report on sport camp australia

1

Applied

Research

Project

AUGUST 7, 2015

By, Kush Pandey GJAN15CMM007 [email protected] Nayan Kumar GJAN15CMM008 [email protected] Pawan Gurnani GJAN15CMM010 [email protected]

2

APPLIED RESEACH PRJECT

ON

SPORTS CAMPS AUSTRALIA

Submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement of

Global Master of Business Administration (Global MBA)

Contemporary Marketing Management

Term 2

Period of Study: May 2015 to August 2015

Submitted By:

Kush Pandey GJAN15CMM007 [email protected] Nayan Kumar GJAN15CMM008 [email protected] Pawan Gurnani GJAN15CMM010 [email protected]

Under The Guidance Of:

Dr. Park Thaichon Assistant Professor of Marketing SP Jain School of Global Management

3

Acknowledgement

On the occasion of completion and submission of project, we would like to take this

opportunity to express our deep sense of gratitude to SP Jain School of Global

Management for providing us an opportunity to work on the project of our interest.

We owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported us

during the planning and finalizing project idea.

We wish to express our deep sense of gratitude to our Professor and Guide, Mr. Park

Thaichon, Assistant Professor of Marketing, SP Jain School of Global Management for

his able guidance and useful suggestions, which helped us in completing the project

work, in time.

Needless to mention that Mr. Srinivas Phani, Director, Industry Interface, SP Jain

School of Global Management, who has been a source of inspiration for our project

work and we thank him for his timely guidance in the conduct of our project work.

Words are inadequate in offering our heartfelt thanks to the P2E staff, Dr. Bhanu

Ranjan, Assistant Professor – Communications, SP Jain School of Global Management

and Dr. Adele Zhang, Assistant Professor – Communications, SP Jain School of Global

Management for their encouragement to make us believe in ourselves and perform to the

best of our ability.

Finally, yet importantly, we would like to express our gratitude to our beloved parents for

their blessings, our friends/classmates for their help and wishes for the successful

completion of this project.

4

Contents Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................................. 3

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 6

History of Industry ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Demographics – Where and What ................................................................................................................. 7

Market Potential ............................................................................................................................................. 10

Population growth .................................................................................................................................... 10

Growth of disposable income ................................................................................................................ 11

Health benefits associated with sports .................................................................................................. 12

Competition Landscape ................................................................................................................................ 13

SWOT Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 14

Project Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 15

Research Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 16

Approach ......................................................................................................................................................... 16

Consumer Insights ......................................................................................................................................... 18

Survey ............................................................................................................................................................... 19

Data Analysis........................................................................................................................................................ 20

Quantitative Data ........................................................................................................................................... 20

Qualitative Data.............................................................................................................................................. 34

Most Liked by Customers ....................................................................................................................... 34

Least Liked by Customer ......................................................................................................................... 35

Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................... 36

Enhancing Value ............................................................................................................................................ 36

Social Media .................................................................................................................................................... 39

Sports Camps Australia Website ................................................................................................................. 40

Mobile App ..................................................................................................................................................... 41

Screen Shots ............................................................................................................................................... 41

Features ...................................................................................................................................................... 41

Key Benefits............................................................................................................................................... 41

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................... 42

Appendix .............................................................................................................................................................. 45

Survey ............................................................................................................................................................... 45

5

Executive Summary

This report provides an in depth analysis of consumer behaviour or customer preference

while selecting sports and particularly towards Sports Camp Australia for their children.

The process of identifying and analysing consumer behaviour includes problem definition,

methodology to get relevant data, analysis of the data to bring out the factors. The data

was collected by carrying out surveys both online & offline, by conducting personal

interviews and doing a competitor analysis. Results of the finding and the data collected

are shared and discussed in details with relevant cause, effect and recommendations. With

regards to findings, it can be said that Sports Camp Australia is performing way above the

competitor’s market strategy and by tweaking few aspects of marketing communication,

promotion, and higher customer engagement it can be the market leader of the subject

industry. The report finds the prospects of SCA in the current market segment are highly

regarded and appreciated by parents (customers). However certain areas of promotional

development and customer engagement have been identified and necessary

recommendations have been incorporated in the report.

Our top Three Recommendations are relating to the following:

1. Things Sports Camps Australia can do to enhance Customer Experience

2. Marketing Communications

3. Mobile App for Sports Camps Australia

Although, the report is comprehensive in nature and covers various aspects of customer

retention and consumer behaviour, however, the data analysis and recommendations are

based on the response of 75 existing customers and hence is one of the limitation as more

information or responses will allow a higher scatter plot and more confidence level while

concluding on the recommendations.

