Everyone's got World Cup Fever!

In honour of all that imminent footie, and because I won't be blogging for at least a week while I'm away (somewhat unfortunately timed to coincide with the start of the World Cup, how did that happen..) a themed post...

Firstly. As one with usually only the most passing of interests in football, concepts such as the Off-Side Rule remained a inalienable conundrum to me, until I heard the shoe shop analogy.. Prepare to be enlightened, and for those who already know football's mysterious secret, check that I've got it right...

We're in a shoe shop. The Till is the Goal, and the Cashier is the Goalkeeper.

If you are in the queue for the till and you are not the first in line, obviously if you're in the mood for a splurge you can get a friend to get you more shoes and pass them to you without causing any problems, so that scenario is OK.
But if you are at the till already and your friend is trying to passes you the shoes, then that's a issue- it's going to cause a hold up and people will start moaning, so that scenario is not OK.  And in fact that is off-side.

The offside rule requires two people between you and the goal when you receive the ball to be on-side. One of those is typically the goalkeeper. And now it all makes perfect sense...

And this leads me not quite seamlessly on to a slightly more relevant point.
The World Cup kicks off in two days, and retailers are frantically hoping that it's going to kick off a shopping frenzy, after the British Retail Consortium reveals that sales rose only 0.8% last month. Businesses are counting on the heady mix of summer weather and football fever to encourage us to spash our cash with gay abandon. But, whilst it's estimated by Verdict Research that UK retail expenditure will see a £1.3bn boost during the World Cup, it's certainly not all good news for our retailers.
Verdict believe that the benefit will be far from blanket, with the additional expenditure seen primarily in the food and grocery sectors, (all those burgers and beers), with a small increase in clothing and footwear (England kits for the optimistic) and that for example electrical retailers should not count on seeing the same astonishing sales that the 2006 World Cup drove, as the demand for new tedchnology is lower in the current economic climate.
They also warn that the towncentres will be badly hit, as people are more inclined to stay at home, and spend their money locally, during this football season, and finally that the homewares/furniture/diy market will suffer the most, nobody has the time or the inclination to put up a wardrobe when there's World Cup action to catch.. Or something.

It will be interesting however, to observe the impact of e-commerce on these predictions, given that UK online retailing has seen a annual growth of 21% according to eMarketer over the four years since the last World Cup. This will inevitably mean that more people will be logging on during matches, at half time, and at full-time for a victory shop, a commiseratory splurge, or perhaps just a purchase borne of boredom and quiet desperation.

I suspect that not for the first time e-commerce will come to the rescue, proppping up otherwise potentially disappointing sales- here's hoping this World Cup season will bring good fortune to both the UK retail industry and whoever you're supporting.

Good Luck to both!