NEW DELHI: US sports apparel brand, Nike may not be the official sponsors of the FIFA World Cup, yet the company claims it has gained the most from the Indian market as its logo can be visible on the jerseys of Brazil, France, Portugal and England.
Their sales are expected to soar further as all of them have qualified for the Round of 16 and Nike aims to ride on the teams’ global appeal and star players.
Although Nigeria lost to Argentina dramatically to be knocked out of the competition, its lime green and white zigzag patterned team kit made the American giant receive around 3 million pre-orders in India, Times of India reports.
“In India, the response to Brazil and France jerseys has been very encouraging,” Nike India chief marketing officer Keerthana Ramakrishnan told TOI. “The national kits of Portugal and England follow.”
On e-commerce platform Amazon, however, it is the Argentina shirt, which is with Nike’s arch rival adidas, that is seeing the highest uptake. “Argentina is the most popular country in terms of fan jerseys purchased on Amazon followed by Germany and Brazil,” a company spokesperson told Livemint.
adidas, which is not only the official sponsor of the tournament but also the official merchandise partner for 12 teams in the competition, notes that the rising popularity of football in the country and the World Cup being held in Russia has led to people purchasing more merchandise than the last edition of the tournament in Brazil.
“We are experiencing an upturn in football sales during the 2018 edition of the World Cup versus the 2014 tournament,” said Sean Van Wyk, senior marketing director, adidas India, told the business daily.
Interestingly, the most popular jerseys being sold directly by adidas are those of Germany, Argentina and Spain, in that order.
As Van Wyk told TOI: “The most popular teams so far at this World Cup have been Germany, Argentina and Spain, and this is where the majority of federation jerseys have been sold. We are also experiencing pleasing results in the sales of some of the underdogs’ fan wear. Jerseys for Belgium, Mexico and Japan have been selling well, although at lower volumes. Kids’ federation jerseys have seen very positive sales, as expected, with the sport of football growing fastest with the youth.”
Fellow German sportswear brand Puma, meanwhile, said it has witnessed a 37% increase in sales over the last month in football merchandise.
“Young consumers are buying football related merchandise across our stores as well as through e-commerce platforms,” Abhishek Ganguly, managing director, Puma India, told Livemint.
Football shoes, jerseys and equipment are the top three selling products. Puma has witnessed a 40% growth from the football category over last year, Ganguly told the business daily.
Alcis Sports, an Indian performance wear brand, which has been selling official FIFA merchandise through large format stores such as Shoppers Stop and e-tailer Flipkart, said that it has seen a 50% spike in the sales of football merchandise.
