Bars and public places attracted a big crowd during the World Cup, but watching at home remains the most popular choice amongst Belgians – directly affecting their purchase behaviour on multiple fast moving categories.
Amongst households watching the group phase of the World Cup, 85% of those responsible for purchases in their household indicated that they watched at home, rather than going out. Added to that, about two thirds of these at-home viewers said they watched the games with their family. Not only did they buy in drinks and snacks to consume during the match, but plans for dinner were also changed, with people wanting to be ready in time to support the Red Devils’ games.
Where people watched affects their level of purchases
A quarter (25.2%1) of the Belgian households who watched the group phase at home purchased beer for in-home consumption in June – compared to 21.2% of those who watched elsewhere, and just 16.6% of those not watching at all. On top of this, the in-home viewers who purchased beer bought an average of 12.6L, making them 21.0% more intense consumers, compared to the out-of-home viewers who bought beer.
For sparkling soft drinks (cola, lemonade, etc), World Cup enthusiasts are more intense consumers, driven by those watching at home. In fact, the volume of sparkling soft drinks bought per household for those watching outside the home was 14.6% lower than those watching on their own screen.
The salty snacks category follows the same trend, with the volume per buyer being 3.1% higher amongst at-home viewers versus those not watching; and dropping even further for those watching the match outside the home.
Who are the at-home viewers?
Unsurprisingly, the 50+ year olds are most likely to watch at home – either with family or alone – while the younger generations have higher percentages who watched the games elsewhere.
However, for those of the younger generations who did watch from home, they generally did so with friends, rather than watching alone.
Conclusion
Major sports events clearly have an impact on FMCG purchases, but to different levels for different product categories and shopper groups.
For data on the likely effect of a major sport event on sales for your product category, please contact Dimitri.Leys(at)gfk.com.
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1 GfK Consumer Panel, Belgium
