How to Use the Olympic Games to Boost Sales in Your Online Shop

The Olympic Games are rapidly approaching. This event, which takes place once every four years, is an opportunity to not only follow your favourite team and engaging stories, but also to increase sales in your online shop. Let's see how the Olympics can boost your marketing efforts and what you need to keep in mind.

As a reminder: this year's Summer Olympic Games will be held in Paris and will last from 26 July to 11 August. The Paralympic Games will be held from 28 August to 8 September. It may seem like a long way away, but for your campaigns to be successful, you should start preparing now!

Use of Olympic symbols

The most important issue you need to take into account when promoting your business during the Olympics is the protection of intellectual property.

Olympic and Paralympic symbols, such as the five rings or three Agito signs, are the intellectual property of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and their use in advertising materials requires the consent of the organisation. This even includes words and phrases including "Paris 2024" or "Olympics". Unauthorised use for commercial purposes is prohibited and subject to penalty.

These regulations mean that if you want to refer to this sporting event in your marketing, you must do so creatively, without using prohibited words or visual elements. How? You can do so by generally referring to sports, the spirit of competition, support or pride in one's own country/team. It is actually easier than it seems!

So, what specific things can you do to increase your sales during the Olympics?

Marketing your online business during the Olympics

Here are a few ideas for using the Olympics in your online shop legally.

Sell “national” products and accessories

Sports-related shops are not the only ones that can benefit from the Olympics. This event is also about supporting your favourite athletes and country representatives. Therefore, offer products in red, white, and blue colours (in the UK) and other popular national colours. Besides colours, you could also refer to national symbols.

These do not necessarily have to be products directly related to sports. Flags, patches, mugs, pet accessories or simply changing the packaging design of "ordinary" items from your store to ones referring to the country's symbols. During big sporting events, consumers are known for buying a lot of unusual things.

Another "national" approach is to organise a “French week” in your online store. Since the Olympics are taking place in Paris this year, if your assortment includes products typically made in or associated with France, you can promote them more strongly during the Olympics. From French perfumes to snacks to clothing, the possibilities are endless (as long as you don't use the phrase "Paris 2024").

Include the games on your store website

As I mentioned earlier, using the logo or symbols of the Olympic Games is not allowed (unless you have permission from the IOC). However, you can, again, enrich the design of your website with elements referring to sports or national colours. If you offer the products mentioned in the previous paragraph, be sure to display them on the home page.

It is obvious to match the content and symbols used by the market in which you sell. If you sell abroad, remember to use appropriate symbols and colours.

The date of the Olympic Games is the same in every market - but the same cannot be said about other sales holidays. Download our marketing calendar for 2024 and 2025 to stay up to date with the most important e-commerce dates in various European countries:

Offer discounts and special offers

Discounts and promotions are always a good lure for customers, and the Olympics are a perfect reason to offer another one. You can refer to this event by offering, for example, "even faster delivery", "a masterful offer" or "record-breaking prices". Remember not to use the words "Olympic" or any terminology related to the event in your slogans.

If your assortment includes items related to sports or emphasising a supportive atmosphere, you’re in an even better situation! Do you sell swimming equipment? Organise a promotion for these types of products when that discipline is in the spotlight at the Olympics. Do you run a food store? Offer discounts on snacks that can be shared with friends while watching athletes compete.

Organise a competition

Shutterstock/Jacob Lund

The Olympics are also about competition. Therefore, it’s also worth using this theme to promote your online store by organising a competition on social media.

For example, you can encourage users to show how they support their country during the Olympic Games (using your products or not). Publishing a photo with an appropriate hashtag and tagging your company is an opportunity for you to gain a higher reach, new followers, and more customers.

Recommended reading:
How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing with Hashtags

Another idea is to ask your followers to come up with a sports chant for the national team and share it on your page.

The prize is simply up to you: it could be a voucher for a future purchase, a discount, or a free giveaway. This way, you'll encourage users to engage with your brand more.

Take advantage of the real-time marketing potential

This year's Olympic Games include 16 days of competition. During this time, 329 competitions in 32 disciplines will be held. In short, there will be a lot going on, and as fans, we can expect many surprises.

Expecting the unexpected and being prepared for every eventuality is the basis of real time marketing (RTM). It involves using current, surprising events and trends in marketing activities while also referring to your brand.

The basis for creating an RTM campaign can be literally anything that people talk about: a new world record, a spectacular or unexpected victory, or even a mishap. Such content not only shows that you are up to date, but it has the potential to spread quickly on the Internet. The basis here is creativity and quick action.

Real time marketing campaigns work great, especially in social media. In our guide, you will learn even more tips that will help you increase CTR in social media:

Conclusion

Using the Olympic Games in your marketing campaigns is a creative way to increase sales and acquire new customers. If you plan to include this event in your campaigns, please bear in mind the IOC's intellectual property protection issues and do not use graphics or words directly referring to the Olympics.

Nevertheless, the Olympics are an excellent opportunity to present your business from a slightly different perspective. So, start preparing now - the next opportunity will only happen in four years!

With new customers visiting your site, it's also important to remember about the urgency of building trust with a new audience. Learn more about building trust with our whitepaper: