England's early exit from the World Cup will end up costing the grocery sector a whopping £300m, a leading analyst has estimated.
"Retailers will have hedged on England reaching at least the quarter finals," said Planet Retail head of research Greg Hodge. "They will be forced to discount products to clear them."
Sales would be hit hard, agreed the ACS. "This is not good news as retailers benefit significantly from these big occasions," said a spokesman. "The feelgood factor of England playing well would have seen an increase in sales generally."
Instead, retailers have slashed their prices in an attempt to shift the mountain of alcohol, food and football-related paraphernalia. Many have reduced unofficial England shirts to half price and Wilkinson is selling face paints, badges, bottle openers, hats, wigs and flags for 10p an item.
Non-food merchandise would be hard to offload, said one residual wholesaler, but consumables such as England-branded Mars bars and soft drinks would find a "home at a price".
"The England stock we have sold was mainly stuff we had sat on for four years, from the last tournament," he added. "At least the Olympics are only two years away so there's a chance to move it then."
However, supermarkets denied the exit would have a major impact.
Tesco, the official supermarket of the World Cup, said it was continuing its tournament promotions. "England were going to go out of the World Cup at some point unless they won," a spokesman said.
Asda said it always assumed the first two weeks of the tournament would be the busiest and that it had finished many promotions the Friday before the final England match.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's, which sold out of vuvuzelas, said: "World Cup offers have been running since the tournament began, and these have continued this week."
Sales of Carlsberg, the official beer of the England team, leapt 68% in volume in the week before the tournament.
"Retailers will have hedged on England reaching at least the quarter finals," said Planet Retail head of research Greg Hodge. "They will be forced to discount products to clear them."
Sales would be hit hard, agreed the ACS. "This is not good news as retailers benefit significantly from these big occasions," said a spokesman. "The feelgood factor of England playing well would have seen an increase in sales generally."
Instead, retailers have slashed their prices in an attempt to shift the mountain of alcohol, food and football-related paraphernalia. Many have reduced unofficial England shirts to half price and Wilkinson is selling face paints, badges, bottle openers, hats, wigs and flags for 10p an item.
Non-food merchandise would be hard to offload, said one residual wholesaler, but consumables such as England-branded Mars bars and soft drinks would find a "home at a price".
"The England stock we have sold was mainly stuff we had sat on for four years, from the last tournament," he added. "At least the Olympics are only two years away so there's a chance to move it then."
However, supermarkets denied the exit would have a major impact.
Tesco, the official supermarket of the World Cup, said it was continuing its tournament promotions. "England were going to go out of the World Cup at some point unless they won," a spokesman said.
Asda said it always assumed the first two weeks of the tournament would be the busiest and that it had finished many promotions the Friday before the final England match.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's, which sold out of vuvuzelas, said: "World Cup offers have been running since the tournament began, and these have continued this week."
Sales of Carlsberg, the official beer of the England team, leapt 68% in volume in the week before the tournament.
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