Market Segmentation

Typical ‘Socially Engaged’. Group of four male friends with football in hand.

A number of Australians are highly engaged with sport and clubs and love what it offers them.

Typical ‘Club Wary’. Young sporty looking woman sitting on ground with ball off to side.

Many have reservations about the commitment and lack of flexibility that comes along with club sport.

Typical ‘Sidelined Sportster’ segment. Middle-aged man and woman riding bikes.

Other people would be attracted by products outside of the traditional club offer.

Australians are becoming increasingly time-poor and, for many, more restricted in terms of budget. Changing lifestyles and competing forms of entertainment have created an increasingly complex landscape, making it difficult to understand the changing attitudes and behaviours of Australians in relation to sport.

Furthermore, past research has shown that sport preferences have changed over the last ten years with an increased uptake in sport being played in a non-organised environment, versus a stagnation of participation in organised sport.

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) in consultation with sport sector partners identified a need for research to better understand what is driving the Australian community’s participation in sport and other types of physical activities. This resulted in the ASC commissioning GfK Blue Moon to develop a needs-based consumer centric market segmentation model for Australian sports participants (players) and non-sports participants (non-players).

In line with the changing consumer preferences, the Market Segmentation Study (the Study) identified that sports will need to adapt their offerings if they are to stay relevant to the Australian consumer.

Market Segmentation involves dividing a market into groups of people/consumers with similar needs, attitudes and behaviours.

The purpose of the Market Segmentation Study

The purpose of the Study was to uncover, explore, identify and clearly articulate the different motivations, attitudes, needs and barriers that influence people’s decisions and behaviours in relation to sport and, in particular, participation in club-based sport. The study is designed to help clubs understand the market and more effectively target their approaches to particular segments.

The Study identifies ten consumer segments among the Australian adult population (aged 14–65 years):

Current club member segments — Loyalists, Socially Engaged, Sport Driven and Apathetic Clubbers
Non-club member segments — Sidelined Sportsters, Club Wary, Ponderers, Self Focused, Sport Indifferent and Sport Atheists.

The research provides key insights regarding how participation in sport is affected by:

sport delivery that focuses on competition rather than fun and enjoyment
a lack of fl exibility around the scheduling of sport in traditional sporting clubs
organising individuals and teams according to talent rather than retaining friendship groups
limited opportunities for people with limited sports competency to join sporting clubs
self-consciousness amongst adolescents and embarrassment by their lack of sporting ability.

How can sport use the Market Segmentation?

The Study identified a significant number of Australians who view and engage with sport quite differently, particularly in terms of how they want to play sport. This research provides insight to the needs and wants of the Australian consumer as it relates to sport participation and more specifically club-based participation. These insights and other statistical data can be used to inform the development of targeted sports delivery strategies (both products and services), to either retain or attract new participation.

The Study does this by enabling sports to take a look at their current product and service offerings and assess whether they are meeting the needs of the various consumer segments. It also considers whether modifications to existing or new offerings would retain current or attract new consumer segments. In addition, the research sized each of the ten segments; for example, how large or how many adults fall within each segment across the total Australian adult population. Most importantly, by understanding the relative size of each segment sports are able to determine where the greatest potential for retention or acquisition may exist and therefore how to invest their efforts.