As football fans across the country brace themselves for a thrilling Euro 2024, Retail Week takes a look at the tournament’s impact on the retail sector and which categories will come out on top
As the much-anticipated UEFA Euro 2024 kicks off a widely touted summer of sport, the UK is set to be swept up with football fever till the end of the tournament on July 14.
For the world of retail, the Euros could not have come at a better time. After what’s been a wet and cold summer, dampening footfall and spending, retailers are hoping to ride the football wave and translate that into sales.
As the first major men’s international summer football tournament to take place restriction-free since the Covid-19 pandemic, hopes are high for the competition to give the UK economy a significant boost.
Retail Week takes a closer look at how the tournament will impact retail spend and which categories are likely to be the big winners.
Open goal
In the UK, Euro 2024 is expected to attract the eyeballs of 35.5 million people.
As a result, the economy is projected to get a £2.75bn boost on everything from food and drink sales to electricals, souvenirs, garden cooking and more, according to the Men’s UEFA Euro 2024 Spending Report by VoucherCodes.
This figure is higher than the £2bn boost the UK economy received from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, despite that tournament having an additional 13 matches with greater international reach.
Retail spend contributes a significant proportion to the economic boost, with an estimated £2.1bn predicted to be spent over the course of the tournament.
Retail sales volumes dropped by 2.3% across most sectors in April, following a fall of 0.2% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics.
With sales taking a hit from wet spring weather resulting in reduced footfall, the tournament offers a golden opportunity for retailers, says Ryan Leigh, chief technology officer at Bringg, a delivery management platform that partners with retailers like Co-op and Shopify.
He says: “With the UK experiencing a flatline in sales in April, and only just bouncing out of the recession experienced towards the end of last year, the Euros offers a shining opportunity for certain sectors to recoup lost sales.
“Some brands, particularly those that have snagged a sponsorship or partnership deal with the England men’s football team, are already pre-warning retailers of the expected uptick in sales.
“Supermarkets and fashion retailers with licensed merchandise will expect to see the greatest impact of this, but even sectors such as consumer electronics are finding creative ways to capitalise on the football frenzy.”
Food and drink is set to come out as the big winner, with £1.4bn expected to be spent in the category as viewers opt to watch games at home.
The second largest spend of £288.6m is predicted in the electricals category as fans invest in TVs and TV accessories to improve their viewing experience.
Sportswear and merchandise are also set to get a boost, benefiting from high demand during the tournament, with spending predicted to reach £238.1m and £96.2m respectively.
Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, says the football frenzy is already translating into sales.
Online sales of England merchandise skyrocketed by 115% while online spend on big-screen TVs grew by 14.4% in May, giving ecommerce sales a much-needed boost after a sluggish start to the year, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index.
Pandya says: “Retailers will be backing the team to go all the way and ride the wave of optimism that has in the past translated into greater consumer confidence, and a big boost in spending that would get the sector back alive and kicking.”
On the field
As fans gear up for Scotland’s first match against Germany on Friday and England’s first game against Serbia on Sunday, retailers have already been seeing an uptick in sales, with the first positive signs coming from the electricals sector.
TV and audiovisual sales at John Lewis grew by 47% compared with the same time last year, with shoppers spending on average 13% more on their TVs ahead of the games.
As demand for larger screens increases, Argos expects to sell four TVs every minute – or more than 180,000 units – during the course of the Euros.
Lisa Hollidge, business unit director for seasonal toys and electricals at Argos, expects demand to inch up further into the tournament.
She says: “Major sporting events tend to be a time when we see sports fans upgrade their televisions and entertainment systems. Similarly to 2021, we anticipate TV search demand to increase further following the kick-off of the 2024 football tournament.
“It’s clear that customers are looking for the best technology on the market and, in 2024, the emphasis is on larger TVs to really create the ultimate viewing experience at home.”
In the food and drinks category, discount supermarket chain Lidl has bagged a multi-year agreement to become an official partner of the tournament, bringing increased visibility to the retailer, while Marks & Spencer continues its Eat Well, Play Well partnership with the UK’s home nations as it braces itself for an uptick in food sales.
Over in the sports sector, Sports Direct has launched its Euros 2024 campaign, taking over all of its social media channels to make the most out of its key football category.
Sports Direct’s managing director Ger Wright is optimistic about the period. “We’ll see a big boost in sales predominantly due to the product we have access to now,” she says.
“So, every one of those high-end products that you see in the campaign, we will have front and centre in our stores and ecomm channels.”
As the football season brings a possible solution to retail’s wet-weather problem, retailers across categories are cheering for the England and Scotland teams in the hope that it brings summer spending back on track.
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