Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Analysis of a growing industry - Identifying changing conditions and emerging segments in the kitesurfing market A case study at North Kiteboarding, Boards & More, Munich

Hellblom, Maria and Eriksson Sparre, Anna (2007) MIO920
Production Management
Abstract
The purpose of this Master thesis is to see if the kitesurfing market has changed by evaluating whether or not the
kitesurfing market is a homogenous market or if it is diverging into different segments with diverse preferences.
Furthermore the purpose was to look at how a North kiteboarding best can work on the kitesurfing market.
Hence parts of the purpose were to understand market conditions, consumers and distribution.
The predicament for the kitesurfing industry is that the sport is expanding and a new type of people is adopting
the sport. In the early days the consumers were very engaged in the sport and were a quite homogenous group of
people. Today there might be people who just do it for the fun of it but are not as engaged... (More)
The purpose of this Master thesis is to see if the kitesurfing market has changed by evaluating whether or not the
kitesurfing market is a homogenous market or if it is diverging into different segments with diverse preferences.
Furthermore the purpose was to look at how a North kiteboarding best can work on the kitesurfing market.
Hence parts of the purpose were to understand market conditions, consumers and distribution.
The predicament for the kitesurfing industry is that the sport is expanding and a new type of people is adopting
the sport. In the early days the consumers were very engaged in the sport and were a quite homogenous group of
people. Today there might be people who just do it for the fun of it but are not as engaged in the sport as the
former group. The kitesurfing companies used to promote their brand by sponsoring professional kitesurfers. The
new type of consumer might not ever get in contact with those kitesurfers which makes this type of
advertisement not very efficient anymore.
The methods used in this master thesis were to perform analyses of the kitesurfing market, of the company, of
competitors as well as of the industry and environmental factors. The consumer analysis had the aim to
understand who the end customer is and if the market can be divided into different consumer segments. The
information for this analysis was collected mainly through a web survey. The web survey was complemented
through method triangulation with questionnaires to distributors, retailers and kite schools as well as with
secondary information. The analyses of the company and its micro and macro environment were carried out to
understand the conditions for North as well as North’s strengths and weaknesses on conditional of the results
from the consumer analysis. The method to gather the information about North was to use secondary information
from the company and its employees, complemented with a few questions to the respondents in the consumer
survey.
The answers from the questionnaires were analyzed and discussed as well as compared to secondary information.
This discussion about the consumers and the conditions in the industry underlay the further analysis where an
attempt to segment the consumers was carried out and the target marketing concept was being employed.
The research indicates that a segmentation of the kitesurfing market is possible. Two segments were identified, in
this thesis called the Lifestyle segment and the Recreational segment. The kitesurfers in the Lifestyle segment are
acknowledged as being really passionate about the sport. They identify themselves as being a kitesurfer. The
people in the Recreational segment consider kitesurfing just being a cool thing to do on their spare time.
Kitesurfing is something they do and it is not what they are.
North’s best choice is to have a multi-segment strategy, i.e. to serve both segments, but to treat them slightly
different. The two segments have diverse kitesurfing interests and value some properties different and the
suggestion is that the products should conform to that. The promotion should include direct marketing since the
consumers are in favor of obtaining information that way and since the kitesurfing market has good conditions for
realizing this. Focusing on demonstration events seems to be worth the efforts since the consumers are very fond
of it. They prefer trying out equipment before they buy, they get very influenced by events like this and it might
make them more loyal to the brand if they have a good first experience with the brand.
What is seen in the kitesurfing market is in line with the theory about the product life cycle, where a new group
of consumers is a natural consequence of the product entering a new phase of the cycle. According to the research
and confirmed by this theory the kitesurfing industry will also see changes in the competition. Declining growth
and smaller innovation steps force competitors to focus on differentiation and on using a wider range of media for
marketing. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hellblom, Maria and Eriksson Sparre, Anna
supervisor
organization
course
MIO920
year
type
M1 - University Diploma
subject
keywords
kitesurfing market, segmentation, target marketing, market research.
other publication id
07/5271
language
English
id
1981080
date added to LUP
2011-06-20 15:54:17
date last changed
2011-06-20 15:54:17
@misc{1981080,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this Master thesis is to see if the kitesurfing market has changed by evaluating whether or not the
kitesurfing market is a homogenous market or if it is diverging into different segments with diverse preferences.
Furthermore the purpose was to look at how a North kiteboarding best can work on the kitesurfing market.
Hence parts of the purpose were to understand market conditions, consumers and distribution.
The predicament for the kitesurfing industry is that the sport is expanding and a new type of people is adopting
the sport. In the early days the consumers were very engaged in the sport and were a quite homogenous group of
people. Today there might be people who just do it for the fun of it but are not as engaged in the sport as the
former group. The kitesurfing companies used to promote their brand by sponsoring professional kitesurfers. The
new type of consumer might not ever get in contact with those kitesurfers which makes this type of
advertisement not very efficient anymore.
The methods used in this master thesis were to perform analyses of the kitesurfing market, of the company, of
competitors as well as of the industry and environmental factors. The consumer analysis had the aim to
understand who the end customer is and if the market can be divided into different consumer segments. The
information for this analysis was collected mainly through a web survey. The web survey was complemented
through method triangulation with questionnaires to distributors, retailers and kite schools as well as with
secondary information. The analyses of the company and its micro and macro environment were carried out to
understand the conditions for North as well as North’s strengths and weaknesses on conditional of the results
from the consumer analysis. The method to gather the information about North was to use secondary information
from the company and its employees, complemented with a few questions to the respondents in the consumer
survey.
The answers from the questionnaires were analyzed and discussed as well as compared to secondary information.
This discussion about the consumers and the conditions in the industry underlay the further analysis where an
attempt to segment the consumers was carried out and the target marketing concept was being employed.
The research indicates that a segmentation of the kitesurfing market is possible. Two segments were identified, in
this thesis called the Lifestyle segment and the Recreational segment. The kitesurfers in the Lifestyle segment are
acknowledged as being really passionate about the sport. They identify themselves as being a kitesurfer. The
people in the Recreational segment consider kitesurfing just being a cool thing to do on their spare time.
Kitesurfing is something they do and it is not what they are.
North’s best choice is to have a multi-segment strategy, i.e. to serve both segments, but to treat them slightly
different. The two segments have diverse kitesurfing interests and value some properties different and the
suggestion is that the products should conform to that. The promotion should include direct marketing since the
consumers are in favor of obtaining information that way and since the kitesurfing market has good conditions for
realizing this. Focusing on demonstration events seems to be worth the efforts since the consumers are very fond
of it. They prefer trying out equipment before they buy, they get very influenced by events like this and it might
make them more loyal to the brand if they have a good first experience with the brand.
What is seen in the kitesurfing market is in line with the theory about the product life cycle, where a new group
of consumers is a natural consequence of the product entering a new phase of the cycle. According to the research
and confirmed by this theory the kitesurfing industry will also see changes in the competition. Declining growth
and smaller innovation steps force competitors to focus on differentiation and on using a wider range of media for
marketing.}},
  author       = {{Hellblom, Maria and Eriksson Sparre, Anna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Analysis of a growing industry - Identifying changing conditions and emerging segments in the kitesurfing market A case study at North Kiteboarding, Boards & More, Munich}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}