World Cup: what the data is telling us

With the World Cup heading towards its finale, and having covered in-store activations from the more obvious categories linked to the tournament and those with less of a connection, we now look at the emerging data from retailers and away from home operators and what it could mean for the rest of 2026.

What did shoppers tell us ahead of the tournament?

Our ShopperVista research on seasonal events more widely and the World Cup specifically showed that 59% of UK adults said they planned to follow the tournament. Within this group, 36% said they would be tempted to spend more on food and groceries, up from 23% in November 2022. However, for this World Cup, promotions are playing a bigger role in shaping behaviour, with 46% saying they will look out for promotions during the World Cup, a significant increase from 34% in 2022. 

This reflects a broader shift in shopper behaviour. While cost-of-living pressures weighed heavily on shopper confidence in 2022, that World Cup’s proximity to Christmas could have encouraged them to spend more, while since then shoppers have become savvier with their spending. While appetite to spend is strong, shoppers are relying on promotions to justify spend, trading up to premium private label, NPD, convenient meal solutions and sharing formats. 

Ahead of the matches in May, 43% of followers said they planned to buy more convenient, easy-to-prepare foods, with later match timings reshaping mealtimes. Shoppers have been looking for quick and easy meals that fit around viewing occasions. Interestingly, they are experimenting with diverse cuisines, with world flavours in prepared and convenient categories appealing to viewers looking for more exciting match-day food.

What have we seen in retail? 

Data from retailers, Worldpanel by Numerator, and Nielsen have highlighted products that have performed strongly during the World Cup. From the doubling of sales of suncare products and an increase of 40% in sales of fresh beef burgers, with both being aided by the warm weather, to sales growth of 13% for fresh prepared salads and chilled dips and 23% for no- and low alcohol products, there have been several winners during the tournament. 

Meanwhile, echoing our pre-tournament shopper data, promotional sales have increased to account for 25% of sales, while further savvy purchasing tactics have seen the growth of private label sales by 5.4% in value terms and 0.3% in volume. However, some evidence of trading up has been seen, with retailers benefiting from a 9.1% growth in value sales of premium private products, with volume rising 6.2%. 

Finally, the data has underlined shoppers' growing interest in new cuisines and world flavours. It was called out that shoppers’ interest focused on Japanese, where sales rose 9.0%, Thai & South East Asian, up 14.8%, and Mexican, rising 7.1%, flavours being of particular interest. 

Underlining this did not just inform consumers’ at home purchases; research from Food vouchers showed that just over a third, 34.5%, would opt for a traditional Canadian, Mexican or American-inspired dish, with American-style food set to be the most popular (45%), followed by Mexican (33%) and Canadian (22%). 

What’s been driving growth for away from home operators?

While our pre-tournament research suggested that at-home viewing would dominate, 35% of World Cup followers, particularly younger, more affluent groups, planned to celebrate in pubs, bars and outdoor viewing locations. Many said they would switch between locations, opting for out-of-home occasions for key matches such as those involving home nations, weekend fixtures and finals. 

Data from POS payment provider Dojo, from the end of June, shows hospitality spending increased by 56% compared to the previous two weeks, with an additional £15 million spent across UK hospitality venues during England's opener. Slightly unsurprisingly, given the timing of matches, it said that spending at 11 pm was 353% higher than the equivalent period across the previous two weeks. 

Mirroring one of our predictions for the tournament, a different POS payment provider, Zonal, said it had seen an early and strong rise in bookings for the first England match, with reservations in pubs rising by 184% compared to a typical trading day, while across the wider hospitality sector, bookings increased significantly by +64% year-on-year.  

Supporting this view, Green King, at the end of June, said it had taken 5,600 bookings for England’s match with Croatia, while up to that point it had received for 65,000 covers, while Youngs has revealed that World Cup bookings were 35% ahead of plans by the end of May. 

However, the benefit was not limited just to games involving the home nations, with the opening match leading to a 51% increase in overall hospitality bookings, and pubs specifically seeing a 63% increase compared to the same date in 2025. 

