Nhl Shop online Marketing

Group member: Yechao Xu, Sung Hae Lee, Vimal Kakadia, Insu Yang

Purpose

This market plan's purpose is to enhance NHL shop's performance and raise its competitiveness.

Background

Overview

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 23 are in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is widely considered to be the top professional ice hockey league in the world and one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. Many highly skilled players from all over the world are playing in the NHL, and most of them are from Canada, America and Europe.

Game

Ice hockey is a very popular game in northern Europe and North America. As a fast-paced physical and full contact sport, hockey carries a high risk of injury , so protective equipment is necessary for players. This usually includes a helmet, protective pads of most parts of the body, etc. Goaltenders use different gear.

Season structure

The NHL season is divided into an exhibition season (September), a regular season (from the first week in October through early to mid April) and a postseason (the Stanley Cup playoffs, from April to the beginning of June). Like other leagues' fans, the NHL's fans have different attitudes with these seasons: some fans will follow every game in which their favorite teams take part, and some fans just watch some critical games in postseason and the final game. Anyway, most fans will pay attention to their favorite teams during the whole NHL season, and everyone will be excited with the Stanley Cup.

Trophies and awards

The NHL presents a number of trophies each year. The most prestigious team award is the Stanley Cup, which is awarded to the league champion at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs; and the most prestigious individual award is the Hart Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the Most Valuable Player. Besides there are several other awards for teams and individuals, so it is very possible that fans' favorite teams and players can get some awards when season finish.

Origin of players

In the 1970s, some European players began entering the league, most of which came from Sweden and Finland. Then the collapse of the Soviet Bloc led a large influx of players from Europe. Today the NHL has players from 18 different countries, with the majority coming from Canada.

Many of the league's top players are from European countries. As a result, many NHL teams are influenced by European style hockey, while many European countries accepted the Canadian style of play.

TV and Radio

In Canada, NHL games are aired nationally as a traditional weekly program for Canadian audience. French program is available for Canadian fans.

Comparing with other major leagues in North America, the NHL was not so popular in the US. Since the 2005-06 season, NBC began to broadcast the NHL games, and the NHL became much more popular than before. Now American fans can watch their favorite games every week, wherever they are.

Outside of Canada and the United States, NHL games are broadcast across Europe on ESPN America. NHL games are also broadcast across Mexico, Central America, Dominican Republic, New Zealand and Brazil.

Popularity

Although hockey is the most popular sport in Canada , hockey has the smallest total fan base of the four leagues, the smallest revenue from television, and the least sponsorship in North America.

However, NHL fans in America may be the most educated and affluent of the four major leagues. According to Simmons Market Research (Spring, 2007 One Year Population Study), 63.9% of the NHL fans are aged from 25 to 54(while only 11.3% are from 18 to 24), 65% are male, 36.8% are graduated college or more, and 35.6% have at least $100,000 annual household income. Fans' average household income is $103,825.

Beginning in 2008, under the direction of Chief Operating Officer John Collins, the NHL began a shift toward using digital technology to market to fans, and this has boosted viewership metrics for the NHL.

Target markets analysis

According to the former background analysis, we have found three possible target markets: young fans market, female market and European target.

Young market

Only 11.3% of the NHL fans are aged from 18 to 24 shows at least two facts: young people don't pay much attention on hockey games, and the NHL can find lots of opportunities among young people.

There are many reasons why young people don't like hockey: not a traditional American game, limited playgrounds, expensive gears, etc. However, hockey can be attractive for young people because of its fast pace, history, cool gears, etc. If the NHL can find opportunities from these advantages, it will have much more young fans. Moreover, young people are more willing to use social media to share their life with others. Attract more young fans through utilizing social media will be an effective way for the NHL.

Female market

It is easy to understand why females don't like hockey: the game looks dangerous because of its fast pace, and every player looks same for they are wearing gears.

However, in the recent years, Ice hockey is one of the fastest growing women's sports in the world, with the number of participants increasing 350 percent. As lots of potential female hockey fans may watch women's hockey leagues, how to attract them will be a critical topic for the NHL.

European market

Previously, most of the NHL's players and fans