International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2011 (October), e-ISSN 2247 – 7225 www.ijept.org 71 The Specifics of the Sport Product and Their Implications within the Marketing Activity by Mihaela Constantinescu Marketing Faculty, Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest mihaela.co@gmail.com Abstract. In the economic sense, the term of sport product describes the sport good or service, offered to the consumer in order to satisfy his need for sport, be it spectator, viewer, active participant or sponsor. The sport product has a series of unique features that differentiate it significantly from the products corresponding to other fields of activity. The present article is presenting those features, starting with the ones corresponding to sport as a human activity, then going to the particularities of the sport consumer behavior and finishing with the characteristics of sport as part of the services sector. For each specific feature there are a series of recommendations for the marketing activity in order to better adapt the offer to the needs and demand of the sport consumer. Key words: sport product, marketing activity, sport consumer behavior, social integration, competition JEL classification: M 31, L 83 1 Introduction In the economic sense, the term of sport product describes the sport good or service, offered to the consumer in order to satisfy his need for sport, be it spectator, viewer, active participant or sponsor (Shank, 2005; Pitts and Stotlar, 2007). Because of the peculiarities that characterize the sport as a human activity, the sport product has gained a much wider significance than the strictly merchant one (corresponding to the objective characteristics of the respective good). Moreover, in the special literature, there are many cases in which the sport product is used when referring to a certain event offered by the sport organizations, as “producers”, to the wide or specialized audience as “consumers” (Mullin et al, 2007; Leeds and von Allmen, 2005; Lewis and Appenzeller, 1985). The sport product has a series of unique features that differentiate it significantly from the products corresponding to other fields of activity. These differences require the design of marketing strategies and business plans adapted accordingly to the sports field. The critical differences consist in the unique characteristics of sport and in the unusual business environment in which the specialists of this field must operate. Equally important for the sports marketing strategies are the characteristics of sport as a component of the tertiary sector: intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. All these features will be presented in this article, with the main purpose of highlighting how they influence the marketing activity. 2 The unique characteristics of sport These unique features are based on both the actual features of sport activities and on the particularities of the sport consumer behavior: a) Sport organizations are competing against each other, but, at the same time, are working together to realize sport products and services No sport organization can survive isolated as sport is based on competition. When such an organization needs to compete against another, it is necessary for them to previously collaborate in order to organize the event. The best example here would be a demonstration game, when the teams are not competing for a trophy, but for the spirit of the show. This does not mean that there will be no competition between the players, as each of the teams wants to prove that they are the best.