A new report from grocery retail research firm IGD has found that UK shoppers felt the most confident ever about their financial outlook while England was still in the Fifa World Cup.
The research was conducted from 14 June to 12 July with 1,700 British grocery shoppers. They were asked if they believed they would be better off financially in the next 12 months.
There was an increase in positive responses from 18% at the beginning of the tournament to 30% in the week of the semi-finals - the highest figure ever recorded by IGD - compared with 19% and 23% for the same time period last year. Following England's defeat after its match with Croatia, this fell to just 20%.
Infographic provided by IGD
Impact Of "Significant Events"
Commenting on the change in attitudes and shopping behaviours during this period, Rhian Thomas, head of shopper insight at IGD, said, “Our daily feedback from shoppers during the last five weeks paints an interesting picture of the impact significant events such as the World Cup have on shopper outlooks and behaviours.
"We can see that financial outlook for shoppers has been influenced during this period, suggesting that, while an event such as this doesn’t necessarily have a direct impact on shopper finances, it can inspire a lift in attitudes and behaviours in general."
Thomas also pointed out that some sectors took particular advantage of the competition and the spend-happy mood of customers.“The increase in food-to-go shopping trips during England’s successful run, peaking during the semi-finals week, suggests that convenience was a key factor during this time and we predict businesses that invested in on-the-go options would have seen a positive response," he said.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