Elsewhere, the UK’s largest pub company, Stonegate Group, has revealed that for England’s match against Mexico, it: 

• Poured 412,000 pints and 145,000 spirit drinks across its managed and Craft Union pubs, with Smirnoff Red its best-selling product, outperforming every draught line. 

• Saw Yorkshire overtake London as its top-performing region, pouring 126,000 drinks to London’s 124,000. 

• Sold 1,250 portions of fries to late-night fans. 

Demand from consumers staying up to watch the games was also seen by Caprinos Pizza, which reported that like-for-like sales rose 15% in the first week of the World Cup, driven by late-night orders, and Papa Johns, which reported that England’s game against DR Congo led to its third-highest single-day growth and second-busiest Wednesday ever. 

Takeaways to inform planning for the rest of 2026 and 2027

The data, both before the tournament and collected since, suggests that for retailers and suppliers: 

1. Consumers have been encouraged to adapt their spending slightly.

The World Cup has highlighted that savvy spending behaviours are difficult to shift, with value-led participation, premium private label trade-up, convenient meal solutions, low/no alcohol, world flavours, delivery/quick commerce, and experience-led out-of-home occasions performing well. 

2. Winners not just those amongst ‘obvious football-related’ channels and categories.

Burgers and suncare were clearly boosted by weather, but salads, dips, no/low, premium private label and world flavours connect to broader missions: easy hosting, social sharing, convenient meals and controlled indulgence. This makes them more relevant for the rest of 2026 than a narrow football-themed post-event review would suggest. 

3. Demand for convenience, sharing formats and meal solutions is likely to persist.

Retailers and suppliers should treat this as a broader 2026/27 mission: “easy hosting” rather than “football night”. That points to chilled prepared foods, world-flavour meal kits, loaded sides, dips, sharing platters, no/low drinks and quick commerce bundles.  

4. World flavours are growing in importance.

Using emerging and exciting world flavours will be increasingly key to attracting additional consumer spending. For 2027, world cuisine NPD should be built around accessible exploration rather than authenticity alone. In retail, that means sauces, dips, meal kits, premium ready meals, frozen sharing products and “build your own” formats. In away from home, it means small plates, loaded fries, fusion snacks, sharing boards and limited-time dishes that let consumers try a cuisine without committing to a full meal. The World Cup has validated world flavours as part of mainstream social eating; the next step is to convert it into year-round category architecture. 

Meanwhile, for away from home operators and their suppliers, the takeaways are: 

1. Consumers are willing to spend on moments that matter.

Despite tightening household budgets and soaring foodservice food and drink inflation, away from home World Cup performance demonstrates consumers are willing to invest in shared, food- and drink-adjacent experiences. Sporting events are only live once, and many fans are still willing to go out to share in the wins (and losses) together with their team. 

2. Sporting events are natural opportunities to encourage bookings.

Because sporting events are only live once and pubs, bars and outdoor viewing areas only have so much space, popular tournaments are a natural booking opportunity. Operators can build excitement for these events by sharing social proof of fans celebrating together and urgent messaging, such as “secure your tickets now” or “only a few seats left”. Ticketed bookings can be used to generate extra sales through an entry fee or food and drinks packages, such as a bucket of beer on entry. Suppliers can support by bundling food and drink for these packages and supplying equipment, such as beer buckets or glassware. 

3. Events with national interest will create demand with high trading peaks.

For operators, this means setting up for success. Ensure you have enough space to accommodate as many fans as possible. Move tables aside or invest in beer gardens to create more capacity. Ensure every consumer can see and hear the game well from wherever they are in the venue. Fans will likely wait until halftime or after the match to order. Schedule enough staff for these peak periods. Think about how to speed up service, such as by pre-pouring key draught lines, using express queues for low-effort drinks, using mobile ordering apps, or enabling pre-orders ahead of match breaks. 

For suppliers, this means making things easier for operators. Help them to set up for success by suggesting order increases in the run-up to events. This will ensure operators can focus on setting up, serving and closing down rather than worrying about whether they have enough stock. It will also avoid supply chain shortages or the need to add extra logistics support.