6

Introduction

History of Industry

Sports form an integral part of the Australian culture. Since 1900’s till date, the sports

industry in Australia has been growing and has been promoted by all the ruling political

parties. The mild temperate climate and the popularity of sports in Australia have been the

driving force in bringing revolutionary changes to the sports industry in Australia. From

cricket, Sir Donald Bradman to the racehorse Phar Lap, people associated the respective

sports with the various star figures and look up to be one of them. The enthusiasm for

sports and physical fitness can be seen by both the sexes and the participation levels in the

major sporting events across the globe proves this. With the growing demand, popularity

and benefits associated with sports in the Australian context people started shifting from

playing sports to being a professional player. In the early twentieth century the weekend

casual sporting activities progressed to professional full time training. With the inception

of Australian Sports Commission (AIS) in 1985, sports industry has been growing at the

rate of 3.0% annually with revenue generation of $3bn. While there was a surge in

participation rates in the conventional organized sporting events, the personalized sports

and fitness activities have been increasing and pose a threat to professional sports camps

across Australia. Cost per camp also plays a vital role with Australian economy not growing

as per the predicted rate which is influencing parents to take into consideration the trade-

off factors like, family outing, traditional sporting activities, camps organized by schools

etc. Based on the above factors, it is important and imperative for Sports Camp Australia

to device both marketing and operation strategies to attract customers and yet deliver

service as per their expectation.

4043 41 42 40

7570

73 7478

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rise of Unorganised Sporting Activities

Organized Sports Un-organised Sports

% o

f P

eop

le p

arti

cip

atin

g

7

Demographics – Where and What

Where are the most customers or probable customer coming from? This section highlights

the demographics of customer base, both new and repeat. The following data was collected

from Google Analytics – Sports Camp Australia from June 2015 & July 2015. As per

demographic map analysis, it is seen that majority of customers are mostly located in the

New South Wales region followed by Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth respectively. Map

explanation – The darker the area indicates more the customer base, Taking forward with

the above explanation of map and the detailed analysis of the google analytics report it can

be inferred that Sports Camp Australia presence is most prominent in the NSW region

and is growing its presence and prominence in the rest of the Australian region.

8

The above table indicates the number of new users who have visited SCA website over the

period of June2015 & July 2015. Highest number of new users were recorded from Sydney

with a bounce rate of 52%. During the course of our study there were all in all 11,000

sessions on the website. The above pattern of data is further explained below and can be

due the following influencing factors. As per the report number 6302.0 published by

Australian Bureau of Statistics dated Nov 2014, the average weekly earnings by a working

full time by an adult has increased from $1300 in May 2010 to $1500 in May 2014, an

increase of 14% this in turn has resulted in higher level of disposable income by individuals

and families. The cost of living and the levels of income differs from region to region.

The higher income levels are mostly localized to the NSW, WA, ACT regions and could

be considered as one of the important factors that influence the decision making of the

parent. The income level of females or working mothers are not at par with the region

trend. Nevertheless, they contribute majorly towards the development of their children.

1685

732

658

186

177

52

36

24

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

Sydney

Brisbane

Melbourne

Perth

Adelaide

Canberra

Gold Coast

Newcastle

New Users

New Users

9

Another important factor which drives the high number of customers from the specific

regions is the percentage population of kids under the age of 15 year and the male to female

sex ratio. As per the demographics map given below, it can been concluded that highest

number of kids under the age of 15 years are from the following 3 regions – New South

Wales, Southern Australia and Western Australia. Since most number of end users of the

services are under the age of 16 years it becomes more important for us to consider the

above aspect of sex ration. More numbers of males are currently enrolled with SCA and

the major reason behind such great diversification is due to the fact that most sports

require high level of stamina, energy and associate themselves with rigorous activities.

Hence demographics by age, sex, income level and the level of interest in the outdoor

sports activities are the major influencing factors for selecting a sports camp

Male: Female Sex Ratio Percentage of Population – By Age

10

Market Potential

Sports industry in Australia has been growing at a steady pace of 3.6% annually from 2011

till date. The market potential in terms of the revenue associated with sports industry is

estimated to be at $16 billion as per the IBIS report dated July 2015. The factors which

have significantly influenced the growth of sports industry mainly are as below:-

Population growth and population concentration in certain regions

Increase in average earnings per adult and thus increased level of disposable

income

Awareness about health benefits associated with sports.

The above four factors will respectively be detailed below in terms of market potential that

they create for sports industry and in particular Sports Camp Australia.

Population growth

Australia experienced a population growth of about 1.4% and within that the majority

growth was observed by NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. Given the

percentage increase in the population at the above locations these are and can be

considered as the potential market for Sport Camp Australia. The segmentation by

population considering the kids were identified and it was observed that there are 5.2

million children who are currently under the age of 15 years of age in Australia and account

for 19% of the total population. The Northern Territory contributes to the majority of

proportion of population of children that is 22% of the total population while on the other

side South Australia had the lowest (18%).Further study revealed that out of the 22%

population of children from Northern territory came from the following regions

Queensland - Outback (24%) , Outback (25%),and Sydney - Blacktown (23%).

