England semi-final to prompt £365m food delivery spend

Brits will spend over £100 per person before, during and after England's Euro semi-final game with Denmark tonight, with the top purchases being food delivery (60%), drinks delivery (44%) and sporting bets (34%) according to research by banking payments company Trustly.

With food delivery platform Flipdish reporting the average order in the UK to be £23.50, it has crunched the numbers and believes an estimated £365m will be spent on food delivery alone during the match.

Fionn Hart, MD of Flipdish, comments: “Tonight’s match is huge. It’s a big moment for Gareth and his team, the nation and also the UK’s takeaway industry. It looks like food delivery is top of the agenda for fans so businesses need to be prepared for a semi-final rush.”

When asked where they’ll be making their match purchases, the most common responses were: the comfort of home (46%), the sofa (40%) or at a bar or pub (26%). But with home being the most popular location to watch the match, consumers are fearing online payment frustrations.

The survey reveals the biggest issues with payments are: unknown charges at the checkout (such as delivery or credit card charges), WiFi interruptions (16%), extended delivery timings (15%), inputting card details (15%), inputting login details (14%) and only have access to limited checkout options (8%).

Ciaran O’Malley, VP of partnerships at Trustly, said: “After 55 years of hurt and a miserable pandemic, Gareth Southgate and his team are giving the nation a feel-good factor. Fans are celebrating with a spending spree that will help boost the economy. But Brits don’t have much patience for a poor checkout experience and with fierce competition brands need to ensure fans have an easy way to pay.”

With the Olympics and Lions tour still to come, six out of ten consumers said they planned to make purchases before, during or after a TV sporting event this year, with 61% planning to spend more when their favourite team or player is doing well.

UK consumers said their purchases were most influenced by deals (28%), TV ads (21%) and social media advertising such as Instagram ads during matches (15%). A quarter (25%) of all purchases will be spontaneous.