The Qatar World Cup season, along with the ongoing Black Friday discount sales is expected to generate a whopping $70 billion revenue for the retail sector in MENA, a latest report said.
The soon-to-be kicked off soccer tournament alone is projected to provide a boost to the festive retail season with an $8.4 billion gross merchandise value for online retail in the region, the report by global digital services consultancy Redseer in partnership with TikTok, said.
The gross merchandise value for online retail in 2021 was estimated at $6.5 billion.
According to the report, digital media will take the lead in enabling the opportunity with e-commerce, as product discovery is dominated by digital channels.
“Online searches – at 69 percent – were found to be the top channel that respondents plan to use to search for new products during the football season, followed by social media (64 percent), online customer reviews (63 percent), and brand and retailer apps (55 percent)”, the RedSeer-TikTok report said.
“The upcoming football season is an unparalleled opportunity for brands to tap into a huge, passionate, and highly engaged audience,” Joanne Chehab, head of business partnerships for managed services and global business solutions – MENA at TikTok, said.
“TikTok will be one of the major channels through which this audience will engage with content,” he said.
TikTok registered a massive 129 billion views in 2021 for the #football hashtag globally on its platform.
The report said 72 percent of respondents said they use social media to discover content related to their favorite sport, with 70 percent revealing that they expect to consume more short form video content during the football season.
Akshay Jayaprakasan, associate partner, Redseer Middle East, said the current digital era is expected to make this year’s FIFA World Cup the most inclusive one, helping it reach people from all walks of life.
“As high as 93 percent of viewers are expected to watch the World Cup with their friends and family, highlighting the theme of togetherness that will run through this period of celebration,” Jayaprakasan said.
He said digital media has democratised advertising, ensuring that even smaller brands can find a suitable offering to meet specific needs at a reasonable price.
With 83 percent of football fans using their smartphone while watching matches, innovative storytelling, leveraging the right formats, will help brands create everlasting brand recall, the report said.
The report also found that digital ad spend has overtaken traditional ad spend, indicating that brands and retailers should double their focus on digital media during this period to maximise value creation for themselves and their target consumers.
“Additionally, creators will have a substantial role to play in driving home meaningful stories for brands, as 80 percent of respondents said they are influenced by digital media content creators to follow football season updates,” the report said.
Aside from retail, the report projected that the World Cup soccer period to generate a $4 billion opportunity through tourist spends, with 51 percent of it coming from spending on accommodation.
The report also found that the tourist mix for the Qatar World Cup will see a higher representation from women and people under 45 than previous tournaments.
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