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World Cup has led to a 280 percent increase in soccer-related online shopping in the US

The 2014 World Cup appears to have kicked up more than a sea of Tim Howard fans in the United States.

July 11, 2014

The 2014 World Cup appears to have kicked up more than a sea of Tim Howard fans in the United States. E-commerce technology firm SLI Systems says it studied consumer search behavior between March 2 and July 9, 2014. For the month of June, soccer-related searches increased by 280 percent compared with May. Searches from Brazilian consumers showed a similarly dramatic increase, according to the company.

The company conducted its study across eight international sporting goods and apparel retailers with combined monthly revenue of approximately $500M and analyzed more than 341 million consumer searches to track interest in soccer-related products, using country-specific product terminology from the U.S. and Brazil. The interests of U.S.-based consumers were clear: There were more than 2.2 million soccer-related product searches from these eight e-commerce sites alone.

“Everyone knows that soccer is a popular sport in South America. Working with more than 800 e-commerce vendors globally, SLI has the means to readily track which products they shop for online. We were curious to learn how the World Cup has affected interest in soccer and soccer goods in the U.S. and to compare that with Brazil,” said Tim Callan, CMO of SLI Systems.

“Soccer is played year-round in the U.S., but recreational soccer gear tends to be purchased before fall and spring seasons. We found a boost in online shopping behavior during June for products ranging from soccer cleats, balls, shin guards, gloves and other equipment, demonstrating the country’s increased interest in actually playing the sport. It is clear that the World Cup U.S. fanfare will continue long after Sunday’s final game.”

Additional findings from the study:

• June 16, the day the U.S. played Ghana, was the peak day for soccer-related shopping in the U.S.. The peak day in Brazil was the July 3, the day before it played Colombia;
• in the U.S., the international teams attracting the most consumer interest were Brazil, followed by Germany, Argentina, and the Netherlands;
• in Brazil, the international team attracting the most consumer interest is overwhelmingly Argentina. The second most popular international team, the U.S., received less than 5 percent of the shopping behavior observed for Argentina.