p14,16 Participation 7/17/08 12:08 PM Page 16
MARKETING - Sports Business
SGB
Sports and Outdoor
www.sgb-sports.com
125,000 playing members).
a71 Golf ranks second for participants (9% of adults at
least occasionally) but tops the money league for
amounts spent by players. Golf’s lucrative nature
means there is a highly competitive specialist
distribution structure (i.e. pro shops in the clubs,
chains like American Golf, online golf stores)
a71 The three racket sports overlap in various ways with
badminton having the most players (just ahead of
tennis, well ahead of squash) but even adding all the
rackets players together would come to less than
football or golf (under 5% of adults play a racket sport
regularly)
For the minority sports, the difficulty for the general
sports retailer is that a complex set of equipment and
apparel is needed to be stocked even though demand
comes from 2% or less of local adults. The main sports or
games justifying stocking at least some items are snooker,
cricket, bowls, rugby, basketball and darts. Not forgetting
that children add to the numbers looking for equipment
for some sports more than others (e.g. hockey, volleyball)
because of the pattern of school sport.
The full list of participation sports takes in a
bewildering array of activities, each requiring its own
specialised sports goods, but taken part in by less than
0.5% of adults (i.e. under 250,000 nationwide) and The apparent success of running in this decade can be looking at modern consumer behaviour, some related to
therefore mainly the province of the specialised trader. put down to the several inter-related factors that affect all sport and others more general:
Five of the important groups are fishing, shooting, water sports:
sports, snow sports and mountaineering (overlapping a71 A combination of fashion and favourable media a71 Consumers want a bit of everything: they spread their
with general outdoor pursuits). image (e.g. celebrity joggers) time over many activities: the quick 9 holes of golf, the
a71 Improved ranges of equipment on the market quick drink in the club, the “grab and go” snack
What drives participation in a sport? a71 Attractive displays in sports shops, or the opening of a71 People are polarising. In fitness, for every obese couch
Measuring any changes in demand for a sport is specialist outlets potato, there is an obsessive fitness freak
difficult because even the most popular – football, golf etc a71 Official encouragement by sports organisations, local a71 We are looking for a challenge. Modern life is easy and
– only involve a minority so the statistical changes can be councils, schools, even national government sedentary, hence the popularity of extreme sports and
infinitesimal. For example, there is a feeling that road a71 Encouragement from the big sports brands (e.g. Nike’s the Great Outdoors generally, a demand which is
running for fitness has become much more popular again move into golf) clearly not satisfied by the health club
in the early 2000s – perhaps in preference to the gym, for a71 Lifestage shapes our demand. Some sports might look
a more outdoor activity? – but this is not easy to quantify And what drives consumer demand? “old-fashioned” but consumers gravitate towards them
using national surveys. There are some Golden Rules to bear in mind when as they reach the appropriate lifestage. Think you’ll
never be interested in golf? or rambling? or bowls? Just
wait a few years!
Participation trends of the last 30 years have not made
life easy for the traditional multi-sport retailer. The much-
vaunted demand for keeping healthy and fit has often
been met by activities which do not require a visit to the
local sport shop. Meanwhile, lifestyle pressures have
worked against the sports which, to be played to the
maximum, require a major lifestyle commitment in terms
of time, if not money (e.g. cricket).
The silver lining comes from the fact that those who do
play a sport in the 2000s are keener than ever on their
chosen sport. It is the casual players who have disappeared
from the market. The enthusiasts are as passionate as ever
and, crucially for the sports trade, they are prepared to
spend more on the necessary equipment or apparel for
performing at a high level in order to maximise their
enjoyment.
David Tucker is an experienced freelance researcher and
writer for the sports and leisure industries.
Email dherbtucker@tiscali.co.uk
16 OCTOBER 2007
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