Mister Plá (for it is he)
Brazil’s loss against Holland (or ‘The Netherlands’ if you like…you know which country I’m talking about anyway) has left a big dent in the country’s footballing pride. It’s also left a big dent in the pockets of its retail sector who, utterly confident of progressing to the final and winning the thing (again), have now been left rather overstocked with paraphernalia related to all things footy.
According to this report in O Globo today, Daniel Plá of Brazilian Getulio Vargas Foundation economics bureau says that unsold merchandise including team shirts, flags and those now infamous vuvuzelas amongst other items add up to a total of U$48m around the country. In Rio de Janeiro alone, unsold goods are worth U$4.8m.
Says Plá, “Retail outlets were expecting to sell a lot more green-and-yellow products in the two weeks that were left. Now it’s very difficult to sell them, even with generalized 50% discounts on offer……Everybody expect Brazil to reach the final”. He also noted that TV sales would suffer.
IKN sez: Y’see, I told you there’s always a bright side 🙂