1.41.8

1.4

0.9

1.6

0.4

1.1

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

% Increase

22%

22%23%

9%

11%

13%

% population of kids under 15 Year

Blacktown Outback

Queensland Sydney-city

Melbourne Inner Brisbane -Inner city

11

Growth of disposable income

With the rise in income levels of individuals and reduced cost of living, Australians are

now left with more disposable personal income. The level of this disposable income has

been increasing and is now at its peak. Parents now face the dilemma of investing the

disposable income either in leisure, education, property or entertainment. This provides

an opportunity to promote SCA services and camps and encourage the young parents to

invest part of their disposable income in their child/s skill development. The above pattern

clearly indicates and supports our analysis and thus can be concluded that cost of camp

and amount of disposable income have a correlation and can be considered as the major

factor that influences parents decision.

12

Health benefits associated with sports

Australian population has been associated with sports for past four decades and the

benefits of playing outdoor or indoor sports have been explored to its peak. Few of the

many benefits of children participating in sports activities are as follows:-

Reduced obesity risk

Increased fitness

Healthy growth of bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons

Better reflexes and coordination

Physical and mental relaxation and thus can avoid serious muscular tension

Boosts child’s confidence, social and person skills.

As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics, children between the ages of 5 to 14 years

have participated in at least one sport during vacation and outside the school hours. They

have been associated with outdoor sports that had been organized by private clubs,

association and camps. More number of boys (949, 00) participated in comparison to

that of girls (727,000). Out of the total number of children participation in sports 66% of

them were most likely to be in the age group of 9 to 12 years. Among the variety of

sports available the top three or the most liked sports by boys are Soccer, swimming, and

basketball while for girls are swimming, netball and gymnastics.

13

Competition Landscape

Few competitors in the industry are:-

Sydney Uni

NSW Office of sport & recreation

Super sports camps

A comparative study on competitor strategies and promotions as compared to SCA

Criteria

evaluated

Sydney Uni NSW Office

of Sports &

recreation

Super Sports

Camps

Sports

Camp

Number of

sports

10 15 3 20

Duration of

camps

3 days 3 days 3 days 3 days

Cost of

camps

Variable pricing per

child ( otherwise

$198)

Not available $150 $280

From the above comparative study, we can infer that the biggest competitor to Sports

Camp Australia is NSW office of sports & recreation. The other reasons for considering

NSW Office as the major competitor are:-

Government supported

Runs elite programs for carrier building in sports

Provides training outside school working hours and special camps during vacation

Recruits new coaches and holds stakes at various sports clubs, grounds and

stadiums

Major player in the industry

14

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS

•Excellent coaching

• Association with Nike

•Covers over 20 different sports

•Satisfied customer base

WEAKNESSES

•Indequate arrangements for food

•Inadequate communication with parents'

•Infrastructure issues

•Seating arrangements

•Washrooms

OPPORTUNITIES

•Sports fanatic Australian population

•Increasing disposable income of people

•Effective marketing communications channels to reach out to the target market

THREATS

•High competition from similar competitors and other school camps

•Vacation plans with families

•Other recreational and learning activities such as learning music, dance etc

SWOT Analysis

15

Project Scope

After meeting the team at SCA and brainstorming with the mentors, the team decided to

come up with specific research questions to be addressed in the project. This approach

was followed to ensure that all the efforts put in by the team was focused and yielded the

required result. Accordingly, the questions that the team undertook to find the answers

to are as follows:

1. Why do kids join Sports Camps in Australia?

• With this question, the team tried to investigate the factors that influence

the intention to purchase the services provided by Sports Camps

Australia. Also, after getting to know these factors, the team intended to

study if all these factors form a part of services offered by SCA and at to

what intensity.

2. Primary Factors that enhance Customer Retention and Attract new Customers to

Sports Camps Australia (SCA)?

• To begin with, the team intended to investigate if there exists Customer

Retention element in SCA’s business model. Next, the team decided to

come up with suggestions for SCA to improve the customer retention

and attract new customers.

Apart from this, the team also decided to extensively study the current Marketing

Communications Strategy of SCA and come up with some innovative ideas and

recommendations to make it more effective.

16

Research Methodology

Approach

The below flowchart depicts the steps undertaken in order to address the scope of the

project.

Once the research objective (research questions) was finalized, after narrowing down a

broader objective previously defined by the Clients, a Survey was designed and circulated

to random people and to existing Sports Camps Australia customer database. Before

moving on to the survey, interviews with random families having children aged between

6 to 16 were conducted to find out what they look for in an sports camp before enrolling

their child to the sports camp. While in the interviewing process the team found that

many families were never associated with sports camps, the insights given by these

families were categorized as insights from prospective clients. In order to get better

insights from the existing clients, the team visited the soccer camp held by Sports Camps

Australia in Earlwood area of Sydney.

17

After getting insights from Prospective and Existing Clients of Sports Camps Australia,

the survey was strategically designed to understand the respondent’s rational and logical

behaviour along with their emotions and concern about their children and sports camps

respectively.

Sports Camps Australia sent across the Survey to their existing customer database and

the responses were collected and categorized as qualitative and quantitative data. These

data were then analysed practically and mathematically and helped us to come up with

recommendations.

18

Consumer Insights

Following are the consumer insights that were captured when we interviewed families

with children aged from 6 to 16 in Burwood neighbourhood and parents who came to

register and drop off their kids to the camp at Earlwood.

