Soft drinks up 33.1% during Women's World Cup final
Data from CGA by NIQ revealed average sales by value compared with the average Sunday were up 46.4% and 33.1% for the LAD, which includes beer and cider, and soft drinks respectively.
Spirits sales saw modest growth with an increase of 13.4% while wine fared worst of all the included categories, with uplifts of 5.6%, and the cocktails were not far behind at 7.3%.
Big benefactor
Overall drinks sales were up 33%. Food sales were also up vs the average Sunday with a 15.9% hike, according to the data from CGA.
CGA by NIQ director of client services Jonathan Jones said: “Long alcohol serves, including beer, lager and cider, saw the biggest uplift in sales on the Sunday of the final, but soft drinks were also a big benefactor and were likely helped by the game kicking off in the morning.
“An overall uplift of 33% against the average Sunday was boosted by pubs being allowed to serve alcohol earlier because of the 11am kick-off.
“As Premier League football was also running on that Sunday, some fans may have made a day of it and watched all the fixtures in the pub.”
Key events
The tournament final saw England play Spain, with the latter winning the match 1-0.
Figures from the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) also showed pubs across the country saw trading increases of between 14% and 28% during the match, despite restrictions on when they could serve alcohol due to licensing hours.
The trade body also urged the Government to alter the Licensing Act 2003 to reflect the need for blanket licensing changes for moments such as the World Cup final last week.
BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “Despite the Government’s valuable work encouraging local authorities to support pubs on Sunday, we now need the law to reflect the reality that strict, prescriptive licensing cannot easily flex when key events are taking place while parliament is not sitting.”
