09/08/2026
The World Cup came to North America this summer. I expected the Amazon data to show a flood of fan merch. Jerseys, scarves, souvenirs. That is not what happened.
We pulled Sports and Outdoors for the last three months and stacked it against the same window a year ago. Here is what the numbers actually said.
Soccer caught basketball. Last summer the soccer aisle ran at about 85% of the basketball aisle. This year they are level.
But the surprise was where the dollars landed. Roughly 86% of the soccer dollar went to gear people actually play with. Balls, shin guards, keeper gloves, rebounders. Only about 14% went to fan and souvenir items.
And the single biggest line in the whole aisle was goals. Not balls. Not jerseys. Goals, at about 27% of soccer revenue.
Think about what it means to buy a goal, it's a backyard purchase. That is a household deciding to play, not a household deciding to watch. Those households tend to keep spending.
The open question is whether any of it holds once the tournament fades.
Each month I analyze a new industry. Get the latest data insights by subscribing here: https://lnkd.in/g8p7hs8y
Thanks as always to our friends at Jungle Scout for the data.
Photo by Chaos Soccer Gear on Unsplash.
