Pest Analysis of Worksop Leisure Centre (WLC)

Pest analysis of Worksop leisure centre:

PEST Analysis Template  

Situation being analysed: Worksop Leisure Centre ______________________________________________________________________

PEST analysis (political, economical, social, technological) assesses a market, including competitors, from the standpoint of a particular proposition or a business.

criteria examples ecological/environmental current legislation  future legislation international legislation regulatory bodies and processes government policies government term and change trading policies funding, grants and initiatives home market pressure- groups international pressure- groups wars and conflicts	Political Politics and the Government have a major say in how WLC is run and what facilities/ activities are offered there (the free the swimming scheme initiated by the government). At this moment in time a coalition government is running the country which has brought about major cuts to funding for organisations and firms in the public sector, this means that WLC will receive less government backing and therefore less government grants and bursaries, in the long term this will most likely negatively affect the standard at which WLC offers its services and facilities and therefore have a negative effect on the amount of people choosing to take part in activities and spend money at the centre. Current health and wellbeing initiatives set by the government can also dictate what kind of activities WLC offers, an example of this would be the centre offering GP referral and cardiac rehabilitation services to fall in line with government guidelines. In addition to this, National objectives and health issues also have an impact on WLC’s services, currently the centre offers periodic weight management sessions with a view to eliminating the national concern of obesity.	Economical The leisure centre is situated in Worksop and although the town does house small pockets of people who could be regarded as affluent, on the whole Worksop’s resident have little disposable income. This means that the majority cannot afford pricey leisure activities and would be deterred by pricing which is unrealistically high, with this in mind WLC offers different schemes and discounts (such as the 10-4-8 scheme which enables customers to purchase 10 swims but only be charged for 8) to accommodate for a broad range of customers, but mainly focusing upon those with little disposable income. At present, the fitness suite is becoming more and more popular and to keep this trend progressing, WLC, BPL and B.D.C are in discussion with regards to building a second floor in an attempt to cater for and attract a higher volume of customers. If the building of the second floor gets the all clear, this will strengthen WLC’s position in its market and in the long term make the centre more appealing to its customers. For the second year running WLC is offering a deal on their fitness memberships where you pay £9.99 per month for the first 3 months (after these 3months the price is then increased to a normal rate of 25.95) when you sign up for a 12 month direct debit membership. Typically the busies time for WLC is in the run up to summer and the start of the new year, this is mainly due to people wanting to participate in exercise to lose weight and look good for their summer holidays or to try and lose the extra weight they have gained over Christmas.	criteria examples home economy economy trends overseas economies general taxation taxation specific to product/services seasonality issues market/trade cycles specific industry factors market routes trends distribution trends customer/end-user drivers interest/ exchange rates international trade and monetary issues
criteria examples lifestyle trends demographics consumer attitudes and opinions media views law changes affecting social factors brand, company, technology image consumer buying patterns fashion and role models major events and influences buying access and trends ethnic/religious factors advertising and publicity ethical issues	Social Worksop is a small town which is very densely populated and a large percentage of its residents have a low level of disposable income. At current, two of the types of customers WLC is attracting are single and young parent families. With this information in mind, WLC is prioritising making their facilities as appealing as possible to young people, offering junior gym memberships from as little as £9.99 per month to try and attract and provide for the extra numbers of younger people living in Worksop. As well as this, Worksop has become very popular among Polish immigrants as more and more are choosing Worksop as a place to live and work. As yet, no communication problems have occurred but if they were to do so, WLC would need to look into solving the problem and depending on how serious the problem became, may even have employ a translator to help keep the smooth running of the centre.	Technological WLC’s main technology lies inside its fitness suite, where the suite boasts latest state of the art Technogym training facilities ranging from weights machines to treadmills. Through the use of a TGS key (a data holder which plugs into Technogym machines) the Technogym equipment can tell the user how many calories they have burnt, how long they have been training for and how hard they have been working (according to their heart rate etc). As well as this the, Technogym TGS keys enable users to send and receive messages from other gym members adding a social side to the fitness suite. The TGS keys also help to monitor how many members are using the gym at a specific time and provides very useful information as to what trends are being set, with regards to when the busiest times are and which age ranges tend to use the gym at what times etc. Other areas of technological advancement include customer service where WLC is in the process of setting up a texting service which will be more efficient in keeping in touch with members with regards to fitness packages, swimming lesson payment dates and useful information about the centre. This is a good move as it shows WLC is moving with the times and is accepting that its majority of customers nowadays are happy and actually prefer to be contacted via their mobile telephone.	criteria examples competing technology development research funding associated/dependent technologies replacement technology/solutions maturity of technology manufacturing maturity and capacity information and communications consumer buying mechanisms/technology technology legislation innovation potential technology access, licencing, patents intellectual property issues global communications

A PEST analysis is a great tool which enables a business to sit back and have a in depth review of where they are at present and where they are looking to move forward to In the future.

According to Trenberth and Hassan (2012) businesses:

“require knowledge of their external environment (the so-called PEST analysis – Political, economical, social and technological domains), of their customers and of their business competitors, both current and potential, for informed decision making”.

Although if used properly a PEST analysis would be of great use to a business external influences are almost unlimited in number and variety and no study could hope to consider every single one. (Mullins, 2010)

Bibliography:

Trenberth.L and Hassan.D, (2012),  Managing Sport Business An Introduction. Routledge: UK.

L.J.Mullins, (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, Prentice hall: England

Anon, Pest analysis tools, (2007) http://rapidbi.com/created/pestanalysis.html [accessed 10th January 2012].