The World Cup boosts sales of sports gear and souvenir

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01:11

The World Cup season is when sports gear and souvenir vendors lapping their sales.

Adidas is the sportswear sponsor for 12 teams this year, including Germany, Argentina, Spain, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, Sweden and Japan. Some of them have huge fan bases in China. Fans are pouring into this Adidas flagship store in downtown Beijing. They want to buy the same soccer jerseys and shoes as favorite teams and players wear in the World Cup games.

The famous sport brand also designed the official soccer ball for the games this year. But it’s not easy for fans to take it off. “We only sell 865 sets of this limited edition soccer ball gift box. It's 4,999 yuan each,” said Duan Meng, Adidas Sanlitun Store Brand Director. Duan also noted that the store expects “at least 20 percent growth in sales than in summers without the games.”

A super soccer ball, designed by Adidas, displays in Sanlitun, Beijing, China. /VCG Photo

Not only in China, the sport game but also remains as a driver of growth for Adidas in the rest of the world. The Germany-based company said in early May that its running, football, training and Adidas Originals categories each grew by double digits, helping to drive an overall 11 percent revenue increase within its Adidas brand.

Another big name, Nike, has 10 teams on its World Cup roster: Brazil, England, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal and South Korea. CEO Mark Parker is “excited about the impact” on its Europe, Middle East and Africa segment.

Small merchandizes such as plastic horns and country flags are also highly sought after among soccer fans. A vendor told CGTN that they have started piling inventories since last year and pre-order at least millions of inventories.

England has probably the biggest fan base in China, as their flags and world cup souvenirs have the best sales, based on some vendors’ sales data. Following England on the list are Germany, Spain and Croatia. The sales of their country flags and hats are good indicators of their popularity in China.

(CGTN’s Wang Yue also contributed to the story.)