Online beer sellers cheer on soccer frenzy

Beer consumption is set to soar at the upcoming FIFA World Cup after falling in recent years. And e-commerce sites are giving sales an added push as they entice customers with large discounts and home delivery.

In a run-up to the start of the soccer tournament being hosted by Brazil, 1.6 million cans of beer were snapped up on Tmall on June 4, the consumer website reported.

Sales jumped to 6.25 million yuan ($999,920), equivalent of 20 days' combined revenue of a large-scale supermarket in China, according to company data.

AB InBev, Snow Beer and Tsingtao, among other leading brewers, have embraced the Internet in hopes that fans will seek to scout World Cup essentials online.

Customers from Shanghai are the most avid beer buyers online, grabbing over 20,000 cans of beer a day since the beginning of June, Taobao data showed.

The biggest single purchase came from a buyer in Guangdong province, who spent over 15,592 yuan to quench his thirst for the beverage.

Brewers are building up reserves to avoid selling out. Tsingtao remains the most popular domestic beer, while German brewer Valentins tops the list for foreign brands.

To ensure customers get the freshest product, Tmall provides same-day delivery service in 42 cities.

It would seem that China's beer culture, which developed during the 2012 European Cup, is set to get even bigger, predicted soccer fan Zhang Jingfei.

Zhang said his enthusiasm for the beverage stems from an affection for the drink and a desire to find discounted goods online.

The World Cup is a springboard for beer to post its best results in a decade, according to a study by Euromonitor International.

Yihaodian.com, a leading Chinese online supermarket in which the US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc has a stake, has also joined the fray. Its partnership with Jiuxian.com, an e-seller of wines, has won it a competitive edge in online alcohol sales.

The website also has attracted customers by interacting with buyers via micro blogs and video-sharing sites, and is considering night food deliveries to meet soaring demand during the month-long soccer event.

But not just beer is being consumed. As fans around the world celebrate the championship in a great global party, e-commerce retailers are doing a roaring trade in colorful national flags, kits and trophies.

"Brazilian jerseys are selling like hot cakes these days," said Chen Zhiyu, an online vendor on Taobao. His rosy viewpoint dates back to the 2012 tournament, when each time he replenished his stock, it was sold out the next morning.

"Apart from Brazil, kits for Spain, Germany, Netherlands and England will also be sought-after items," he said.

The term "World Cup" was firmly on Taobao's list of hot topics on Monday, with the search term showing up more than 20,000 times, up 51.4 percent from a week earlier.

Businesses are hoping that the phenomenon can boost online sales of virtually everything, from electronics to sporting goods to imported food.

Appliance retailers like Suning and Gome are using soccer frenzy to promote TV sets and electronic gadgets as people count down the days until the World Cup matches begin.

An online pre-order notice is posted on the website of Suning, which offers a set of Philips sound boxes for just 1,099 yuan and comes with a package of discount coupons.

"I'm definitely going for a pair of earphones online," said Dai Qiming, a soccer fan in Shanghai. But he added: "They'd better be those home-delivered ones so I don't have to leave home before the game starts."

hewei@chinadaily.com.cn