The KitClean® will be outsourced for materials and production. Within South Australia there are many cleaning suppliers and manufacturers that can assist with the necessary requirements for the KitClean®. Some companies are:
- Aus Clean
- Cleaning Supplies Direct
- D-Zyner Commercial Cleaning Equipment
- Diverse Distributors
3. Target Customer
Target Customer Segment
The market segment that is most viable for the KitClean® is soccer players. The segment of soccer players encompasses a group of mainly fifteen to thirty-five year olds males and females, who enjoy playing soccer and are passionate about caring for their game. The cleaning kit can also be targeted to those parents of young soccer players. This parent segment would range from thirty-five year olds to around fifty year olds.
Market Size and Growth
The participation rate for soccer in South Australia is 38 000 for males and 10 600 for females. For Australia, the participation rate has increased both for males (19.6% to 22.2%) and females (2.9% to 4.2%). This increase provides sufficient evidence that the soccer market is growing. Within South Australia, there are various soccer associations, leagues and clubs that can be targeted:
-
Football Federation of Australia
- Men’s League – 3 Divisions – 30 teams
- Collegiate League – 4 Divisions – 40 teams
- Masters League – 2 Divisions – 20 teams
- Junior League – 6 Divisions – 34 Teams
- 35 teams
- Senior League – 6 Divisions
- Junior League – 6 Divisions
-
South Australian Armature Soccer League
- Saturday League – 6 Divisions
- Sunday League – 11 Divisions
The participants within the soccer market would all own at least one pair of soccer boots. With the constant increase in participants, this would provide an extensive amount of owned and purchased soccer boots, which provides the KitClean® a large potential target market.
Channels
The target customers can be easily reached through many channels, such as:
- Local Soccer Clubs within South Australia
- Soccer Associations and Soccer Leagues (FFSA and SAASL)
-
Specialised soccer shops (Campbelltown Sports Store, Port Road Sports, Top Corner Sports & Bailetti Sports)
- Soccer magazines (FourFourTwo)
- Internet – through soccer websites (footballnews.com.au and theworldgame.com.au)
- Television - soccer shows (Full on Football on Channel C31 Community TV)
-
Radio – live soccer match broadcasts (5RTI 531am Radio)
4. Customer Benefits
The main purpose of purchasing the KitClean® for the customer is to clean their soccer boots efficiently and effectively. This overcomes the problem of the actual cleaning of the boot and finding the appropriate tools to use.
This problem can already be recognised by the target customer. The problem is currently seen as “annoying”, “frustrating” and “inconvenient” when it comes to cleaning soccer boots. With the use of the KitClean®, it will minimise the risk of boot damage and it also creates a more convenient way for maintaining.
Customer behaviour does not have to change significantly. The customer only has to be aware of the affects of unmaintained boots and that the KitClean® provides the best solution to these affects and problems.
The KitClean® will be offered at an affordable price, which would be accepted by the customers. Selling it at an affordable price, would benefit KitClean®, as most of the tools won’t be expensive to make and distribute.
5. Potential Competitors
Currently in the soccer market, there are no specific aids or tools for cleaning soccer boots; therefore, KitClean® would have no direct competitors within the market.
However, KitClean® would have to compete with any normal brush, rag, cloth or any other material that is used for cleaning. These materials can normally be found at supermarkets, department stores, hardware stores or any type of store that contains cleaning products. Because of the range of alternative cleaning products, this is why the KitClean® will be offered at an affordable price, so it can compete with these indirect competitors.
6. Competitive Advantage
The KitClean® will gain a competitive advantage within the soccer market, as it will offer a new product to this growing market. This will also help the KitClean® create a level of ‘newness’ within the market, and therefore provide the opportunity to gain a sustainable advantage as the only soccer boot cleaner available.
Being the first of its kind, building relationships with the soccer associations, leagues and clubs is essential. The members and players of the clubs, needs to know that the KitClean® is leader when it comes to an all-in-one cleaning experience for soccer boots. Also, having a good strong relationship with the suppliers, manufactures (see Section 2) and distributors (see Section 7) will provide and increase competitive advantage. Coming to an agreement will make stop any potential competitors going through the KitClean® channels. Developing theses relationships will help the KitClean® sustain an advantage in the case of any new entrants.
