The impressive effect of the World Cup on Argentine e-commerce

"The purchase intention of each person is conditioned by a multitude of factors that can either discourage or enhance it. As marketers, we cannot overlook the environment in our paid strategies, value propositions, and brand storytelling.

"E-commerce is an emotional phenomenon," says the head of the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Commerce, Alberto Calvo, and this was confirmed during the championship that definitely made us experience a wide range of emotions.

How did the World Cup affect Argentine e-commerce?

The Argentine agency, We Are, conducted a survey with more than 30 clients and their statistics during the World Cup, from which they discovered some very interesting patterns.

After Scaloni's team lost to Arabia, the sessions (that is, the interactions that take place on a website during a given period) decreased by 15% in more than 15 brands.

But when Argentina started winning, the traffic the following day began to increase more and more, reaching 22% on each date.

In fact, during the days between the first game, the defeat, and the second game, paid campaigns suffered along with each fan: there were 26% fewer clicks and 66% fewer conversions. After the victory with Mexico, clicks increased by 77% and conversions by 230%, and from the game against the Netherlands until the final, the cost per click remained 50% lower than the previous weeks.

In addition, the study found a common pattern among brands that were official sponsors of the national team or that carried out specific actions tied to the tournament results: sessions increased up to 165% on key dates of the competition.

"The previous assumption that we wouldn't sell anything during the World Cup because people were thinking about something else was completely wrong, and the numbers proved it," says Alan Soria, co-founder and director of We Are.

According to data provided by the agency, of all the dates that Argentina won, the most influential was the third, in the qualification for the round of 16. There, direct and organic traffic began to grow up to 65%, and purchases doubled. "It's not that the campaigns were more effective, but that users typed in the URL and went straight to buy," emphasizes Soria.

Finally, until the game with Poland (semi-finals), the best-selling products were TVs and audio equipment; from the final onwards, products for the garden, swimming pools, portable speakers, and other goods associated with summer were the most popular."