Title: Segmenting fitness centre clients

Authors: Mario Teixeira, Abel Correia

Addresses: Department of Sport and Health, University of Evora, Pavilhao Gimnodesportivo da Universidade de Evora, Prolongamento da Rua de Reguengos e Monsaraz, No. 14, 7000–727 Evora, Portugal. ' Faculty of Human Movements, Technical University of Lisbon, Estrada da Costa, 1495–688 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal

Abstract: This study segments the clients of fitness centres in the Portuguese island of Madeira based on cluster analysis. A questionnaire with 121 observations is used to examine the motivation profiles. The findings reveal that there are three segments in the data: the first is denominated as the |happy consumer| segment. The second segment consists of the |unhappy consumers| and the third are composed of the unmarried, unattached consumers. The managerial implications of the results are derived.

Keywords: sport management; fitness centres; marketing strategy; cluster analysis; client segmentation; Madeira; motivation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2009.023368

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2009 Vol.5 No.4, pp.396 - 416

Published online: 20 Feb 2009 *

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