The 2014 World Cup appears to have kicked up more than a sea of Tim Howard fans in the United States. Increasingly more consumers appear to be interested in the sport.
Soccer-related searches in the month of June increased by 280% compared to May, according to a study of consumer search behavior performed by SLI Systems. What’s more, searches from Brazilian consumers showed a similarly dramatic increase.
The SLI Systems 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 just these eight ecommerce sites alone.
“Everyone knows that soccer is a popular sport in South America. Working with more than 800 ecommerce 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,” commented Tim Callan, CMO, SLI Systems.
“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,” said Tim Callan, the CMO of SLI Systems. “It is clear that tThe World Cup U.S. fanfare will continue long after Sunday’s final game.”
June 16 was the peak day for soccer-related shopping in the U.S., the day U.S. played Ghana. The peak day in Brazil was the July 3, the day before it played Columbia.
In the U.S., the international teams with most consumer interest are Brazil, followed by Germany, Argentina, and the Netherlands.
In Brazil, the international team with the most consumer interest is overwhelmingly Argentina. The second most popular international team, the U.S., received less than 5% the shopping behavior of Argentina.
The most popular search terms, in order, for the U.S., were soccer, USA soccer, FIFA, and Nike soccer. The most popular search terms, in order, for Brazil, were luvas de goleiro de futebol (soccer goalkeeper gloves), bola de futebol (soccer ball), camisas times de futebol (soccer team shirts), and FIFA.