UK Finance News

Following on from our recent post ‘How England’s World Cup progress will boost UK economy‘, a fresh report from the same researchers claims that UK retailers are not the only ones hoping to profit from the World Cup.

The new report from Kelkoo calculates that spending on counterfeit England World Cup items will cost the UK retail industry a staggering £51million by the end of round two and should England reach the final this figure would almost double to £92.4million.

The report, commissioned by Kelkoo and co-authored by the Centre for Retail Research, estimates that overall, at least one in five (20.3%) World Cup related items sold in the UK are expected to have counterfeit origins.

The problem is already rife in South Africa, where FIFA lawyers have handled over 100 counterfeit cases since the beginning of the year. The largest counterfeit category is expected to be sports clothing or replica kits, with sales predicted to total £27 million by the end of the second round, and up to £49 million if England reaches the final.

Next, are souvenirs and memorabilia which could generate sales worth up to £27.6 million by the final round of the competition.

While 11% of respondents declared that they would never buy a fake, spotting a counterfeit shirt from an official item is not as straightforward as it seems, with 60% claiming that they would have difficulty telling the two apart.

While 65% of British adults say they have never bought any counterfeit goods, almost a quarter (24%) admit they have been tricked into buying bogus merchandise in the past, and one in nine (11%) confess to having knowingly bought fake goods.

However, almost one in four admitted that they would choose to buy a counterfeit over official merchandise to save money.

Visit the Kelkoo World Cup Buying Guide

Top tips so you don’t get caught ‘offside’ when it comes to buying World Cup England football shirts:

• Buy from a legitimate High Street or Online Retailer – retailers supplied directly by Umbro include JD Sports, JJB and Sports Direct among others.
• The quality of the fabric is often a giveaway and many fake shirts are not as well cut as the official ones, giving an ‘asymmetric’ effect.
• Check the stitching on the logos, seams, badges and buttons – counterfeit shirts are often more flimsy.
• Check the badge – often counterfeits carry a slightly different, simplified design.
• Although some legitimate retailers such as Asda are selling shirts for significantly less than the RRP of £49.99, a ridiculously low price is often a giveaway – remember if a deal seems too good to be true, it often is!