Whilst there is no doubt that the World Cup 2010 will have a huge impact on the South African economy and that certain channels of UK business such as Audio Visual sales will be predictably much higher, if my memory serves me correctly the stationery trade noticed a downturn in general business during the last World Cup in 2006?
There were also numerous stories about how much the World Cup had cost UK businesses in terms of staff absenteeism and loss of productivity.
The fixture list for the World Cup has approx 30 matches kicking off during normal business hours either at 12:30 or 15:00 hrs GMT. Crucially England’s 3rd Match (no doubt another nail biting ‘will we qualify match’) will be during business hours at 15:00 GMT. How much will that cause disruption to the nations productivity, sales motivation & absenteeism?
As with all major sporting events the key is to embrace it rather than try and fight it off; we will certainly be installing temporary TVs and doing the necessary to ensure that our employees have the opportunity to be part of the action, if they so desire.
It’s a bit of a double edged sword, we want the World Cup for fever & excitement but at what cost to our business? A poll from business advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers recently claimed that a victory for England at the World Cup could significantly boost the economy, lets hope so, although methinks that most of that boost will probably be through sales of all those little plastic England flags that fit on your car window… ;o)
- So did you suffer with poor sales during 2006?
- What business plans do you have for the World Cup?
- Will we see a downturn again do you think?
- Any ideas to pre-empt any downturn?
- Are you doing anything for your employees?
