21 Spooky Halloween Marketing Ideas for Ecommerce Stores

Arthur Conan Doyle once said, “Where there is no imagination, there is no horror.” For me, where there is no imagination, there is no profit. Halloween can bring significant success during this holiday season by attracting and creating a new atmosphere for customers, but only if you prepare well in advance. Moreover, a successful Halloween campaign will leave a strong impression, enough for customers to remember you till the biggest shopping seasons of the year - BFCM and Christmas, which occur very soon later in November and December.

So, try to seize the opportunity to generate as much revenue as possible. If you’re still empty of this year’s Halloween marketing ideas, check out our list below!

Halloween Customer Behavior & Marketing Trends 2025

Customer behavior in Halloween 2025

• Higher spending: In 2025, U.S. Halloween spending can reach 13.1 billion USD, increasing from $11.6 billion last year (US National Retail Federation)

• Early shopping intention: Nearly 47% of consumers begin their Halloween shopping before October (National Retail Federation)

• GenZ plan to celebrate Halloween the most: 93% of Gen Z (ages 18-28), compared to 87% of Millennials (ages 29-44), 76% of Gen X (ages 45-60), and 66% of Boomer and older (61+).

• Social media affects customer behavior: 32% of Gen Z shoppers find costume inspiration on TikTok, emphasizing how social media can help retailers forecast demands (Analyzify).

Marketing trends to follow

• Nostalgia Marketing: Leverage retro themes, classic horror movies, or 90s/2000s pop culture. Nostalgia creates emotional resonance and drives impulse buys for both costumes and decor.

• Social-First Campaigns: Gen Z and Millennials use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest for costume inspiration and shopping.

• User-generated Content: Marketers should encourage UGC challenges, reels, or costume contests to turn customers into brand advocates.

• Gamification & Interactive Content: Halloween fits perfectly with quizzes (e.g. “Which monster are you?”), mystery discount spins, scavenger hunts, or AR filters. Interactive campaigns increase engagement and build buzz.

• Cause-driven & Sustainable messaging: Promoting eco-friendly packaging, reusable costumes, or charity tie-ins (like donating a % of sales to children’s hospitals) helps align with consumer values and builds brand trust.

• Experiential & Hybrid Events: Blend online + offline experiences. (e.g. a brand could host a virtual costume contest while offering in-store pumpkin-carving workshops). Hybrid events give more touchpoints for customer interaction.

Best Online Halloween Marketing Ideas for Ecommerce Websites

In this section, we will haunt down the most spooktacular Halloween campaign ideas to trigger your creativity. Let’s start the journey!

Digital Promotions

1. Flash sales with countdown timer

Add a countdown on different touchpoints such as product page, homepage, email, etc. to create the FOMO (fear of missing out) effect. To enhance the effectiveness of this idea, you can combine time limitations with other discounts and incentives, along with the right trigger phrases to make customers feel it’s the best deal ever, with the most significant savings.

Mageplaza used this Halloween countdown timer to show their Halloween offer - 50% OFF on selected Magento 2 extensions. This banner was placed on homepage, blogs, and even email campaigns. It is an engaging way to remind customers of the offer expiration date.

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2. Display Halloween-themed discount popups

Using popups is an excellent Halloween marketing tactic, driving email sign-ups, reducing cart abandonment, and boosting sales. With a user-friendly popup builder, you can create eye-catching Halloween-themed popups effortlessly. Include limited-time deals and eye-catching images to maximize attention and sales during this spooky season.

3. Apply discount code

Effective marketing is not just about one successful campaign; it’s about making customers remember you. So, strive to appear as naturally and frequently as possible to leave a lasting impression in their minds. Applying discount codes with your targeted keyword is a way to do so.

Most stores usually incorporate their brand or targeted product/ service names into the codes to leave a lasting impression on customers. When customers see or use the code, the phrase can naturally hit their minds. Others just use common phrases of Halloween to trigger customers’ excitement.

Moreover, using discount codes can help you limit the number of discounted product quantities, ensuring your business’s revenue stream without accidentally spending too much on any campaign.

Dunkin Donut used to come up with a simple but strong promo code: BOO in their Halloween promotion campaign. It is easy to remember, simple to apply and even relate to the Halloween date (31st) as everything is 31% off. Its simplicity and relevance helped make the campaign highly successful and engaging.

