Winter cup to bring more ‘uncertainity’ in retail

The Winter World Cup has added a new level of uncertainty to UK supermarkets’ Christmas, states an analysis by Reuters today (19), as questions are being raised on how to persuade defaulting shoppers to buy Christmas and luxury biscuits at the same time as beer and pizza.

The football tournament in Qatar, taking place between November 20th and December 18th, falls right in the important festive commercial district where the highly competitive sector normally generates a large part of its annual profit.

Similarly, World Cups, which traditionally take place in the northern hemisphere during the summer, tend to give UK supermarkets a big boost as households stock up on beer, wine and spirits, grills and snacks and host large gatherings.

However, buyer confidence was at record lows even before the government’s new economic plan, now reversed, sent mortgage rates soaring and sparked fears that a sharp fall in house prices could worsen the cost-of-living crisis.

This means that the combined expenses are likely to be less than if the two events were months apart.

Retail executives say the World Cup, which was postponed to the winter to avoid Qatar’s intense summer temperatures, has completely derailed the algorithms they are increasingly using to predict trade and plan their logistics.

“This is a bit of a curveball in terms of how to plan for Christmas and a World Cup at the same time,” Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco told reporters this month.

Tesco is planning special signage in stores to draw customers’ attention to football celebration products and offers. This will be separate from the dedicated Christmas products section.

Meanwhile, according to Kantar, shoppers visited  supermarkets an additional 13 million times during the last World Cup in July 2018, which coincided with a prolonged heatwave.