Competence Building: Is the sports camp helping children to develop skills and

competencies in the enrolled sport.

Physical Exercise and Training Quality: To what extent is the physical exercise

pushing the kid and the training provided by the coaches.

Safety Requirements and Equipments: Are adequate safety measures taken during

the activity and during any accidents.

Mental Health and Confidence: Is the sports camp helping children build

confidence and helping them in their academics as well.

Enjoyment Quotient: Are the kids really enjoying the camp – training, coaching

and socializing with other kids

Location of the Camp: Distance between camp and house, also time taken to

travel.

Individual Attention: Was individual focus given or not, was it a mass level

training or training based on children current performance.

Social Factors: How are the children coming to the sports camp, will all gel well

and will the children get to know how to socialize with other children.

Is the kid willing to re-join: Reasons for customer retention can be kids will and

wish, the factors influencing kids can be training, sport, and other camp

environment.

Competition Events and Recognition: Is the sports camp encouraging kids to

participate in the other events or competitions.

Or any other Motivational Factors.

19

Survey

The team decided to come up with a survey as a tool to collect quantitative as well as

qualitative data, which would further be analysed extensively to come up with useful

insights and recommendations for Sports Camps Australia.

Survey was designed specifically to answer the research questions and the consumer

insights. The survey was sent out to Sports Camps Australia’s existing customer

databases in order to understand whether or not Sports Camps Australia is currently

meeting the expectations of the consumers and to understand where the camps stand in

addressing the factors that ensures customer retention.

20

Data Analysis

Quantitative Data

Based on the survey response (52 Nos from online & 20 at Earlwood camp), each survey

question which was asked has been analysed and the findings associated with each of the

questions have been detailed below. Data gathered from the survey was extensively

analysed to understand the current consumer behaviour and driving factors for intention

to purchase as well as customer retention for Sports Camps Australia. A few key insights

were as follows:

Customer Attitudinal Loyalty and Word of Mouth

This question was designed to map the attitudinal loyalty i.e. willingness to

recommend. of the sample and whether or not the sample would say positive

things about SCA

On this factor, SCA performed well as around 85% of the sample said that they would definitely recommend SCA to someone who seeks their advice. Approximately the same number of people in the sample mentioned that they will be saying positive things about SCA to others. Only 3% said that they were unlikely to say good or bad things about SCA whereas 14% said that they were least likely to recommend and say positive things about SCA to anyone.

84%

2%

14%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Customer Loyalty and Word of Mouth

Low Medium High

21

Customer Behavioural Loyalty

This question was designed to understand how much willing were parents to

send back their kids to SCA based on their experience

As can be seen in the graph, over 75% of the parents in the sample were willing

to send back their kids to SCA, 10 % were neutral and 14% were least likely to

send back their kids to SCA. The team went through the individual responses to

understand the reasons behind the dissatisfaction and these would be covered in

detail in the section ‘Least liked by the customers

Customer Retention

With this question, the team tried to investigate how much were the kids willing

to come back to SCA for future camps

This question also addresses the customer retention element, which was one of

the key questions that the team tried to investigate.

A decent majority of the kids said that they would definitely want to get back to

SCA for future camps, which highlights the fact there this does exist customer

retention in the business

76%

10%

14%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Behavioural Loyalty

Low Medium High

61%

25%

14%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Customer Retention

Low Medium High

22

Was the camp challenging enough?

One of the important insight that the team got after interviewing the parents of

the prospective as well as existing SCA kids was that the overall experience of the

camp should be challenging. The team thus went ahead to see if the existing

customer base felt that the camp was challenging

70% of the customers said that they found all the camp challenging enough. 20%

said that the experience was somewhat challenging and around 10% of the

respondents said that they didn’t find the camp challenging

To understand the reason for low and medium scores in this question, the team

went through the individual responses and found out that the higher age

segment, especially the above 12 years category, found out the experience to not

be very challenging

70%

20%

11%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Challenging quotient?

23

Did the kids felt involved during the camp?

Another important factor that the parents think about when it comes to their

kids experience in a sports camp is the level of involvement of their kids in the

camp

Higher level of involvement means that high level of engagement during the

camp which in turn means high satisfaction levels

Around 85% of the kids who were a part of SCA said that they felt very involved

during the camp. 8% said that they felt somewhat involved.

84%

8%

8%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Level of involvement

24

Was the training quality up to the mark?

Training quality is closely related to customer satisfaction and SCA is known to

deliver good training quality to the kids

This can also be seen in the results derived from the survey. Close to 80% of the

respondents felt that SCA delivered good on training quality

12% were neutral i.e. neither happy nor unhappy with the training quality

whereas 12% of the respondents said that they were dissatisfied with the training

quality

The team then went through the individual responses to understand the reasons

of why was there dissatisfaction amongst the customer. Analysis of the individual

responses revealed that the section of the respondents who come in the

advanced player category felt that they overall training quality was not that good.

It makes logical sense too because since these players already have an advanced

skillset, their purpose to go to the camps is having more practice of their skillset

with very limited addition to the new skills acquired during the camp

78%

10%

12%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Customer Satisfaction - Training Quality

Low Medium High

25

Were the kids properly supervised during the camp?