4. Free delivery

Offering free shipping is a classic yet powerful Halloween marketing approach. As online shopping continues to grow, extra shipping costs can deter customers from completing their purchase. For example, given the choice between a $20 product with a $5 shipping fee and a $25 product with free shipping, most shoppers will pick the latter. By removing delivery fees with a free shipping bar, you can encourage higher order values and boost overall sales during the spooky season.

Panda Express also offered free shipping for their Chinese food during Halloween, with a minimum purchase of $10. This limited-time offer encouraged customers to order from home, boosting convenience and driving additional sales during the festive period. By tying the promotion to Halloween, Panda Express also created a sense of urgency and seasonal excitement, helping attract both new and returning customers.

5. Enhance Connection With Loyal Customers

Holidays like Halloween are perfect for highlighting your loyalty programs. Show your appreciation to loyal customers with a thank-you email and reward points. Offer them exclusive rewards to make their loyalty feel even more special.

When planning your Halloween marketing ideas, think about how to enhance your loyal customers’ experience. Tailor your offers based on their past purchases and preferences. Even a touch of personalization and Halloween fun can elevate your loyalty program’s impact.

Sales & Offers

6. Issue Limited-edition Items

People tend to prefer something that others don’t have. Therefore, introducing limited products makes them more attractive and valuable. Use phrases that trigger emotions in users, like “limited only,” “last chance,” and “Only this Halloween,” to make them feel that if they don’t buy right away, they’ll never get this product again.

Of course, with a holiday theme, products should also relate to the occasion. You can launch new products just for Halloween or change the packaging design for existing ones to fit the holiday.

For example, M&M’s Ghoul’s Mix was launched in the Halloween season, offering a festive assortment of candies. This year’s mix includes its famous chocolate varieties, all dressed in Halloween-themed colors. They’re perfect for trick-or-treaters or as a sweet treat for everyone.

Don’t forget to add a separate section for the limited edition. You can use a layered navigation extension to add it easily as a filter on your store, or even create a custom product collection page to feature all limited items at once.

7. Bundle & Save packs

By combining highly sought-after items in a special package and offering a limited-time discount, you’re hitting the right chord with your customers. Craft a unique Halloween-themed bundle and promote it with catchy, spooky slogans.

As a chocolate brand, Maison Marou celebrated Halloween by launching a special gift box featuring their best-selling chocolates, now presented in a spooky, festive packaging. With seasonal design elements like pumpkins, black cats, and ghosts, it is perfect for gifting or collecting. This limited-edition packaging not only refreshed the appeal of existing products but also created urgency and excitement among customers, encouraging purchases and enhancing brand visibility during the holiday season.

8. Buy X Get Y Free / Gift with Purchase

Offering special deals and freebies always works a charm, and it works the same for Halloween.

Consider setting a goal and providing a free product for orders above a certain amount. It would be great if the product relates to the festival.

In the latest social post, Wicked Brick, a toy store, lets customers select their own free gifts if the order reaches £75. This personalized approach not only encourages higher spending but also enhances the shopping experience, making customers feel rewarded and more likely to return for future purchases.

However, this Halloween strategy, although straightforward and effective, requires advanced planning and statistical calculation. Limited-time giveaways create excitement for a brief period, so capitalize on it and encourage users to take immediate action.

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9. Sell Gift Card

During the holiday season, people tend to be more excited to shop with gift cards given by friends or family, not only because of the material value but also because of a meaningful gesture to express affection for our loved ones. So, why not grasp this sentiment and create unique Halloween-themed gift cards, letting your customers be the ones to introduce your brand to their friends through this memorable gift?

Each year, Starbucks releases a limited-edition Halloween gift card collection, featuring unique designs that capture the essence of the season. Customers can purchase them directly from Starbucks stores or online platforms like eBay and Etsy, where collectors often showcase and sell these seasonal treasures. Available in both physical and digital formats, these gift cards appeal not only as a convenient gift but also as collectible items.

Content Marketing

10. Customize Your Homepage with Halloween Theme

Spice things up on your website for Halloween by adding fun, audience-relevant elements. Some festive filters and graphics on your homepage would definitely grab visitors’ attention.

Basically, try to make your site as “Halloween” as possible while still showing what you’re selling. However, if you want to stand out among the competitors, you have to work harder than that. Try to stay on top of the latest trends and use Halloween-themed taglines and product headlines to promote your website.

