Home Depot gets early jump on Halloween — online

The Home Depot’s latest promotional blockbuster targets shoppers who are already planning for a holiday that's more than six months away.

It's not even summer, but  but customers looking to get a jump on shopping for themed merchandise for Halloween will be interested in an upcoming online campaign at Home Depot.

"For superfans, Halloween is a yearlong journey to find the absolute best décor for the month of October, which is why The Home Depot is thrilled to offer fan-favorites and new innovations earlier than ever," a Home Depot spokesperson said in an email to Chain Store Age.

Starting Thursday, April 25, the home improvement giant is running an online-only sales promotion called “Halfway to Halloween.” Products associated with the holiday, such as a seven-foot-tall animated LED Frankenstein’s Monster decoration (inspired by Universal’s Classic Monster), are available online while supplies last, with more Halloween products slated to be put on sale throughout the year. 

Home Depot has been busy with seasonal promotions this spring, recently running its "How to March Madness" spring campaign in partnership with the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and pro basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal. 

The company is also offering its longtime annual "Spring Black Friday" blockbuster through Sunday, April 28, 2024, and is hosting its second online-only "Decor Days" event from May 2-6, 2024, following the promotion's debut in October 2023. 

Promoted by Home Depot as "just in time for Mother’s Day,” Decor Days offers discounts on a curated range of products including furniture, lighting, rugs, wall art and kitchen tools, available at a dedicated page on the retailer’s site.

The retailer is now promoting Halloween in the springtime as the holiday increasingly becomes a major consumer spending event. According to data from LendingTree, 88% of surveyed consumers planned to make purchases for Halloween 2023. 

The average intended spending amount was reported by LendingTree to be $162, with parents of young children planning to spend substantially more at $245, on average.

Headquartered in Atlanta, The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of fiscal year 2023, the company operated a total of 2,335 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company employs approximately 465,000 associates.