Queen of the Games… and of the shelves! The retail giant Carrefour, partner of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, announced on Wednesday that it had sold “more than 4.3 million” derivative products linked to the sporting event, including “nearly 560,000” Phryges mascots.
“Since the launch of our Olympic collection in 2022, we have recorded a sales volume of more than 4.3 million items,” the retailer said during a press briefing held in a store in Drancy, Seine-Saint-Denis. CEO Alexandre Bompard welcomed the impact of the event for Carrefour, “commercially but above all intangibly, what it means for our brand, our employees, our customers, our fights.”
He recalled that he made the decision to become a partner in the company “when there was the most criticism, skepticism, doubt,” in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak. “I know the Olympics, I was convinced that the country, when it was going to discover what the Olympics are, was going to fall in love with them and that's what happened.”
“Tote bags”, water bottles, pens…
Sales accelerated sharply after the Olympic events kicked off on July 24, and Carrefour, like everyone else, noted that the red mascots were the “flagship product of these Games,” with “nearly 560,000 sold” in their stores. The manufacturers of the plush toy had indicated earlier this week that they had put nearly 3 million products on the market in total.
Other popular items among customers include tote bags and water bottles, as well as school items from the JO range prepared by the brand. The ruler, correction tape and 4-colour pen in particular are selling well, the brand assures.
Carrefour is also pleased to have captured the tourist public who came to Paris for the games, mentioning “a 25% increase in turnover during the Olympic Games”, particularly in train stations and airports and especially near the Olympic sites.
The winning sports brands
Another distributor partnering with the Olympic Games, Decathlon, had mentioned “a 10% increase in footfall” in its stores in France during the event, and 6.7% during the Paralympic Games, particularly in the “hiking, fitness and well-being, water sports (including swimming accessories)” departments, as well as urban mobility, team and racket sports.
The specialized trade federation Procos, which publishes a monthly report on commercial activity, noted that sports brands “benefited from the atmosphere generated by the Olympic Games” with sales up 4.5% in August compared to the previous year.
On the other hand, “the organization of the Olympic Games will not have ultimately boosted, on average in France, the activity of restaurateurs,” she observes, with a sharp drop in Paris in particular. The same observation applies to specialized food, where store sales are down 7.5% in central Paris compared to August 2023.
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