European retailers bet big on World Cup

European retailers are betting on the soccer World Cup to help increase sales by promising cash for goals.

Depending on which national team wins the World Cup, which starts Friday in South Africa, some retailers have offered to repay customers for purchased television sets, cars, road navigation systems and vacation trips. Nationwide, a British bank, is even offering higher interest rates on a bond if England wins the tournament.

It s a fun way to link our products to something rather topical, said Anthony Hua, a spokesman for Nationwide, which is the sponsor of the England team.

The four-year Football Bond pays a fixed rate of 4.15 percent a year, but 4.65 percent if England wins the World Cup, the company said. Mr. Hua said there was no time limit for the bond s availability so far, but if England gets kicked out of the tournament it may not be available anymore.

In France, the retailer Carrefour has offered to refund the cost of some flat-screen televisions if the national team wins. Toshiba has hired the retired British soccer player Chris Kamara to advertise the same offer for televisions and laptops in Britain, and Media Markt in Spain had a similar promotion, telling customers if Spain wins everything, you win everything.

TomTom, the maker of road navigation systems that is based in the Netherlands, is promising to refund money to customers on specific purchases in nine countries, including Germany, Mexico and Spain, if their respective team wins.

Most promotions end before the tournament starts and many companies hedged their risk. Rod O Callaghan, a director at Airton Risk Management in Ireland who helps clients hedge more than 2 billion euros ($2.38 billion) in risk related to sports events each year, said demand for his service was very, very strong.

Many people want to surf the wave of the popularity of the event, sell more products, boost the brand and get more footfall in their stores and online, Mr. O Callaghan said. Airton charges a fee to insure companies against the amount they will have to pay their customers if a specific team wins.

Spain is seen as the team most likely to win the tournament by customers of the British sports betting firm William Hill. It leads the odds with 4 to 1, followed by Brazil with 9 to 2 and Argentina with 13 to 2. The odds for France are 20 to 1 and for the United States, 80 to 1, according to William Hill.

Slovenia, with odds of 400 to 1, is using the World Cup to lure visitors. Its tourist board joined with some British tour operators to offer 25 percent, 50 percent or 100 percent refunds to anyone booking a trip depending on how far the Slovenian team advances in the tournament.

In Germany, Mercedes-Benz promises customers agreeing to a car lease a discount if Germany wins the World Cup.

Our team gives us a title and we give you a rate, the company s Web site said. Currys, the British retailer, offered to pay 10 ($14) for every goal England scores to any customer who spent 599 or more on a television. England scored six goals during the last World Cup in 2006.

Promotions linked to sporting events are not new. In 2007, Jordan s Furniture, which is located in New England, had to repay about 30,000 customers for furniture they bought worth millions of dollars. Jordan, owned by Warren E. Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway, had offered clients their money back if the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, which they did.

In Britain, Anina Castle, a spokeswoman for Currys, said, Any World Cup is always as big as Christmas for us in terms of business and we wanted to stand out from the crowd and make it more fun this year. Our offer has been hugely popular.