The skeleton is currently a viral sensation driving massive amounts of interest on TikTok, with consumers flocking to third-party sites like eBay to snag the Halloween decoration for triple the original price.
According to Business Insider, ten Home Depot store locations reported that they had sold out of the skeletons as soon as they arrived in-store. Selling out of the skeleton prop shortly after new shipments come in has become the norm for the home improvement retailer.
The skeletons are listed at $299.00 at Home Depot stores, but often go for as much as $1,200 on eBay.
With LED lights for eyes and posable limbs, the skeleton has become a central fixture in creative Halloween lawn displays across the country. Customers have created hashtags around these spooky scenes, with TikTok videos of the prop racking up over 15 million views.
Facebook groups where members discuss ways to pose their skeletons, trade skeletons, and document their efforts to buy the in-demand product have grown to tens of thousands of members.
“It is amazing to see all the fun it brings to our customers,” Lance Allen, Home Depot’s decorative holiday merchant, told Business Insider. “His social media presence has taken him to a whole other level, he really has taken on a whole life of his own.”
Allen is credited with developing this winning product. Discovering unexpected New Winners, or products that experience a surge of popularity among consumers, is what all retailers aspire to achieve when building seasonal product assortments.
The viral success of Home Depot’s skeleton prop underscores the importance of product innovation and highlights the ways thinking outside the box can pay dividends for retailers.
After witnessing the massive success of the 12-foot skeleton in 2020, Home Depot released a 12-foot “inferno pumpkin” skeleton to further capitalize on this wave of popularity. The “inferno pumpkin” iteration features a pumpkin head instead of a skull.
Both have driven huge sales – Home Depot reported selling out of its early release of Halloween products almost immediately.
Allen was inspired to launch the skeleton prop at Home Depot after seeing oversized Halloween decorations at trade shows and haunted houses.
“The 12-foot skeletons are very popular again this year,” Allen told Business Insider. “While many of our popular Halloween products are already sold out online, customers could be lucky enough to find the skeleton along with other Halloween décor in stores.”
Home Depot has also released new outfits that consumers can purchase to extend the life of the prop into other seasons and holidays. A Santa Costume Kit for the 12-foot skeleton gives customers the option to keep the prop up through the winter as part of a ghoulish — and festive — lawn display.
The release of these ensembles proves Home Depot’s keen ability to quickly develop new product offerings in response to consumer trends.
Bamboo Rose’s B2B Marketplace allows retailers to identify New Winners with big potential to drive significant sales.
Marketplace connects retailers with supplier partners in a cloud environment, enabling real-time communication, design iteration, and transaction on a single platform.
Retailers and brands can collaborate with suppliers on product assortments, share product ideas with suppliers, and digitally shop and compare products across their supplier base through Virtual Showrooms.
Retailers can also curate Wish Lists to show suppliers the products they’re most interested in. Giving suppliers access to this information enables suppliers to recommend new products that are similarly likely to generate interest among consumers, opening the door to New Winners.
The centralized hub allows retailers to discover new products, identify and develop differentiating products, and drive revenue growth through product innovation.
Retailers have leveraged Marketplace to get products to market 45-60 days faster and save more than $500K annually in buying trips and sampling costs.
Ready to discover your next winning product? Try the Bamboo Rose platform today.