World Cup boosts pint sales by 50%
During the two home nations games on Monday, England v Iran and Wales v USA, an average of 436 pints of draught beer or cider were sold per pub, equating to an additional 76 pints and an extra £906 income for operators, according to the data.
Furthermore, the figures showed total sales were up 50% compared with the previous four Monday's.
Oxford Partnership attributed Monday’s success to an increase in time spent in on-trade on match days, with consumer dwelling time increasing by 11 minutes, which means time for an extra drink and increase to average spend per head.
Clawing back deficits
Furthermore, outlet occupancy rates saw a 31% increase compared with an average Monday, thanks in part, according to the data, to the opening World Cup matches being home nations games.
This follows recent data from CGA showing 20% of consumers intended to visit their usual on-trade venues specifically to watch the tournament.
CGA client director GB drinks Paul Bolton said: “The FIFA World Cup is a massive opportunity for the on premise and drinks suppliers to claw back any recent deficits caused by market turbulence, and to finish the year on a high.”
Category wise, the data showed World Lager was the most popular serve, accounting for 125% of the uplift with Stout the second favourite drink of choice at 80%.
Additionally, total lager and cider sales made a 63% and 43% upward contribution to the boost respectively while ale proved less popular with pubgoers, accounting for 25% of the sales.
Hand in hand
This comes as earlier this week figures from Hey Discount showed a potential £91m could be spent on pints in pubs if England were to reach the World Cup final.
Moreover, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) expressed hope the tournament would boost trade within the sector as Christmas bookings had seen a 20% decline.
BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “Football and pubs go hand in hand and even though times are incredibly tough and the cost of doing business is still rocketing our publicans are still ready to provide a warm welcome to fans.
“We’re hoping this World Cup to provide a significant boost to the industry and are urging people to get out and support their local if they can by cheering on their favourite team with a pint in hand.”
