Sports Experts
Sports Experts’ customer base is focused on a broad range of consumers. Geographically, Sports Experts is especially most successful in Quebec. Product range in Sports Expert stores includes footwear, clothing and outwear, which are designed for customers who enjoy sports but need a “fashionable” edge to clothes.
Sports Experts sets the mission to fulfill “the needs of active families and the aspiration of the most passionate sport enthusiasts” (Sports Experts). The company does not address a particular market segment, but tries to approach as many people as possible across all age groups, with all levels of physical preparedness and involved in all kinds of activities. Sports Experts is establishing ties with their customers through sport communities, trying to create brand awareness and loyalty already from early childhood.
Sports Experts’ strategy of approaching all customer groups and segments creates the need to analyze consumer purchasing patterns and to provide the most fulfilling experience in their shops. Wide variety of products and brands on the shelves attracts both people, who are committed to a particular brand and those, who enjoy choosing among different alternatives. Moreover, some of the buyers do not have sufficient knowledge about sport products, therefore they appreciate high level of service in Sports Experts stores, where personnel is always happy to give advice.
Sport Mart
Sport Mart is catering for the needs of the price conscious customers, who want to receive quality products and high level of service. Therefore, Sport Mart emphases customer assistance and service and combines it with low prices for premium brands. A typical Sport Mart buyer does not plan purchases in advance, but does shopping on impulse, therefore low prices are the key trigger for purchase decisions. The company did not only establish guaranteed lowest prices in the industry, but also introduced drop zone deals, which offer additional discounts and convenient deals, thus making customers buy even more (Sport Mart).
d) Competitive analysis
Canadian sporting goods market is characterized by a steady growth. Current market leaders in terms of dollar sales are Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, and WalMart. The situation is similar for sales volumes, however WalMart does better in unit sales, moving Sport Check to the third position. Top three companies maintain leadership in all regions of Canada, but Quebec, where Sports Experts takes the second position (Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association ). While WalMart and Canadian Tire are mass merchandisers, Sport Chek directly competes with both Sport Mart and Sports Experts in the sales of sports only products. Therefore, Sport Chek will be used in the further analysis in order to identify market competition and to discover possible source of competitive advantage for Sport Mart and Sports Experts.
Sport Chek
Sport Chek is the only superstore in Canada, which is dedicated solely to sports products. Their objective is to provide every customer with the widest possible selection of goods and a unique shopping experience. Product assortment in Sport Chek stores is so varied, that it cannot be matched by any other competitor, thus making Sport Chek a leader in almost all categories of sports goods. Despite the significant size of Sport Chek stores, the company pays a lot of attention to maintaining high level of customer service. Moreover, the company provides an opportunity to shop online for those, who do not live close to the nearest Sport Chek megastore, but who would like to benefit from the Sport Chek’s product offering. The company also operates several boutiques in golf, hockey, nutrition, and snow, surf & sun goods, where they can meet demands of particular customer groups with even deeper and wider product range in a specific product category (SportChek).
The company does not appeal to only one type of customers, but tries to meet the demands of every Canadian, who wants to have “fit, healthy and active lifestyle”. The company does not only attract the existing customers, however it is also actively engaged in demand creation. Therefore, it always participates in the life of local sports organizations, thus encouraging people new people to “be active, feel better”. This strategy creates new demand in the market, which can be easily attracted to the Sport Chek stores. This method is especially effective with children associations, because in this case the company is obtaining customers, who are likely to be loyal throughout their whole life (SportChek).
The main weakness of Sport Chek, compared to Sport Mart and Sports Experts, is relatively high level of prices. Therefore, in order to gain a competitive advantage over Sport Chek, it is necessary to cater for the needs of price sensitive consumers, while maintaining brand image and offering a wide variety of high quality products and premium brands. Moreover, focused approach to product assortment, close attention to customers and enhanced shopping experience through additional in-store services or more convenient product location could give these companies an advantage over Sport Chek big box retail stores. It is also possible to take more regional approach to the sales, thus addressing specific needs in a particular region, thus creating an image of a local experts and gaining customer affection. This strategy has been successful for Sports Experts in Quebec, therefore there is a possibility to use this approach in other regions.
References
McKeown, Shawne. "Canadian Tire to buy company that owns Sport Chek, Nevada Bob’s
Golf." CityNews Toronto. 05 Sep 2011: n. page. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/life/money/article/129770--canadian-tire-to- buy-company-that-owns-sport-chek-nevada-bob-s-golf
SportChek, . "About Us." SportChek. The Forzani Group Ltd, n.d. Web. 11 Nov 2011.
http://www.sportchek.ca/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3796357&clickid=botnav_about us_txt
Sports Experts, . "69 stores - More than 40 years of expertise." Sports Experts. The Forzani
Group Ltd., n.d. Web. 10 Nov 2011. <http://www.sportsexperts.ca/en/about/business- overview>.
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, . "The Canadian Sports Market: Up and
Coming." SGMA . 21 May 2008: n. page. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.
http://www.sgma.com/press/4_-The-Canadian-Sports-Market:-Up-and-Coming
"Sport Mart." . The Forzani Group LTD., n.d. Web. 10 Nov 2011.
http://www.forzanigroup.com/Sportmart.aspx?selected=SportMart
Sport Mart, . "Our Promises." . Sport Mart Ltd, 2011. Web. 10 Nov 2011.
http://www.sportmart.ca/our-promises.html