This is one of the important parameters of customer satisfaction. High level of

supervision would mean that the parents would be happy that their kids are being

supervised during the camp.

During the Earlwood camp visit, the team observed that for a good level of

supervision, SCA divided the kids into groups based on the age and supervised

all of them accordingly

SCA has performed well in this section as well with over 75% of the respondents

feeling that their kids were very well supervised during the camp

Were the kids given individual attention during the camp?

Although Supervision is an parameter for Customer Satisfaction, Individual

Attention is a parameter for Customer Delight

Individual attention translates to customized services provided to the kids

A decent majority of the sample agreed that their kids were given individual

attention during the camp and they were really happy about this fact

This insight is particularly important because customer delight leads to customer

loyalty and retention.

76%

18%

6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Supervision

Low Medium High

63%

22%

14%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Individual Attention

Disagree Neutral Agree

26

Competition Participation

This question was included in the survey to check if Sports Camps Australia

encourages children to participate in the competition and events. This is an

influencing factor for the customers’ retention as found from the consumer

insight.

From the data, it can be seen that approximately 75% of the respondents agree

that Sports Camps Australia encourages children to participate in competitions,

where as in the remaining 25%, 20% respondents chose to stay neutral and 5%

were disappointed by the fact that Sports Camps Australia did not help kids in

participating in competitions.

75%

20%

5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Competition Participation

Low Medium High

27

Good Safety Arrangements

Another important question which is an influencing factor for customer

retention is good safety arrangements. Safety arrangements vary from the

physical protective gear worn during the play and safety aids available during an

accident or major injury.

Safety was one of the major concerns for the parents enrolling their kid to sports

camps and from the data available we can see that 80% of Sports Camps

Australia customers were happy with the safety measures provided by the camp

and less than 15% were neutral with 6% being dissatisfied.

80%

14%

6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Good Safety Arrangements


28

Sport Competence

This question was for the existing customers who had already sent their children

to Sports Camps Australia and intended measuring the kids’ skill development. It

basically tried to see that after attending the Sports Camps, how much did the kid

develop the competence in that particular sport

From the responses, it can be seen that over 75% have agreed that there has been

skill development and approximately 10% have neutral opinion about the same

and the rest 10% have bad experience with the training and feel there has not

been much skill development after attending the camp. The reasons can be many

ranging from, a kid not liking the sport to kid already reaching an advanced level.

78%

12%

10%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

1

Sport Competence

Low Medium High

29

Fun Quotient

This is an important parameter when it comes to customer retention, the biggest

influencing factor for re-joining a camp can be kids interest and kids interest is

mainly based on the fun or enjoyment he/she had in the camp previously

attended.

From the results it is very evident that most of the kids are enjoying the sports

camps, 8% are neutral and remaining 8% said that they did not enjoy the sport.

The reason for being neutral and not enjoying can be many, mostly being either

gender or not liking the sport.

84%

8%

8%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

1

Fun Quotient

Low Medium High

30

Overall Satisfaction

The overall satisfaction rating is the consolidated experience of kids and parents.

This is an ultimate measure of customer retention.

From the responses recorded by the existing customers of Sports Camps

Australia, it is evident that more than 80% have are completely satisfied by the

service offered by the camp, 6% of respondents feel neutral about the

satisfaction and 12% of respondents are dissatisfied. The reasons can vary widely

for the below average satisfaction level.

Value for Money

This question was included to find out whether the customers are feeling worth

the amount they paid for the camp. Value for money encompasses all the

influencing factors for the new joiners and returning customers.

The results say that 74% of the respondents agreed that they received services

worth the amount they paid and overall the camp was value for money. 8%

remain silent and 18% feel that the camp was not value for the money.

82%

6%

12%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Overall Satisfaction

Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied

74%

8%

18%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Value for money


31

How did you come to know

about SCA?

Most customers came to SCA via

Social Media (Facebook page),

however the other striking fact

which came out of response to

the above question was that 19%

of them were informed about

SCA by a friend. The above fact

clearly indicates that SCA is

generating positive word of

mouth among the existing

customers by delivering quality

services. Nevertheless SCA

should leverage their presence on

social media platforms to build

brand and customer base.

Distribution of information channels

Why did you chose Sports

Camps Australia for your kid?

Based on the responses received

from customers the major

reasons for selecting SCA are

building physical endurance and

confidence level. But the other

reasons which accounted for 38%

of the responses are more

relevant for SCA. The 38% of

other reason comprises of Skill

development which accounted

for 70% while the rest 30% are

miscellaneous and consists of

mixed response. Hence the USP

of SCA in the eyes of the

customer is highly skilled coaches

for skill development.

Distribution of reasons to join the camp

Social Media21%

Google17%

Filers6%

Website15%

Friend19%

Club10%

School4%

Coach2%

Misc6%

Other22%

48%

44%

39%

35%

23%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

For physicalendurance

andconfidence

building

I wanted himto remainengaged

during thevacation

I wanted himto learn this

sport

If for someother reason,please state

here

I wanted himto get

involved inoutdooractivities

32

How would you rate

the coach who

conducted the camp?

