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Pirate and Darth Vader Costume Searches Lead in the UK
October 23, 2006
My favourite North American event is taking the UK by storm - well at least it's inching its way into the hearts and minds of UK consumers. The market share of UK internet searches for "halloween costumes" was up 19% last week over the same week in 2005 and up 24% over the same week in 2004. The chart below shows the weekly share of UK internet searches in 2005 and 2006 for "halloween costumes", illustrating the growth.
I confirmed at the weekend that I will be an angel again this year. I tried on my witch hat, but I much prefer the halo.
For those of you still struggling to find the ideal costume (whether for yourself or your young one) fear not - I have used the Hitwise Search Term Suggestion Report to identify the most searched for costumes - the top 10 search terms for a Halloween Costume that include the word "costume" are listed in the table below.
It seems that not everyone agreed with my review of Pirates of the Caribean, and as with 2005, pirate costumes are the most popular, followed by Darth Vader, Wonder Woman, and Medieval.
The content of the list of most searched for costumes has changed fairly significantly in the past couple of years. The most searched for costume in 2004 was "medieval costume". In 2005, notice the prominence of Victorian, Roman, Tudor, Medieval, and National in the list of costume related searches.
It is possible that Halloween is becoming more popular with kids who are more interested in dressing as superheroes. It is also possible that this represents a cultural change away from history toward American television and movies.
Whatever the reason, retailers should pay attention to the way consumers search. The top search term in 2004, 2005 and 2006 in the lead up to Halloween to include the keyword "costume" was "halloween costume ideas", a term which sent visits to websites in the Hitwise Lifestyle category (primarily Childrens and Family websites). The term "halloween costume" sent visits to websites in the Hitwise Shopping & Classifieds (Apparel and Accessories and Toys and Hobbies websites in particular).
The share of searches for "halloween costume ideas" was 27% higher last week than for "halloween costume". This offers a lesson to all retailers - be sure your search strategy covers the terms that consumers use in search queries. Sometimes the best opportunities are the highest volume terms that other have not yet cottoned on to.
(For US data, refer to LeeAnn's blog on Pirate Costumes).
Posted by Heather Hopkins at 11:36 AM
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Comments
Kevin - you are well ahead of the curve (or well behind it). The highest volume UK search term that included the word "turnip" last week was "the enormous turnip" - a children's book of which I was previously unaware. This was followed by "turnip townsend" and "turnip townshend" and several other random turnip related search terms. Alas, no searches for turnip costume among the top 30.
Perhaps, you can set the trend?
Posted by Heather Hopkins | October 25, 2006 04:06 AM
So even the poor old Grim Reaper has been knocked from the top ten. He must be pretty annoyed that lycra-wearing superheroes are taking his place. I guess then that it is strange that the retailers I've seen are still stocking the sort of things that would please Mr Reaper and friends.
However, I also must must say thanks for highlighting how, yet again, US imports are eroding UK culture. To redress the balance I'll take my turnip lantern (not a pumpkin), my druid costume (seemingly plenty of those available), my bonfire (a tradition conveniently moved to November 5th) and my sacrificial goat (OK, not a real one) to the top of a hill and indulge in some apple bobbing :-)
Posted by KevinL | October 24, 2006 11:41 PM