As retailers prepare for a summer trading rush around the FIFA World Cup, fulfilment specialists are warning that operational resilience, instead of marketing spend, could determine which businesses benefit the most.

Logistics firm Diamond Logistics is forecasting parcel volume increases of between 15% and 25% in the four weeks leading up to kick-off on 11 June, with spikes of more than 30% at some fulfilment sites.

The company believes the tournament is shaping up to be a peak trading event on par with Black Friday and Christmas, particularly as late-night fixtures are expected to fuel a “big night in” spending trend across UK households.

Retail Gazette sat down with Kate Lester to discuss how retailers are preparing for unpredictable demand, why fulfilment still remains an afterthought for many SMEs, and how changing consumer expectations around delivery times are reshaping shopping.

“Fulfilment should be the first part of the puzzle”

For Lester, one of the biggest mistakes retailers still make is treating logistics as something to solve, and an afterthought, second to launching their marketing strategy.

“We found this so much recently with people coming to us with new business ideas,” she said. “They think of fulfilment as the last part of the jigsaw puzzle, whereas actually they should be thinking about fulfilment as the first bit of the jigsaw puzzle.”

The warning comes as smaller retailers look to capitalise on World Cup demand across categories ranging from sportswear and outdoor furniture to alcohol, food and barbecue products.

According to Lester, many SMEs are agile enough to react quickly to trends, but are often exposed operationally if demand rises faster than expected.

“The World Cup is as unforecastable as the results themselves,” she said. “If England has a particularly successful run, we anticipate being even busier.”

She added that while larger retailers have been planning stock levels and campaigns years in advance, smaller businesses still have an advantage in their ability to react quickly to changing moments during the tournament.

“A bigger company might take days to get marketing signed off,” she said. “Smaller companies can be dynamic and snappy. But that only works if they’ve got the stock there and the fulfilment ready to go.”

Lester warned that retailers risk damaging customer trust if promotions outpace operational capacity.

“You could do a lot of damage to your brand if you promise an awful lot in terms of your World Cup marketing, yet you haven’t made provision for it to adequately get there.”

That preparation, she said, stretches far beyond inventory alone and includes pick-and-pack operations, delivery monitoring and carrier management.

“Prime has driven immediacy”

Diamond Logistics expects World Cup spending to stretch beyond traditional football merchandise and into categories tied to home entertaining and social gatherings.

“Whether it’s celebration or commiseration, we expect our booze clients to do quite well,” Lester said.

The company is also anticipating strong sales across garden furniture, barbecue products and outdoor leisure categories as consumers increasingly choose to watch matches at home.

“With the cost of living and everything else going on, people are going to be driven towards celebrating at home,” she said.

The logistics firm said it predicated that the late-night fixtures linked to the Americas-hosted tournament are expected to increase reactive purchasing behaviour, with retailers under pressure to fulfil orders rapidly.

Lester pointed to a recent online purchase that took more than seven days to arrive as an example of how quickly consumers lose patience.

“I thought, I’ll never order from this person again,” she said. “Prime has driven immediacy as being something modern consumers demand.”

She believes retailers heading into the tournament should be aiming for 24 to 48-hour delivery windows wherever possible, while also offering upgrade options for shoppers wanting faster fulfilment after major match results.

“If England wins, then suddenly they’ve got another game in quick succession and consumers want things immediately,” she said.

The pressure created by sudden spikes in demand is something Diamond says it is increasingly used to managing, especially among TikTok-driven brands.

Lester described one supplements client whose weekly order volumes jumped from around 20 consignments to more than 2,000 after going viral following an exhibition appearance.

“That’s our job,” she said. “It’s our job to match our resources to that demand,” adding that the business aims to maintain a 99.8% on-time fulfilment rate despite fluctuating order volumes across its network.

Advice for SMEs facing a summer surge

For smaller retailers worried about being overwhelmed by sudden demand spikes in June and July, Lester’s advice was blunt: outsource fulfilment before problems begin.

“There is no way you can deal with 2,000 consignments overnight as a small retailer,” she said.

She also urged businesses to avoid stacking major promotional activity on top of naturally busy trading periods.

“What you don’t want is a natural increase in consumption plus a promotion, because that could be a double whammy.”

Technology integration is becoming equally important, particularly for brands selling simultaneously across Shopify, TikTok Shop, Amazon and eBay.

Retailers need systems capable of syncing stock levels across marketplaces in real time, Lester said, otherwise businesses risk overselling products they no longer physically hold.

“Make sure you’re not selling stuff you haven’t got in stock,” she said. For Lester, the wider lesson from the World Cup is clear. Retailers no longer compete solely on product or price. They increasingly compete on speed, reliability and operational execution.

“World Cup marketing is a given,” she said. “Everybody’s going to be doing that. The difference is whether you can actually deliver.”

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