These days, Halloween starts in summer. AI helps get coveted candy and costumes on shelves faster.

Getty Images; BI Mars and Walmart use AI to plan their Halloween candy and costume supplies early in the summer. Mars uses AI to predict consumer demand and plan candy production and distribution. Walmart's AI forecasts demand and helps plan inventory unloading and store stocking. Fall has just begun, but for companies in the Halloween candy and costume business , spooky season kicked off this summer. At Mars — the maker of candies like M&Ms, Twix, and Skittles — they've found that consumers want to maximize their Halloween festivities, Ramesh Kollepara, the SVP and global chief technology officer of the company's snacking division, told Business Insider. They're leaning into "Summerween" by buying trick-or-treat candy in July, Kollepara said, pointing to Mars' recent in-house report on consumer candy trends. "That means we have to think beyond a traditional Halloween selling window," Kollepara said.