The most critical and

highly appreciated factor

for SCA- the coaches,

have been the key

performing and highly

appreciated by

customers. The key

finding from the above

exercise or survey

question is, that better

coaches lead to higher

customer retention and

satisfaction. Hence SCA

should continue

associating with

professional coaches.

How would you rate the coach who

conducted the camp?

Age of Kid

The insights which we

got out from the survey

response will help SCA

to identity which sports

to come up with and

which sports camps to be

conducted at a higher

frequency based on

segmenting the market

by Age. It has been

clearly identified that

children between the age

of 8 to 12 years ( 55.8%)

are the major consumers

of the services, followed

by children between the

age of 12 to 16 year

Distribution of the age of participants at

the camp

Excellent47%

Very Good29%

Good16%

Average4% Poor

4%

Less than 8 years, 9.6%

8 - 12 years, 55.8%

12 - 16 years, 28.8%

16 - 18 years, 5.8%

33

Your relation with the

kid

Undoubtedly mothers

are the one who are the

decision makers while

selecting Sports Camps

during vacation. As

brought out from the

survey 71% of the people

who responded to the

survey are mothers who

did the registration

process with SCA.

Hence, SCA marketing

promotion activities

should encompass the

above factor and target

the consumers’ decision

maker which is this case

are mothers.

Decision maker for selection of camp

How far is your house

from the stadium/

Camp area?

As per survey result, it can

been comprehended that

49% of parents are willing

to travel more than 10

KMs to reach sports camp

location. Hence SCA can

consider conducting

camps at locations which

can be located at a

minimum distance of 20

KMs, hence has a better

opportunity to cover larger

areas and bigger customer

base.

Distribution of distance to camp

Less than 5 kms29%

5 – 8 kms14%

8 – 10 kms8%

More than 10 kms

49%

Mother71%

Father21%

Others8%

34

Qualitative Data

Most Liked by Customers

What customer like about

SCA?

Customer prefer SCA due to the

following factors in the

preferential order :-

1. Coaching

2. Camp location

3. Element of fun

4. Others Include

5. Well Structured

6. Managed Camp

7. Skill Development

8. Small Groups

Key strengths of SCA are

coaching/coaches followed by

camp location.

Distribution of SCA strengths

Coaching39%

Location19%

Small Groups

6%

Fun15%

well structured

12%

skill development

9%

35

Least Liked by Customer

Below are the consolidated factors that are least liked by the Sports Camps Australia

customers. These responses were collected by talking to parents who came to drop their

children to the sports camp and by the existing customer database of Sports Camps

Australia. The responses were also recorded from the open ended questions asked for

the least liked factors in the camp. Some of these factors are shared below:

Competency Building

o No advance level training for kids who play above average than training

provided.

o No individual focus given to kids, only 2 groups are made based on age

and not on difficulty level.

Lack of Basic Necessities

o Food and water should be provided by Sports Camps Australia

o Sun cream should be available at the camp and should be recommended

in the information guide.

No Awards and Appreciation

o Acknowledgment of kid’s performance, trainers should provide

information to parents about how their children play.

o Trophies should be awarded rather than gifts to kids who have played

best in the camp.

Bad Infrastructure

o Waiting area for parents, proper seating arrangements were not available

for parents or guardians who came to drop children.

o Restroom for males/females

Discrepancy on Camp Details

o Location

o Requirements

Sports equipments to be carried

Attire for the sport

Accessories (additional) to bring.

36

Recommendations

Enhancing Value

It is evident from the survey that Sports Camps Australia performs very well in its core

service delivery i.e. conducting excellent sports camps. There are, however, a few

suggestions that the team would like to recommend that might help SCA to go from

good to great. These recommendations are derived from the survey responses and from

the observations the team made during their Earlwood camp visit. Some of the

recommendations are also as a result of the teams’ analysis of the current SCA strategies.

The recommendations can be summarized as follows:

Communication –

o SCA needs to proactively communicate with its customers. It could be

inferred from the survey that the customers felt that there was a

communication gap as the required information didn’t reach them at the

right place at the right time. Also, SCA should avoid last minute sharing

of information as this was a problem point that could be gathered from

the survey. Finally, there has to be clarity on requirements during the

camp in terms of whether or not food/ canteen services are available, the

type of sports gears required etc.

o Crisis management – We recommend SCA to brief the coaches

conducting the camp to handle the crisis situation in a proper way. For

instance, a kid might get an injury during the camp. Depending on the

situation, SCA should not only arrange for appropriate medical aid but

also inform the parents about such incident and assure that appropriate

aid was given and that special care will be given to the kids until the

parents arrive.

o Banners to be put on time – many parents expressed the inconvenience

of locating the exact ground where the camps were to be conducted.

Even the team observed during its Earlwood camp visit that the banners

were put up after the camp coaching had already begun for the day.

