to shop for Halloween before October, according to a September National Retail Federation (NRF) report.

Beyond the chart:

• Most (56.1%) of US consumers start holiday shopping either before October or late October to mid-November, according to a July Omnisend survey.
• 37% of US consumers sometimes or always use AI to help with shopping decisions, per a May Walmart survey.

Use this chart: Marketers can use this chart to embrace new consumer habits by launching Halloween products earlier and optimizing their campaigns for AI search.

Related EMARKETER reports:

• US Holiday Ecommerce Sales​ Benchmarks: Q2 2025​ (EMARKETER subscription required)
• Retail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks: Q2 2025 (EMARKETER subscription required)

Methodology: Data is from the September 2025 National Retail Federation report titled "NRF Consumer Survey Finds Halloween Spending to Reach Record $13.1 Billion" conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. 8,045 US consumers were surveyed during September 2-9, 2025. The margin of error is +/- 1.1 percentage points.