Sports Market Research

The objectives of my business are:

-Survival

-covering my cost

-Break-even

-Building customer loyalty

This will allow my business to carry on in the future.              

Promotion and different types of strategy will be needed to persuade people to buy my products and also getting people’s loyalty. Then my business will survive against other sport shops. As it opened right now, it will be hard to make a profit as Hong Kong is in economic downturn, which means that people have less money to spend.

There are many sports stores in Hong Kong, so this constraint will affect my pricing. If I price too high, it will mean less people will come, as they can buy the same sports equipments in lower price, so I must me concerned about the pricing.

In this project, I am going to consider a number of promotional methods, such as newspaper, magazines or maybe the Internet. These methods will have mass appeal, but it will be expensive, while promoting with coupons, billboards would not have that much mass appeal compared to the newspaper, but it is cheaper.

Methodology

I will obtain my results by giving my questionnaires to people by selecting them randomly. I will give my questionnaires to 25 people. As my shop is a shop, selling sports equipment, my target market will more likely to be teenagers, so I will try to give my questionnaires to teenagers. I will give some to matured people, as they will buy sports equipment, too.

In my questionnaire, it will ask what kind of sport you like most, to find out what type of sport, they are interested in. For instance, if 20 people out of 25 answered they like football, it will be better to advertising my shop by using football players, rather than basketball players, as people get more attracted to something that they like. It will ask what kind of media, they are watching or looking at, so that if I advertise my shop through that media, they will more likely to see my advertisement. I did not included television in my advertising method, as it will be too expensive, so I will not be able to afford it.

I will try to get some desk research, which is secondary research that was used before. I will search through the internet, to find out, if there are any secondary researches that I can find which is relevant to my business.

Analysis

(25 people participated in this survey.)

Q1. What is your gender?

This graph shows me that there were more male than female, but it is not a huge difference, so I think I got it equal.

Q2. Your age?

This graph shows me that I was biased because there were only 2 people, who were not the age 10 to 20. I should have made it equally numbered to different groups so that I could have a different opinion from a different group.

Q3. What sport brands do you like most?

This graph shows me that the best brand was Nike, and worst was Reebok. But it was quite equally spread, and there were 5 people, who answered that they like some other brands.

Q4. What sports do you like most?

This graph shows me that people likes football most, and rugby less. There were 5 people, who answered that they like different sport that was not on the list, so there were lots of different sports that they liked.

Q5. What magazine do you read?

This graph shows me that the most popular magazine was BC magazine, and Dollar Saver was the magazine that people are not interested. But there were lots of people, who did not read a magazine.

Q6. Which radio station do you listen to?

This graph shows me that not particular station has most people, who are listening, but unfortunately there were more people, who does not listen to radio.

Q7. What newspaper do you read?

 

This graph shows me that lots of people read SCMP (South China Morning Post), but there were quite a few people, who answered that they read different newspaper. There were 6 people, who answered that they do not read any newspaper.

Q8. Have you ever bought sports equipment over the Internet?

This graph shows me that people did not necessary buy their sports equipment through the Internet, but there were still 8 people, who answered that they did bought their sports equipment through the Internet.

Q9. Do you use money-off coupon?

This graph shows me that there were more people, who do not use the money-off coupon, but there were 9 people, who answered that they do you it.

Q10. Do you look at the junk mail?

This graph shows me that lots of people just throw away the junk mail without looking at it, rather than looking at it.

Conclusion

I only asked 25 people, out of maybe a few million, so I cannot say or prove that this is perfect, and it will all make sense. However, I can say from my analysis the followings.

There were more males, compared to females, who participated in my questionnaire, only slightly. Majority amount of people were teenagers, and I did so, because sports shop will probably aim for teenagers, not matured people. There were only 2 people, who were above 21, which show that my results would not contain any thoughts of older people. About 70% of people I asked were aged 10 to 15, which mean that I usually gave my questionnaire to younger teenagers. The most popular brand of all was Nike, followed by Adidas. I think this is so, because these brands advertise through the media, using famous football, or basketball players, which will get teenagers attention. Matured people answered that they like golf brands, therefore if I gave my questionnaire more towards older aged people, I would received more golf brands in that specific question. Football was the most popular sport, followed by swimming, and basketball. Usually men answered that they like ball games, while women answered that they like sports that does not using balls, such as swimming. Older people said that they like golf, and I think this is so, as golf is not that strenuous, compared to other sports.  

My analysis has shown that BC magazine was the most popular magazine, but there were more people, who did not read any magazines. Same situation happened in the radio, as there were more people, who did not listen to radios. It has proved that junk mail, and money-off coupons are not to popular. More people were likely to throw it away, not even taking a glimpse. More people have not bought sports equipment through the Internet, but the result was quite pleasing. The most popular newspaper of all was South China Morning Post, and nearly 50% read the specific newspaper, which is very pleasing. Some other local newspapers were not as popular as South China Morning Post, and I think this happened because I gave my questionnaires to only few local people.