Another way to gain a competitive advantage is to protect the idea behind the KitClean®. This would consist of copyrighting any necessary instructions, designs or just any writing used in the creation and development. Using trade marks and registering the design, image and the logo will protect KitClean® from any potential new entrants that wont to copy, modify or steel the idea.
7. Marketing and Reaching the Customer
The target customers can be reached through many channels and marketing activities, such as:
- Broadcast Media Advertising
-
Free radio advertising on 5RTI 531AM – which does one Live Match Broadcast per round of the soccer season in South Australia
- Advertising on the local South Australian soccer show (Full on Football on Channel C31 Community TV)
- Place an advertisement in The Advertiser (Saturday issue) next to the soccer team lists
-
Come to an agreement with soccer clubs to have the KitClean® logo in the match programs for home clubs
- If there is enough available money, have signage around a few of the soccer clubs main pitches
-
Free advertising via popular local South Australian soccer website (footballnews.com.au) through their popular forum
- Participating Soccer Clubs
-
Can provide these clubs discounts on the purchase of a KitClean® – by showing their Player Registration Card at point-of-purchase
- Promotional activities through Soccer Associations and Soccer Leagues
- FFSA and SAASL – can have advertising on their website or be part of sponsoring a local event
-
Distribution of the KitClean® to local specialised soccer shops (eg. Port Road Sports, Campbelltown Sports Store, Top Corner Sports & Bailetti Sports). These stores will help enhance the products position as a boot cleaning kit.
8. Conclusion
The KitClean® has every chance to succeed when entering the market. In order to successfully penetrate and establish its position within the market, KitClean® needs to focus on enhancing its strengths, creating that level of ‘newness’, and providing the potential customers what they need.
As the soccer market has the potential to continue to grow, more soccer boots will be needed and used. KitClean® needs to focus on sustaining their competitive advantage by attracting these potential players/customers through an affective marketing strategy. This can be achieved through the KitClean® reiterating that it is the only cleaning kit that provides the all-in-one cleaning experience for soccer boots!
Reference List
Books
Quester, P, Neal, C & Pettigrew, S 2007, Consumer Behaviour Implications for Marketing Strategy, 5th edition, Mc Graw Hill
Quester, P, McGuiggan, R, Perreault Jnr, W & McCarthy, E 2007, Marketing Creating and Delivering Value, 5th edition, Mc Graw Hill
Chitty, W., Barker, N. & Shimp, T.A. 2005, Integrated Marketing Communications, 2nd edn, Cengage Learning Australia, Victoria.
Websites
Football Federation South Australia (FFSA): www.ffsa.com.au
South Australian Amateur Soccer League (SAASL): www.saasl.com.au
Football News: www.footballnews.com.au
The World Game: www.theworldgame.com.au
Goal.com: www.goal.com.au
Radio Television Italiana: www.5rti.com.au
List of Appendices
Appendix 1 – KitClean® Logo
Appendix 1 – KitClean® Logo
©Marius Zanin
Appendix 2 – Specialised Soccer Shops (in South Australia)
Appendix 3 – Enfield City Soccer Club Interview
ENFIELD CITY SOCCER CLUB INC.
Home Ground: Rushworth Reserve
Address: Anson Street, Blair Athol, SA 5085
Phone: (08) 8262 6622
Fax: (08) 8262 6622
Website: www.enfieldcityfalconsfc.com.au
Interview questions asked to various players from the Enfield City Soccer Club
- How many pairs of soccer boots do you own?
- Do you clean your soccer boots?
- If yes, how often do you clean your soccer boots?
- If no, what is the main reason why?
- What would you say your feelings are towards cleaning soccer boots?
- Are you aware of the damage that can be caused to unmaintained soccer boots?
-
Would your behaviour change if you had access to a soccer boot cleaning kit like KitClean® ?
-
What type of price would be acceptable for you to purchase KitClean® ?
www.cvsc.org/images/memo/cvsc/Taking_care_boots.pdf
http://www.yellowpages.com.au/bi/cleaning-products--supplies-category-in-sa-14141-pagee1.html
Outdoor Soccer – fulltext.ausport.gov.au
ERASS Report 2008 - State Tables - SA
ABS – Sports and Physical Recreation: A Statistical Overview, Australia, 2008
Radio Television Italiana – www.5rti.com.au/
Radio Television Italiana – www.5rti.com.au
Football News – www.footballnews.com.au
Quester, Neal & Pettigrew (2007)
www.enfieldcityfalconsfc.com.au