Manchester-based Classic Football Shirts (CFS) automated almost two-thirds of its order packing during this summer's FIFA World Cup, helping the retailer handle the busiest trading period in its 20-year history.

Orders dispatched in June and July rose 101% against the same period in 2025, surpassing the retailer's previous peaks during Black Friday and Christmas. For a business turning over more than £30 million a year and serving customers in over 130 countries, the tournament stress-tested a fulfilment operation built around a highly fragmented inventory of more than one million authenticated football shirts and memorabilia items.

Ahead of the tournament, CFS worked with fellow Manchester shipping software specialist Shipster to integrate a Logopak/Adpak Ecommerce Auto Bagger into its fulfilment operation. The system automates packing and shipping label application, with Shipster supplying shipment and label data directly to the Logopak equipment. For orders suitable for automated handling, the company says packing times fell from minutes to seconds.

During the World Cup, the machine automatically packed 64% of all CFS orders — a figure that quantifies how much of the peak surge moved off manual packing lines.

The installation builds on a five-year partnership between CFS and Shipster. Over that period, the retailer has more than tripled warehouse productivity as its international business has expanded. Shipster's remit has covered shipping routing and labelling, bespoke processes for products including the Away Days Mystery Boxes, and international shipping infrastructure supporting CFS's growing US retail presence.

Demand patterns during the tournament illustrate the volatility the fulfilment operation must absorb. CFS sold 23,830 Away Days Mystery Box products between May and August, including almost 10,000 England versions. Argentina shirts ranked among the strongest national-team sellers, and Cape Verde saw increased demand following its performance against Spain.

CFS outbound operations manager Brandon Evans said the tournament had placed the fulfilment operation under sustained pressure, and that the automation had enabled the company to maintain dispatch speeds despite the volume increase.

Shipster founder and CEO Tony Cheetham said major sporting events could produce sudden spikes in ecommerce demand, requiring fulfilment systems capable of rapidly scaling up.

CFS presents an unusual logistics challenge. It handles vast numbers of individual, one-off products, ships internationally, and responds to demand that can shift rapidly around tournaments, product launches and high-profile football events. Founded by Matt Dale and Douglas Bierton in 2006 as a student-house start-up, the company now operates at a scale where peak-period throughput decisions carry direct cost and lead-time consequences.

The World Cup result gives CFS a measured benchmark for event-driven automation. With the retailer's US retail presence still growing and demand spikes an operational constant, expect further investment in scaling fulfilment capacity around future tournaments and product drops.