Chinese merchants cash in on World Cup fever

BEIJING - Till the early hours of dawn, many parts of Beijing remain alive with the chinking sound of glasses and cheerings, mingled with the sound of vuvuzela trumpets coming from the television sets.

When fans all over the world are celebrating the soccer extravaganza in a great global party, Chinese merchants are focussed on the sales boom brought about by the World Cup. Restaurants, bars and sidewalk snack booths in many Chinese cities are open overtime to cash in on maximum profit during the tournament.

Over 70 percent of Chinese football fans say they would buy World Cup souvenirs and over 60 percent say they would spend at least 100 yuan celebrating at pubs during a World Cup match.

At least 67.2 percent of people in a survey said they would spend or have spent 50-100 yuan at pubs while watching the world cup there, and over 70 percent will buy world cup souvenirs or team jerseys, the survey launched by renren.com said.

Household electrical appliances also sell much better than before, especially flat-screen televisions, Global Times reported.

“The sales volume of flat-screen televisions rose by 1.6 times compared to the same period last year,” Xu He, a salesman in Changchun, was quoted as saying.

“A lot of customers bought new TV sets for seeing the World Cup live better. Most of them are eager to take new televisions back home,” Xu added.