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In the early morning of December 19th, Beijing time, the Qatar World Cup, known as the "Twilight of the Gods", officially came to an end. After a fierce competition, Argentina defeated the defending champion France in a penalty shootout and won the World Cup again after 36 years, which led to countless Argentine fans celebrating all night. ▲ The picture comes from CCTV News Currently, the "Messi Economy" brought by Messi, the soul and center of the championship-winning Argentina team, has become popular all over the world. Outside the stadium, a carnival of business opportunities for cross-border people is bursting out. "Messi Economy" is a hot e-commerce platform
It is learned that according to foreign media reports, Messi's peripheral products have already shown signs of being out of stock before the final: - On some e-commerce platforms, the flagship store of the Argentine team's brand sponsor only had the Argentina team's away royal blue loose retro short-sleeved jersey for sale at a price of 699 yuan (not participating in any promotional activities), and the jersey was out of stock before the game .
- On Adidas' official shopping app, Argentina's home jersey is in such short supply that only children's and women's versions are left. The price of the limited edition gold sneakers specially made for Messi in November this year has also skyrocketed . The official sales channel was sold out in December, and the price in other channels exceeded 7,000 yuan .
- In some jersey stores, the Argentina home player jersey printed with Messi's number and name, as well as the champion shield and World Cup armband, costs nearly 1,400 yuan per piece.
At the same time, as early as November, #Star cards usher in an active trading period# became a hot search, and there was a report that on a certain cross-border e-commerce platform, a seller sold three Messi cards for about 1 million yuan in the first quarter of 2022 . A domestic factory that cooperates with the Argentine licensed product developer brand Juxing Power said that it had received tens of thousands of orders for the production of Argentine team jerseys as early as the beginning of the year. We also learned that according to Google Shopping Trends, the popularity of the keyword "messi" has been rising, reaching a peak several times in December.
On e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress, jerseys, trophies, medals and other tournament products continue to sell well. Searching for keywords such as "World Cup jerseys" and "World Cup flags" shows that Argentina-related products are among the most popular best-selling items. As can be seen from the above, Messi's economic benefits are self-evident. Now, Argentina's victory has added fuel to Messi's economic development. However, it is worth noting that while Messi's economy is booming, copyright issues have also become a huge obstacle for cross-border sellers. As we all know, World Cup peripheral products need to be authorized by FIFA before they can be produced and sold. Once they are sold privately without authorization, they will face the risk of being punished by regulatory authorities or e-commerce platforms for infringement. Not long ago, when Xiamen Customs was inspecting the cross-border e-commerce export channels at the airport, it discovered that three packages of "World Cup" exported to the Netherlands via cross-border e-commerce without legal authorization certificates from FIFA were judged to be infringing goods on the spot and handed over for subsequent disposal. Similarly, Argentina-related products must obtain official authorization before they can be sold. Even Yiwu, known as the weathervane of the World Cup, cannot escape copyright issues. Yiwu Index once again made great predictions, but was accused of violating laws and infringing rights
It is learned that the Yiwu Sporting Goods Association of Zhejiang Province estimates that this year Yiwu's export goods account for about 70% of the World Cup peripheral products market, from national flags, horns and whistles to footballs, jerseys, decorations, etc. According to data from AliExpress, in the past two months, Chinese cross-border sellers represented by Yiwu have prepared more than 10 million peripheral products to participate in this World Cup. As Yiwu's World Cup products are selling well, many people have discovered that Yiwu sellers on AliExpress frequently predict the results of multiple rounds of group matches based on the national flag sales rankings. On the eve of the World Cup final, after the news that "Yiwu Index predicts Argentina's victory" came out, a Yiwu seller said that he had received an order for Argentina's "Triple Crown" commemorative jerseys. A video of "Yiwu receives an order from Argentina for three stars" not only sparked heated discussions in the cross-border circle, but also attracted attention from the football circle. On the morning of December 17th, Beijing time, the official Weibo account of the Argentina National Football Team issued a copyright statement: the Yiwu Samsung championship uniform in the video is an infringing product. ▲ The picture comes from Weibo Although the final has ended and the Argentine team did win the championship, it has once again verified the Yiwu Index's prediction. It is a foregone conclusion that related peripheral products will be hot sellers, but under the premise of illegal infringement, the related Yiwu sellers are likely to pay the price for it. So far, we still don’t know how the rights protection actions of the Argentine national team’s legal team are going, but there is no doubt that if the team can successfully protect its rights, it will promote positive environmental improvement in the industry and facilitate the sales of compliant sellers. For cross-border sellers, as industry competition becomes increasingly fierce, copyright awareness is indispensable. In addition to obtaining authorization for well-known IPs in popular events, sellers should also build their own brand barriers in order to remain in the cross-border industry that operates in compliance with regulations for a long time. |
