Press release -
Discovery Bank SpendTrend Rugby World Cup 2023 edition: increased takeout and match day spend
Johannesburg, 09 November 2023 – It’s well-known that there are significant benefits associated with major sporting events for the host country, but have you ever asked what the impact is on the winner’s home country? Following the launch of Discovery Bank’s second SpendTrend23 Report earlier this year, the Bank today revealed Rugby World Cup 2023 insights, which explored how this major world sporting event impacted the spending habits of Discovery Bank clients between 1 September and 28 October 2023 – in France and back home in SA.
“Winning the 2023 Rugby World Cup was a historic moment for the South African rugby team and our country. As a bank built on digital technology, our insights help us to create better experiences for our clients and improve our products. We wanted to share our analytics around the event, which has displayed the remarkable ability to unite and inspire our nation,” says Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery Bank.
Key findings of spend during the period of the Rugby World Cup include:
- Flights booked from South Africa to the United Kingdom increased by 66% as fans tried to make their way to France to watch the Springboks.
- There were 50 times more flights booked from South Africa to France compared with the same time in 2022.
- More than 1,000 Discovery Bank clients attended a Rugby World Cup match in person as spend shifted from tourist hotspots to the vicinity of Stade de France on game days. Ordinarily this would be an immediate alert for potential fraud but we were excited by the knowledge that the Springboks would be getting a lot of cheers in the stadium.
- Whether clients supported the Bokke from South Africa or from their seats in France’s stadiums, they spent more - there was an overall peak in spend on every day that South Africa played.
- After the final match was won, spend among clients in South Africa increased by three times compared to any other average Saturday night during the year, with the celebration peaking minutes after the final whistle was blown.
ENDS
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Discovery Bank is part of Discovery Limited, a financial services organization that operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, savings and investment and wellness in over 40 markets. Discovery Bank is fundamentally designed differently through its shared-value model. Clients create value as they manage their money well that Discovery Bank shares back with them through better interest rates, deep discounts and significant rewards. The overall outcome is that clients experience greater financial wellbeing, it reduces the risk of defaults for Discovery Bank making the business more sustainable, and it addresses large-scale challenges, such as increased savings, that benefit society at large. Behaviour change and rewards are enabled through Vitality Money, an AI-Powered programme on the Discovery Bank app that which gives clients an understanding of behaviours that influence their financial wellbeing and how to manage their money. The better clients do, the higher their Vitality Money status and the greater the value they receive.
