Consumer Behaviour Sports Marketing F
Sports Marketing – Fan Loyalty
Team sports fan loyalty, particularly is different from brand loyalty. In brand loyalty as much as if a consumer buy a product that is of lower quality than expected, consumer usually abandon allegiance to the brand. However, in fan loyalty consumer continues to buy team products even if the team that the fan supports continues to perform poorly.
In Nature of Sports Marketing Article authors Andre Bühler and Gerd Nufer studied this subject. They mentioned that sports consumers are different in numerous ways from ordinary consumers of ordinary companies. For example this is especially clear in soccer supporters. Authors made 3 important comments about soccer supporters behaviours. They mentioned that first, soccer supporters are usually more passionate about their favourite football club than consumers are about their preferred brand. Second, fans show a high level of loyalty to their team. Dempsey and Reilly (1998) explain this loyalty with the fact that supporters find something in football that they cannot find anywhere else, e.g. the escape from the ordinary work a day world, the adrenalin rush and thrill of a match or the feeling of being part of a community. Therefore, fans pledge allegiances to their clubs. Passion and loyalty leads to the third difference: football fans are often irrational in their consumer behaviour. Purchase decision are seldom taken on commercial grounds, or as Cashmore (2003) puts it: ‘Part of being a fan involves buying all manner of product related to the object of adulation’ regardless of price or quality. A related consequence of loyalty is the fact that football supporters don’t have a real choice when it comes to purchase decisions. While ordinary consumers may have their preferences, they normally have a choice between several products. Football supporters, however, would rarely change to another club only because the ticket price of the competitor is more reasonable. The whole issue of fan
Team sports fan loyalty, particularly is different from brand loyalty. In brand loyalty as much as if a consumer buy a product that is of lower quality than expected, consumer usually abandon allegiance to the brand. However, in fan loyalty consumer continues to buy team products even if the team that the fan supports continues to perform poorly.
In Nature of Sports Marketing Article authors Andre Bühler and Gerd Nufer studied this subject. They mentioned that sports consumers are different in numerous ways from ordinary consumers of ordinary companies. For example this is especially clear in soccer supporters. Authors made 3 important comments about soccer supporters behaviours. They mentioned that first, soccer supporters are usually more passionate about their favourite football club than consumers are about their preferred brand. Second, fans show a high level of loyalty to their team. Dempsey and Reilly (1998) explain this loyalty with the fact that supporters find something in football that they cannot find anywhere else, e.g. the escape from the ordinary work a day world, the adrenalin rush and thrill of a match or the feeling of being part of a community. Therefore, fans pledge allegiances to their clubs. Passion and loyalty leads to the third difference: football fans are often irrational in their consumer behaviour. Purchase decision are seldom taken on commercial grounds, or as Cashmore (2003) puts it: ‘Part of being a fan involves buying all manner of product related to the object of adulation’ regardless of price or quality. A related consequence of loyalty is the fact that football supporters don’t have a real choice when it comes to purchase decisions. While ordinary consumers may have their preferences, they normally have a choice between several products. Football supporters, however, would rarely change to another club only because the ticket price of the competitor is more reasonable. The whole issue of fan
References: Andre Bühler, Gerd Nufer - Nature of Sports Marketing Article Banks, S. (2002) Going Down – Football in Crisis, Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing Ltd Cashmore, E. (2003) ‘The marketing Midas with a golden boot’, The Times Higher, London, 26 September, Conn, D. (2001) The Football Business (5th edn), Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing Ltd Dempsey, P. and Reilly, K. (1998) Big money, beautiful game – saving soccer from itself, London, Nicholas Brealey Publishing Limited Morrow, S. (1999) The New Business of Football – Accountability and Finance in Football, London, MacMillan Press Ltd Morrow, S. (1999) The New Business of Football – Accountability and Finance in Football, London, MacMillan Press Ltd