Segmentation of Portuguese customers’ expectations from fitness programs
Vol. 10, No 3, 2017
Ricardo Gouveia Rodrigues
NECE – UBI (Research Unit in Business Sciences), Business and Economics Department, Universidade da Beira Interior Portugal Email: rgrodrigues@ubi.pt
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Segmentation of Portuguese customers’ expectations from fitness programs
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Paulo Pinheiro
NECE – UBI (Research Unit in Business Sciences), Universidade da Beira Interior Portugal Email: pgp@ubi.pt Ana Gouveia
Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, University of Lisbon, and Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidade da Beira Interior Portugal Email: anagouveia@fcsaude.ubi.pt Rui Miguel Marques Brás
CIDESD (Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development), Sport Sciences Department, Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal Email: rmmb@ubi.pt Kelly de Lemos Serrano O’Hara
CIDESD (Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development), Sport Sciences Department, Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal Email: ohara@ubi.pt Paulo Alexandre de Oliveira Duarte
NECE – UBI (Research Unit in Business Sciences), Business and Economics Department, Universidade da Beira Interior Portugal Email: pduarte@ubi.pt Maria Dulce Leal Esteves
Sport Sciences Department, Universidade da Beira Interior Portugal Email: desteves@ubi.pt
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Abstract. Expectations towards fitness exercises are the major factor in customer satisfaction in the service sector in question. The purpose of this study is to present a segmentation framework for fitness customers, based on their individual expectations. The survey was designed and validated to evaluate individual expectations towards exercises. The study included a randomly recruited sample of 723 subjects (53% males; 47% females; 42.1±19.7 years). Factor analysis and cluster analysis with Ward’s cluster method with squared Euclidean distance were used to analyse the data obtained. Four components were extracted (performance, enjoyment, beauty and health) explaining 68.7% of the total variance and three distinct segments were found: Exercise Lovers (n=312), Disinterested (n=161) and Beauty Seekers (n=250). All the factors identified have a significant contribution to differentiate the clusters, the first and third clusters being most similar. The segmentation framework obtained based on customer expectations allows better understanding of customers’ profiles, thus helping the fitness industry develop services more suitable for each type of customers. A follow-up study was conducted 5 years later and the results concur with the initial study. |
Received: July, 2017 1st Revision: August, 2017 Accepted: October, 2017 |
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DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2017/10-3/16
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JEL Classification: M10, M31, M39 |
Keywords: fitness industry, marketing segmentation, customer’s expectations, customer loyalty, designing fitness programs, customer differences, factor analysis, cluster analysis |