Dresslily - the fashion brand - gave its homepage a spooky makeover to celebrate Halloween, fully embracing the seasonal spirit. The store swapped its regular logo for a bat-themed design, instantly signaling the holiday vibe to visitors. The homepage banner was redesigned with a Halloween-inspired font, combined with playful symbols like pumpkins and cobwebs, alongside vibrant seasonal images that captured the fun atmosphere.

11. Design A Spooky Landing Page for Special Offers

A Halloween-themed landing page can guide users and boost conversions significantly. Combining festive elements is kind of fun, but it will be much better if you can add some brand’s personal touch. Design a landing page that taps into emotions like humor and horror to encourage conversions.

The US postcard & gifting brand, Hallmark, created a dedicated Halloween landing page featuring seasonal products like spooky greeting cards, decorations, and themed gift sets. The page uses festive visuals, Halloween-themed fonts, and prominent calls-to-action to guide visitors toward purchasing holiday items.

By centralizing all Halloween offerings on one landing page, the brand makes it easier for customers to browse and shop, and reinforces Hallmark’s seasonal branding.

Follow the landing page guidance for creating an appealing and entertaining page for your audience.

12. Use Wordplay

Wordplay involves using the multiple meanings of words, the literal and figurative meanings of idioms, or combining two words that sound the same for humor.

Using Halloween-related wordplay in your advertising is a great way to grab readers’ attention and keep them engaged.

If your online store is launching new Halloween products, consider using wordplay in the product names and calls to action to attract more attention.

Some successful cases can be listed as: Heinz with “Tomato Blood” for their tomato sauce, Tesco with “Spookermarket”, or e.l.f using their own brand name.

*Here are some wordplay examples for your Halloween marketing:

• Haunted Hot Deals - Don’t Ghost on These Offers!
• Scary Good Savings Inside!
• Creep It Real with Our Halloween Collection!
• Fangtastic Deals Await!
• Witchful Thinking: Our Spooky Sale Is On!

Don’t forget to use hashtags to promote your funny tag and encourage others to share content using it.

13. Use Informative Content

It’s great to add marketing elements but don’t go overboard. Excessive promotions may overshadow your brand’s core value. Apply marketing techniques subtly in your content and visuals, focusing on the value delivered to your clients.

You can create informative blogs with hot Halloween topics like costume and decoration ideas, food recipes, horror game lists, marketing ideas, etc. With skillful and interesting blogs, it will be easier to boost your SEO rankings and increase traffic. Furthermore, this approach can help attract new visitors and convert them into actual buyers.

ModCloth - a clothing store - heads to the game with a dedicated blog category page for Halloween-related topics, which inspires readers about fashion ideas. It is a natural way to guide customers to explore your latest collection, and make the brand relate to the upcoming holiday season.

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14. Launch UGC campaigns and events on social media

Using user-generated content (UGC) for your Halloween marketing campaign is a fresh way to engage potential customers.

This method of encouraging users to share visual content builds social proof and boosts organic traffic. Regardless of your business size, the right strategy and approach can bring you authentic customer engagement.

*There are plenty of ways to apply this idea and get closer to your clients, including:

• Use an Instagram story question box to ask users for their scariest horror tale
• Request user Halloween costume photos for your landing page
• Create a TikTok dance, sound, or theme, encouraging others to join

Remember to tailor the UGC campaign for each social media channel to drive traffic to your website and landing page.

15. Online games and quizzes

Organizing online games is one of the great Halloween marketing ideas that create excitement and strengthen your connection with customers, boosting interaction dramatically.

Here are online activities suggestions:

• Spin the Wheel: Add a little fun to current offers by letting shoppers play wheel-of-fortune games on your online store.

• Halloween Trivia: Organize a Halloween-themed trivia game on your social media platforms. Share interesting facts about Halloween and your products, and offer prizes to participants with the correct answers.

• Spooky Storytelling: Run a mysterious storytelling event where followers can submit their Halloween-themed short stories or anecdotes. Share the best stories and give credit to the authors.

• Guess the Ghost: Post images or riddles related to your products with hidden ghosts or Halloween-themed elements. Ask your audience to guess where they are hidden.

Also, it would be great to track down events’ statistics to prepare better next time. If you want to hold various campaigns on your website and social channels, consider using Google Tag Manager to save time modifying source code and optimizing tracking.

