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Football fans boost UK sales across on- and off-trade
The UK’s faithful football fan helped to drive sales of UK groceries during the Euros with beer sales up by an average of 13% on the days that the England men’s team played the latest Kantar data showed, while pubs saw double the amount of pints pulled.
The latest figures show the impact the quarter-final round of the men’s UEFA European Football Championship had on the grocery sector, with beer seeing an average increase in beer sales on 16 June, 20 June, 25 June, 30 June, and 6 July of 13% compared to the same day the previous week.
However Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, noted that in addition to the spending on traditional match day fixtures (beer, crisps and snacks) no and low-alcohol beer also soared by 38% on matchdays, many of which fell on a ‘school night’.
This helped to boost the grocery channel, as the disappointing weather has seen some summer staples fail to materialise. Overall take-home sales at the grocers increased by 2.2% over the four weeks to 7 July 2024, Kantar said.
Meanwhile, the impact was also seen in the off-trade which saw pubs in England served up 334% more pints than usual during the final on Sunday when England lost to Spain.
Research from hospitality technology company, Access Hospitality analysed the data from pub till software from around 2,400 venues to see just how much fans were spending during England matches. It found that, on average, venues saw around 90% more pints pulled on the days when England was playing compared to a normal day, with sales up by an average of 98.7%. The number of pints served soared by 136% that day, generating an extra 147% in sales revenue – perhaps fuelled by the celebrations that followed England’s victory.
It found a +147% increase in sales during England’s semi-final win against The Netherlands, with an increase of +136% in pints sold.
The quarter-final against Switzerland saw more than £1.6 million spent on pints, up from £1.1 million the previous Saturday.