Convenience Stores Reaping Olympic Gold

A new report finds that convenience stores are very popular among sports fans during huge sporting events.

August 12, 2016

SEOUL, South Korea – When mega sporting events such as the Olympics are going on, convenience stores come out on top, according to a new report from KB Kookmin Card, The Korea Times reports. The company examined the number of card payments in a dozen businesses, such as fast food, retail and convenience stores, during the 2014 Brazil World Cup and 2012 London Olympics, then compared that data to the same time period in previous years.

The results? Convenience stores registered the largest bump in card payments. For example, during the 2012 Olympics, card use at convenience retailers skyrocketed 69% from a year earlier. For the 2014 World Cup, card use at convenience stores jumped 23% from the same time period in 2013. “Because convenience stores sell diverse products 24/7, sports fans visit them before they start watching TV,” KB Kookmin Card said in the report.

After convenience stores, chicken restaurants recorded the second-highest increase with 45% during the 2012 Olympics. But during the 2014 World Cup, lunch businesses (18%) and fast-food restaurants (18%) garnered more customers than chicken restaurants (16%).

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