16. Email marketing

During holidays like Halloween, people are more likely to open emails in search of the best deals.

Be creative! Craft humorous subject lines and use email personalization to entice readers to click. A well-timed, festive Halloween email campaign with a compelling offer is hard to beat.

• For your loyal customers, send exclusive customized promotional emails to make them feel special.

• For your old customers, send an email to people who bought from you last Halloween to invite them to return this year with special deals. Choose the language that shows closeness with customers, like “we miss you” to show how they mean to your store.

By designing a striking black-themed email featuring a black cat as the central visual element, Lands’ End - a clothing retailer - impressed readers instantly. The spooky, minimalist aesthetic immediately captured visitors’ attention, while a countdown timer and a discount code created urgency for seasonal promotions.

17. Create Eye-catching Promotional Videos

Video marketing is booming! A study by Sandvine stated that online videos account for 65% of internet traffic in 2022. In fact, we have witnessed the impact of video content via TikTok, a strong competitor for other social media, forcing other channels to come up with video reels like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Use your creativity and Halloween theme to make a great promotional video for the holiday season.

If your products or services fit with Halloween, get involved.

In 2023, IKEA launched a Halloween campaign using childhood fears of monsters as its creative hook. The ad showcased shadowy figures around bedrooms, only to reveal IKEA furniture as the safe, reliable choice with the tagline “monsters not included”. By playing with familiar horror tropes and resolving the suspense with reassurance, the campaign highlighted IKEA’s family-focused design. This lighthearted, relatable approach made the ad both engaging and memorable for audiences.

Offline & In-Store Marketing Ideas for Halloween

Event-Based Marketing

18. Decorations, Contests, and Photo Booths

Create an immersive Halloween experience in your store to attract customers and encourage engagement. Use themed decorations, spooky displays, or interactive photo booths where shoppers can take fun pictures. Not only does this increase dwell time, but it also encourages social sharing, generating organic marketing buzz. Consider linking the photos to a hashtag campaign to boost online visibility.

For costume retailers like Spirit Halloween, this approach is essential. Every year, they launch fresh Halloween themes, introduce new product categories, and host exclusive in-store activities. As a result, shoppers eagerly visit the store, excited to explore the seasonal experience, and even film videos to review the experience.

19. Halloween Giveaways

Offer special Halloween-themed giveaways, such as coupons, small gifts, or branded merchandise. Make sure these promotions are redeemable both in-store and online to connect your physical and digital presence. For example, a customer who participates in an in-store activity could receive a coupon code to use on your website, driving traffic and increasing conversions across multiple channels.

In 2025, M&M’s launched the “Halloween Rescue Squad,” offering free candy deliveries to households running low on treats. This initiative not only provided a valuable service but also reinforced brand loyalty and increased customer engagement.

Customer Engagement

20. Trick-or-treat discounts for walk-in customers

For brands with physical stores, the tradition of “trick or treat” is common during Halloween. Don’t forget to locate your store on Google Maps to make it easier for customers to find you. Clearly mark your location and business hours during Halloween events so participants can plan their visit. Combined with themed events and discounts, this helps drive foot traffic and ensures customers don’t miss out on seasonal promotions.

21. Collaborate With Famous Brands

During special occasions, bet that you often see brands collaborating. It’s a great marketing effect that brings a win-win situation. This can be a fantastic Halloween marketing idea to increase awareness and break into new markets.

For more inspiration, consider this co-branding example:

![Collaborate With Famous Brands(https://cdn2.mageplaza.com/media/blog/halloween-marketing-ideas/collaboration.webp)

A famous example of collaboration is Cover Girl and Star Wars. Beyond promoting Star Wars, it also showcased CoverGirl’s contouring makeup. This collaboration allowed both brands to benefit significantly. Star Wars gained additional exposure to beauty-conscious audiences, expanding its reach beyond traditional fanbases, while CoverGirl leveraged the popular franchise to create limited-edition makeup products that captured attention and drove sales.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Halloween is a golden opportunity to boost sales while celebrating this spooky occasion. We hope our unique marketing ideas above will help you raise significant revenue this October and impress your customers to return in the next shopping season. And Happy Halloween!

Learn more:

• Holiday Marketing Hacks for Magento 2 stores
• 8 Christmas Marketing Campaigns
• Marketing Ideas for April Fool