The article explored the rise of autumn-themed seasonal offerings across retailers and how it impacts sales.

• Though autumn used to be a slow shopping season, Halloween sales have increased in recent years, and more retailers are offering autumnal flavors like apple and pumpkin.
• In 2024, Target offered 650 autumn-themed products and Trader Joe's offered 148.
• In 2020, Home Depot's 12-foot-tall Halloween lawn skeleton went viral online and sold out before October.
• Hill says that pumpkin spice in particular evokes natural, outdoorsy experiences like visiting pumpkin patches.

Professor Hill said: "It's between what they can do in the summer and what they can do during the holidays. It gives you another twist around the calendar and a different season to be able to get people engaged."

Read the article here.