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Retail's Touchdown

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The Associated Press

Published: February 1, 2008

NEW YORK - Super Bowl Sunday may be the biggest day of the year for football fans, but it's also a big day for people who sell big-screen TVs, recliners and pizza.

Yes, some sports fans are willing to pay thousands for a TV just to watch the game. Jim Ferrero of Yardley, Pa., has done so twice.

"I actually bought another TV last year specifically for the Super Bowl," Ferrero said at a suburban Philadelphia Best Buy store one recent afternoon. "And then this year, I was thinking the same thing: 'Might as well get another one.'"

Ferrero, who dropped $2,200 on a 46-inch Sharp flat-screen, is far from alone. Best Buy's TV department was far from crowded, but a steady stream of customers was wheeling flat-panel TVs to the register.

The situation is much the same in the Tampa Bay area.

"Typically, we'll get a rise in sales about one or two weeks in front of the Super Bowl," said Bill Strupp, manager of the Sound Advice store on Dale Mabry Highway.

"We moved quite a few large televisions today," he said Thursday. "People are getting ready to have Super Bowl parties, and they want a newer and better TV."

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans were expected to buy 3.9 million televisions in the weeks leading up to the game. That's up more than 50 percent from 2.5 million last year.

Seventy percent of those responding to the retail federation's 2008 Super Bowl Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey said they'll be watching Sunday's showdown between the NFC's New York Giants and the AFC's New England Patriots. That's relatively unchanged from last year.

Of those, 67 percent will be stocking up on food and beverages for the game, and 6 percent will buy team apparel and accessories. The average amount of spending among Super Bowl viewers is $59.90, a figure that has been rising steadily since the 2005 average - $49.27.

That translates into $9.5 billion in Super Bowl-related spending, the retail federation calculates.

Thirteen percent of respondents in the Jan. 2-8 poll said they plan to throw a Super Bowl party, with 27 percent indicating they'll attend one. Another 4 percent said they plan to watch at a bar or restaurant, meaning that just over half of viewers will be watching from home.

Big Game, Big TV

Television and furniture companies run special promotions during the period leading up to the Super Bowl to position their products as big game must-haves. Pizzerias stock up and require every employee on the payroll to work Super Bowl Sunday. And beer companies make sure their distributors are well supplied.

"There's historically been a significant bump in TV sales in the week leading up to the Super Bowl," said Ross Rubin, an analyst at NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y.

Last year, U.S. retailers sold 61 percent more TVs the week before the Super Bowl compared with the previous week, NPD said. Revenue from TV sales jumped 46 percent that week.

"During the holiday season people buy them more as gifts," said Ed Mrozowski, a manager at Best Buy's Oxford Valley, Pa., store.

NPD research shows that holiday TV sales jump because people are responding to sales, or, in industry jargon, "deep discounting." When buying for the Super Bowl, however, sports fans are acquiring a TV for themselves, often with a Super Bowl party in mind. These shoppers aren't willing to settle for holiday overstock; they're looking for the newest, biggest and best. And price is often no object.

It's About The Experience

"Some people will start up with a TV, and then they want to get the surround-sound experience," Mrozowski said. "And then, of course, furniture to put it on. And then ... they'll start looking into the new gaming systems. And then that of course will roll into, 'Well, maybe let's incorporate that into an audio system.'"

Once football fan start completely redesigning their TV viewing experiences, they also often decide the old threadbare sofa no longer makes the cut.

At La-Z-Boy, January and February are among the strongest months for sales of recliners and sofas with reclining sections, said Doug Collier, chief marketing officer.

Of course, football maniacs who have procured all the viewing, listening and reclining gear necessary typically find they need something to eat and drink while watching the game. Domino's Pizza sales jump 30 percent on Super Bowl Sunday compared with a typical Sunday, said Tim McIntyre, vice president of communications. The company expects to deliver more than 1.2 million pizzas across the country Sunday.

"We look forward to Super Bowl Sunday with great anticipation," McIntyre said via e-mail. "It is one of those days we circle on the calendar and prepare for."

Tribune reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch contributed to this report.

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