Abstract
Marketers in the modern times are increasingly viewing globalization of the sports market as a huge opportunity to enter unchartered territories by riding on the popularity of a game. The enduring motivation of the sports consumers to connect with their favourite sport comes with an advantage for marketers who can create stronger product/brand associations with the sport. Researches establishing the relationship between the sports fanship and related consumption reinforce the belief. The present study in an exploratory attempt to understand the impact of sports enthusiasm and related consumption in the context of an emerging market uses a mixed method approach with qualitative focus group discussion and a quantitative analysis of the dataset of 226 actual buyers of football ancillary from the National Capital Region of Delhi in India. Consequently, a factor analysis of the key motivators for football ancillaries buying behaviour identified three drivers; namely, social approval, individual passion and utilitarian motivation, for the urban Indian sports enthusiasts. Further, segment-wise product decisions and purchase decisions were reported along with the relative importance of purchasing football ancillaries. The significant influence of football connectedness among urban Indian consumers despite cricket being the most followed sport added a whole new dimension to the study of sports market consumers in the emerging Indian market giving directions for future research and marketing practices in the domain.
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