Putting up the SCA banner well before the first parents’ arrival will

ensure that the process of conveniently locating the camp is simplified

and much more convenient.

o Connect with existing customers and communicate about existing camps

– we recommend SCA to touch base with its existing customer base for

camps that will be conducted in the nearby areas as the customers wish to

come back to SCA for future camps

37

• Younger audience vs Elder audience – it could be inferred from the survey that

the elder section of the customers i.e. 12 years and above felt that the camp was very

intense whereas the kids below the age 12 felt that the camp was very demanding.

Treating these kids differently based on the age is an important criteria for enhancing

camp experience of the kids.

• Feedback on performance – SCA should start giving the kids performance to the

parents. If done the right way, this can add on to the Customer Delight element

• Camp clothing – for the outdoor sports, SCA should come up with full sleeve

clothing for the kids as the parents are concerned about the harmful effects of

prolonged exposure of their children to the sunlight

• Brand Awareness – SCA should take up initiatives to promote the brand and

increase the visibility. Some of the respondents in the survey felt that

• Loyalty Program – 24% of the sample in the survey were repeat customers. The

survey analysis also revealed that customer retention exists in the SCA business

model. Also, some of the customers with whom the team interacted expressed a need

for some loyalty benefits. SCA, should

• Referral schemes – Refer a friend and get a good discount. One of the challenges

faced by SCA is getting the numbers for its sports camps. Referral scheme will not

only give the existing customers an incentive to refer a friend and get a discount but

also get more customers for SCA. So it’s a win-win for both, the customers as well as

SCA.

• AdWords campaigns – taking ahead the insight that Moms are almost always

involved in the decision making process to send their kids to SCA, Facebook and

Google AdWords campaigns can be run to target these Moms and provide them

with a touch point to reach the website where SCA gets an opportunity to convert

the prospective customer to an existing actual customer.

• Promotions on Groupon –

o There are a lot of advantages of advertising and promoting SCA on

Groupon. It will help not only in getting numbers but also in creating

awareness about the brand.

Also, we recommend that SCA promotes only those sports on Groupon in which

getting good number of participants is difficult.

38

• Email Marketing –

We recommend SCA to explore the potential of this highly effective tool. As per an

extensive study conducted, for every $1 spent on email marketing investment, the

average return is $44.25. (Forbes, 2014)

o For New Customers – Paid databases available for a defined sample. There

are popular websites that provide authentic databases of a defined sample.

We recommend SCA to purchase databases of people in the age bracket 30 –

45 years as these are the people who have maximum likelihood of having a

young child, who is the final consumer for SCA. Also, the survey analysis

revealed that in most of the cases, Mom’s used to either be directly or

indirectly involved in the decision making process of sending their children to

SCA. We, thus, recommend that SCA can purchase paid databases of

Women in the age 30 – 45 years for a highly targeted e-mail campaign.

o For Existing Customers – For Existing customer base too should be targeted

but with the location constraint. We recommend so because of two

important insights. First, the existing customers want to hear back from SCA

whenever there is a camp conducted by SCA again. Second, it’s very

important to send relevant emails so that the customers don’t block SCA

emails because of receiving excessive and irrelevant emails. We, thus,

recommend that SCA does this using the location constraint. For instance, it

there’s a camp that’s about to happen in the Olympic park, mails should be

sent to the customers who stay say in the ten km radius of Olympic park.

39

Social Media

Uses of social media are tremendous. The popularity of social media as a medium to

promote an organization is increasing continuously. In Australia, the most common

reported use of Social Media are developing company image or market products (79%),

followed by communicating with the customers. (Statistics, 2013-14)

Going by these trends, we recommend that SCA does more Social Media Activities for

customer acquisition and engagement. One more supporting premise for this argument is

the fact that there is a spike in the number of website visits of SCA whenever there is an

activity on its Social Media accounts, as per the Google Analytics report. Moreover, there

a lot of activities that SCA could undertake ensure constant presence on the social media.

Some of those are shared below:

• Early bird discount

• Sharing pictures and experiences with the use of “#SCA” and other #trending

#hashtags for gaining visibility

• Guest star coaches – share the stories of celebrity guest appearances

• Run contests and give away small prizes

• Regular health/sport updates and inspirational posts for the customer base to just

increase the perception points regularly

• Share success stories and stories of high performing kids – many kids who join the

camps have a high skill level. SCA can click pictures and share videos of these kids

performing well during the sports camps and share it on the social media pages.

We also recommend SCA to fully use the potential of other social media platforms such

as Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. An integrated approach to all these social media

platforms will go a long way to help SCA get the best out of these mediums.

40

Sports Camps Australia Website

Since most of the customers come to SCA website via social media, it is important for

SCA to have a strong communications channel using the social media. However the

bounce rate of the website in an average is around 58%, which is on the higher side as per

google analytics suggestive report. This implies that probable customer are attracted

towards the services offered by SCA while the promotion is on the social media but once

these probable customers visit the website they find it either too difficult to navigate or are

not getting sufficient information which they seek on visiting the website.

