Strong sales being reported at all venues and this will continue, says ESP.
England’s early exit from the Rugby World Cup will not affect sales of licensed merchandise, the company behind the licensing programme has told The Source.
James Whitburn, head of licensing at Elite Sports Properties (which is in charge of the licensing programme), stressed that the Rugby World Cup is about so much more than one team, and that the merchandise programme is seeing strong uptake across all the participating nations.
“We recognise that Saturday’s result was extremely disappointing from a Home Nations perspective, but the tournament isn’t just about England – there are 20 teams and 48 games across 13 venues, it’s about the global rugby community,” James commented.
“We have seen increasingly strong retail sales at all venues, as well as through our stores and official online outlet. We have a broad campaign with collections available for all the different countries.”
As well as visiting fans snapping up product, there is also a strong ex-pat population across London from the likes of New Zealand, Australia and France.
“We are exceeding expectations across all our shops – the outlet in Covent Garden had queues around the block after the recent Japan game.
“We are confident that because of the sport’s global appeal, we can continue to see strong interest and people will get behind the other Home Nations,” James continued.