Recommendation

I am expecting to choose two ways of promotion. One is through the media, and the other is using different ways, like coupons etc.

My first choice is using the magazine, and I’m thinking to advertise my shop in the BC magazine. You will probably think that it is bit odd as there were more people, who were reading South China Morning Post than BC magazine. There is a reason, why I recommend BC magazine, more than South China Morning Post.

The first reason is newspaper comes out everyday, whilst magazine comes out once a month. I think newspaper will cost more money, as I need to advertise my shop at least 3 or 5 days every time to get some attraction. If one day passes, there is a new newspaper for today and yesterday’s newspaper will be thrown away. Also, people read newspapers, not to see and new advertisement, so if you are advertising was not in a important page in the newspaper, no people will rather take a glimpse, so I think it could be waste of money. While magazines, as it only comes out once a month, people will read it again and again, which eventually means that they would have read it from the start to the end, There will be high possibility for people to look at my advertisement compared to newspaper.

The second reason is teenagers will more likely to read magazines, compared to newspapers. As I said before, my target market is teenagers, so I will be wiser to advertise my shop, where more teenagers will have a look at.

The other one is to make the web site, and update new information every day. I will need an employer to do this job. In my questionnaire, I asked if you ever bought a sports equipment through the Internet, and 32% said yes. They will definitely come in to my web site, and other 68% will at least know how to use Internet, so they also could come to my shop’s web site, to see what is new. Therefore, this way I think we can get a lot of attention.

My recommendation is through the BC magazine, and the Internet.

Evaluation

As I said in the conclusion, I cannot say that this is the correct result, as I only gave my questionnaire to 25 people, and it is biased, because I usually gave my questionnaire to teenagers. Therefore, it is not a balanced result to all ages, so it will have no knowledge of what older people think about the questionnaire that I am asking.

However, there was a reason that I usually gave my questionnaire to teenagers, as teenagers will be more likely to buy sports equipment compared to other people. It means that it will be wiser to get more results, which were answered by teenagers rather than matured people.

I think setting up as a partnership will be perfect to my business, because it will require lots of money, and my own personal savings will not be enough to set it up, as I planned. I can borrow it from the bank, but I doubt that they will borrow me a lot of money, and most of all, I need to pay the interest every month, so it will take a lot of time to actually making a profit. I also think, as Hong Kong is in financial difficulties, I believe that banks will borrow me only a few.

As my business just set up, it will be important to get a good reputation than getting any profits. If I have a good reputation at the beginning, the reputation will stay for long time, so it will be likely to sell more of my products to my customers.

Appendices

Questionnaires

You are only allowed to select one in every question.

1. What is your gender?

1. Male
2. Female

2. Your age?

1. 10~15
2. 16~20
3. 21~30
4. 31~40
5. 41~60
6. Etc

3. What sport brands do you like most?

1. Nike
2. Adidas
3. Reebok
4. Fila
5. Etc

4. What sports do you like most?

1. Football
2. Basketball
3. Baseball
4. Rugby
5. Swimming
6. Etc

5. What magazine do you read?

a. BC magazine

b. Dollar saver

c. HK magazine

d. None

6.  Which radio station do you listen to?

        a. RTHK

        b. HMV

        c. Mix 99.9

        d. Don’t listen.

7. What newspaper do you read?

        a. South China Morning Post

        b. Apple Daily

        c. Sing Tao

        d. Ming Pao

        e. None

8. Have you ever bought sports equipment over the Internet?

        a. Yes

        b. No

9. Do you use money-off coupon?

        a. Yes

        b. No

10. Do you look at the junk mail?

        a. Yes

        b. No

Thank you for your cooperation.

Questionnaires

with results

You are only allowed to select one in every question.

1. What is your gender?

1. Male---13
2. Female---12

2. Your age?

1. 10~15---18
2. 16~20---4
3. 21~30---0
4. 31~40---0
5. 41~60---2
6. Etc---0

3. What sport brands do you like most?

1. Nike---10
2. Adidas---5
3. Reebok---2
4. Fila---3
5. Etc---5

4. What sports do you like most?

1. Football---9
2. Basketball---5
3. Baseball---1
4. Rugby---0
5. Swimming---5
6. Etc---5

5. What magazine do you read?

a. BC magazine---9

b. Dollar saver---0

c. HK magazine---4

d. None---12

6.  Which radio station do you listen to?

        a. RTHK---2

        b. HMV---5

        c. Mix 99.9---4

        d. Don’t listen.---14

7. What newspaper do you read?

        a. South China Morning Post---11

        b. Apple Daily---3

        c. Sing Tao---3

        d. Ming Pao---2

        e. None---6

8. Have you ever bought sports equipment over the Internet?

        a. Yes---8

        b. No---17

9. Do you use money-off coupon?

        a. Yes---9

        b. No---16

10. Do you look at the junk mail?

        a. Yes---8

        b. No---17

Thank you for your cooperation.