PRESS RELEASE
With the 2022 World Cup only a month away, new data released from retail data app Reapp predicts pizza will be the top choice for consumers whilst they cheer on the Three Lions from their sofa this winter.
Using insights from the last World Cup in 2018, Euros 2020 and the latest consumer trends – Reapp expects a huge uptake in supermarket pizza sales across the UK during November and December, as consumer trends shift due to rising living costs and the new calendar date for the top global football tournament.
The UK pizza market, which includes dining out, takeaways and cook-at-home pizza, is worth £4.9 billion.1 During the World Cup 2018 over 8 million supermarket pizzas were eaten. The semi-final alone saw nearly 302,000 pizzas sold – a whopping 86% uplift on a normal day. During the Euros in 2021, there was a 35.1% rise in pizza sales and an increase in revenue of £1.50M (£4.50M to £6.08M) from the same period (June 11th to July 11th) in the previous year.2
With around 1 in 3 consumers now cutting back on takeaway food as the cost-of-living crisis bites3, and over 20 million people saying they will be watching the World Cup4, this year’s tournament is gearing up to be a crowd-pleaser for supermarket pizza sales – which is predicted to top 10millon sales during the tournament.
Reapp works with the UK’s biggest brands to help them understand how their products are performing in-store every day; alongside where the challenges lie and how to maximise sales at scale and speed.
Greg Phillips, CEO at Reapp said; ‘This year’s World Cup is interesting both for retailers and brands. It’s the first time a World Cup has been played during the UK’s winter months, so already we are expecting sales of snacks and drinks to differ from previous World Cup tournaments. Add in the cost-of-living crisis and people budgeting for Christmas, and consumers are going to be even more driven towards offers to maximise their grocery budget.”
Data insights from Reapp also reveal which region in the UK tops the chart as pizza lovers- and what day of the week most Brits are munching on their favourite fakeaway. The Northwest has the highest pizza sales with a whopping £47,666.715 being sold in just one month. London (43.6K), Scotland (41.2K) and Wales (40.8K) follow behind, whilst the South Coast sees the lowest number of pizza lovers with sales at £21,273.96.
Friday has taken the “Take-Out Night” crown from Saturday with pizza sales hitting the highest weekly sales on Fridays. Average pizza sales on Fridays are £21.07k, with Saturdays following closely behind with average sales of £19.58k.
As no fakeaway is complete without an alcoholic drink, Reapp is also predicting a boom in supermarket sales of alcohol during the World Cup- especially when there is an 8pm kick-off. During UEFA Euro 2020 (June 11th to July 11th 2021) supermarkets saw a 68.60% uplift in alcohol sales – with the day preceding the final between England vs Italy seeing a 99.94% increase in sales. Highest alcohol sales value in a UK region was in Yorkshire and the Humber, with an average sales value of £438,080.895.
Our Sources:
2 Pizza Sales Over UEFA Euro Competition Period (2021) Versus 2020 Sales – data by Reapp
3HGEM
5 Data taken from 11th June and 11th July 2021 (Euros 2020) in leading UK supermarket by Dee Set.