On analysing consumer behaviour while customers are on the SCA website, it has been

observed that customers are looking for information about the camps which were held

and the upcoming camp dates with location. In view of the above pattern and other

observation which were identified while conducting surveys, interviews and by studying

consumer behaviour we suggest the following to be included / modified to the website.

Include a section of testimonial where-in the existing customer are invited to write about

their experience with SCA. Creation of this section will enhance positive vibe which will

be created when a mother writes about SCA good quality services and how well managed

was the camp. Any new customer’s apprehensions about registering with SCA may also be

addressed by one of the testimonial. Hence having a testimonial section on the website

will have two fold advantage, first SCA will get to know about how they have performed

or delivered in the previous camps by getting customers insight and secondly these insights

will create far better value for SCA by encouraging new customer to join SCA.

Another recommendation for the website is to have a blog. Having a blog increasing the

chances of encountering new tag words which when searched online can link to SCA

website hence increasing the chances of customers coming to SCA website. The blog may

contain details about the camps which were successfully held across Australia.

Finally it is highly recommended to include a search for camp feature based on location,

date and sport as the categories of filters. This will influence customer decision as they will

be more eager to look for camps around their location or nearest accessible location.

Hence increases the probability of registering for the camp in the first or the consequent

visit.

41

Mobile App

The benefits of having a mobile application are enormous. Moreover, building a mobile

application is a onetime investment with higher returns making this a very lucrative

option.

Screen Shots

Features News Feeds: Latest updates on sport news, upcoming camp details, new

testimonials, photos of the on-going camp and other related updates.

Camp Details: Details about the ongoing sports camps – location (embed with

google maps), timings, maps, and other related information about the camp.

Kids Details: Every mobile app will be registered with owner’s children details,

by this feature parents can track their kid’s skills, competency level, sports camps

attended and several similar details.

Health Tips

Registration to upcoming sports camp

Social Media Plugins: Login with facebook or google account.

Key Benefits Easier and Faster communication

Upload details of the camps

Implement engagement activities

42

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45

Appendix

Survey

A study by SCA for understanding your experience and making

it better.

1. How did you hear about us?

o Social Media

o Google

o Fliers

o Website

o Friend

o If from some other source, please specify _____________

2. Why did you chose SCA for your kid? (You may select multiple)

o I wanted him/her to learn this sport

o I wanted him/her to remain engaged during the vacation

o I wanted him/her to get involved in outdoor activities

o For physical endurance and confidence building

o If for some other reason, please state here ________________________

3. What does your kid do when there are no sports camps during the vacations?

o Join some other training

o Play games at home

o Do nothing

o Study

o All of the above

o Other __________________

4. Is your kid a part of an ongoing sport training?

o Yes

o No

o If yes, please state which ___________________

5. Has your kid attended a sports camp before?

o Yes

o No

o If yes, please share the details ________________

6. Is your kid interested in playing and enjoying sports?

o Yes

o No

o If no, please share why ______________________

46

7. How would you rate the coach who conducted the camp

a. Excellent

b. Very Good

c. Good

d. Average

e. Poor

8. Please indicate by selecting one number, the extent to which you agree with the

statements listed below. Selecting 1 means that you strongly disagree and

selecting 5 means that you strongly agree. You may select any of the numbers

in between to indicate the strength of your agreement.

I would recommend SCA to someone who seeks my

advice 1 2 3 4 5

I would say positive things about this SCA to other

people 1 2 3 4 5

I would send my kid to SCA again for future camps 1 2 3 4 5

My kid insists that he wants to go to SCA for future

camps 1 2 3 4 5

The kids were well supervised during the coaching camp 1 2 3 4 5

My kid was happy with the training quality provided

during the camp 1 2 3 4 5

My kid felt involved during the camp 1 2 3 4 5

My kid was motivated to perform to the best of his

capabilities during the camp 1 2 3 4 5

My kid was challenged frequently to perform the best 1 2 3 4 5

My kid was given individual attention during the camp 1 2 3 4 5

I like the fact that SCA encourages and invites my kid to

be a part of sports competitions and events 1 2 3 4 5

My kid would like to attend more camps conducted by

SCA in the future 1 2 3 4 5

There were adequate safety arrangements during the

camp 1 2 3 4 5

I am happy with the overall quality of the service

provided during the camp 1 2 3 4 5

My kid has gained competence in the sport and is now

more confident about playing it 1 2 3 4 5

My kid had a lot of fun during the camp 1 2 3 4 5

I think we got the right value for the fees spent for the

camp 1 2 3 4 5

47

Demographics

9. Kids Gender

o Male

o Female

10. Your relation with the kid

o Parent

o Sibling

o Guardian

o Other ____________

11. Age of the kid _______________

Less than 8 years

8 – 12 years

12 – 16 years

16 – 18 years

12. How far is your house from the stadium/ Camp area?

o Less than 5 kms

o 5 – 8 kms

o 8 – 10 kms

o More than 10 kms

13. What did you like the most about the camp? ( At least 3)

14. What did you like the least about the camp? ( At least 3)

15. Please share with us a few things that , according to you, SCA could do better

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

Thank you for your time