Segmenting Consumers of Professional Soccer: Identifying the ‘Enthusiast’

Charlotte Pick; Alex Gillett

Segmenting Consumers of Professional Soccer: Identifying the ‘Enthusiast’

The York Management School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Extant literature of association football (‘soccer’) consumers has tended to focus on supporters of top-tier teams, or on psychological or experiential factors. Contrastingly, this study was concerned with identifying customer segments based on consumer value and benefits-sought, but particular to supporters of lower-league clubs. Using survey data from the three tiers of English professional football below the English Premier League (the Championship, League 1, and League 2), we refine and update Tapp and Clowes (2002) framework of Premier League fans, exploring the behaviour of supporters of lower-tier professional clubs. From our findings, we provide a segmentation framework that can be applied by marketers as part of the business and marketing planning process. We provide a detailed picture of the views and consumption habit of lower-league soccer supporters, and identify an additional segment, the ‘Enthusiast’. We believe that this is important because much of the existing research has focused on the English Premier League (EPL) which we argue represents an atypical elite in comparison to the majority of other professional tiers of football in the UK or the rest of the European area. By focusing on lower-league football we provide a more universal study.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Services Research
Volume	18
Issue number	2
Publication status	Published - 12 Feb 2019

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

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Segmenting Consumers of Professional Soccer - Identifying the ‘Enthusiast’ 111218
This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.
Accepted author manuscript, 63.6 KB
Figure_1_Characteristics_of_the_varying_soccer_fan_segments_as_proposed_by_different_researchersOther version, 15.8 KB
Figure_2_Convergence_of_the_segments_proposed_by_different_researchersOther version, 12.9 KB
Figure_3_Summary_of_Research_Proposition_AnalysisOther version, 13.7 KB
Figure_4_box_plot_for_proposition_5Other version, 21.7 KB
Figure_5_summary_of_notable_findingsOther version, 12.9 KB
Figure_6_Attributes_to_determine_fan_typologyOther version, 12.9 KB
Figure_7_Weightings_and_scores_for_each_variableOther version, 12.7 KB
Figure_8_Expected_score_for_each_type_of_football_fanOther version, 12.1 KB
Figure_9_estimated_typical_spend_championshipOther version, 13.3 KB
Figure_10_estimated_typical_spend_league_1Other version, 13.3 KB
Figure_11_estimated_typical_spend_league_2Other version, 13.3 KB
Figure_12_future_research_directionsOther version, 14.4 KB

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Cite this

@article{657d5619cc154a4a9611e2761f2579e4,

title = "Segmenting Consumers of Professional Soccer: Identifying the {\textquoteleft}Enthusiast{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "Extant literature of association football ({\textquoteleft}soccer{\textquoteright}) consumers has tended to focus on supporters of top-tier teams, or on psychological or experiential factors. Contrastingly, this study was concerned with identifying customer segments based on consumer value and benefits-sought, but particular to supporters of lower-league clubs. Using survey data from the three tiers of English professional football below the English Premier League (the Championship, League 1, and League 2), we refine and update Tapp and Clowes (2002) framework of Premier League fans, exploring the behaviour of supporters of lower-tier professional clubs. From our findings, we provide a segmentation framework that can be applied by marketers as part of the business and marketing planning process. We provide a detailed picture of the views and consumption habit of lower-league soccer supporters, and identify an additional segment, the {\textquoteleft}Enthusiast{\textquoteright}. We believe that this is important because much of the existing research has focused on the English Premier League (EPL) which we argue represents an atypical elite in comparison to the majority of other professional tiers of football in the UK or the rest of the European area. By focusing on lower-league football we provide a more universal study.",

author = "Charlotte Pick and Alex Gillett",

note = "This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher{\textquoteright}s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. ",

year = "2019",

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AU - Pick, Charlotte

AU - Gillett, Alex

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PY - 2019/2/12

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N2 - Extant literature of association football (‘soccer’) consumers has tended to focus on supporters of top-tier teams, or on psychological or experiential factors. Contrastingly, this study was concerned with identifying customer segments based on consumer value and benefits-sought, but particular to supporters of lower-league clubs. Using survey data from the three tiers of English professional football below the English Premier League (the Championship, League 1, and League 2), we refine and update Tapp and Clowes (2002) framework of Premier League fans, exploring the behaviour of supporters of lower-tier professional clubs. From our findings, we provide a segmentation framework that can be applied by marketers as part of the business and marketing planning process. We provide a detailed picture of the views and consumption habit of lower-league soccer supporters, and identify an additional segment, the ‘Enthusiast’. We believe that this is important because much of the existing research has focused on the English Premier League (EPL) which we argue represents an atypical elite in comparison to the majority of other professional tiers of football in the UK or the rest of the European area. By focusing on lower-league football we provide a more universal study.

AB - Extant literature of association football (‘soccer’) consumers has tended to focus on supporters of top-tier teams, or on psychological or experiential factors. Contrastingly, this study was concerned with identifying customer segments based on consumer value and benefits-sought, but particular to supporters of lower-league clubs. Using survey data from the three tiers of English professional football below the English Premier League (the Championship, League 1, and League 2), we refine and update Tapp and Clowes (2002) framework of Premier League fans, exploring the behaviour of supporters of lower-tier professional clubs. From our findings, we provide a segmentation framework that can be applied by marketers as part of the business and marketing planning process. We provide a detailed picture of the views and consumption habit of lower-league soccer supporters, and identify an additional segment, the ‘Enthusiast’. We believe that this is important because much of the existing research has focused on the English Premier League (EPL) which we argue represents an atypical elite in comparison to the majority of other professional tiers of football in the UK or the rest of the European area. By focusing on lower-league football we provide a more universal study.

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