Skate Park Skiing Business Plan

The market can be divided into two distinct segments, beginners and experienced users. The beginners are people that may have heard of the fun and aerobically challenging new form of skiing. Experienced users are people who are already experienced with this form of nordic skiing.

SP’s strategy will be to raise awareness regarding skate skiing and try to significantly increase the number of participants in this sport. In the operating area, the number of participants has been fairly low, primarily due to the fact that the only groomed trails in the area are near Bend, Oregon a +3 hour drive away.

4.1 Market Segmentation

The market that SP will target is segmented into two groups:

• Beginners: Cross country skiers who have never tried skate skiing, or people just starting to learn how to ski.
• Experienced users: Those that have skate skied before and are looking for groomed trails closer than Mt. Bachelor to enjoy skiing.

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

SP is targeting these two groups because they are the largest group of participants of skate skiing.

• Beginners: This group has heard about skate skiing, how it is good cross training for running or cycling, but have yet to try it out. Typically this group participates in a number of different outdoor, human-powered sports and are looking for new things to push their bodies with.
• Experienced: As fun and challenging skate skiing is, the one disadvantage is that you can only ski where the trails are groomed specifically for skating. This is quite limiting for the Willamette River Valley as you must cross over into the high desert of Bend to find a place to skate. Skate Park NW offers outstanding facilities and trails at a location that is far more convenient than Bend. This will greatly appeal to the experienced skaters that come from the Willametter River Valley.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

Skate skiing is a relatively new sport. As mentioned previously, it was created by Bill Koch, an American Olympic XC skier who created his own style of skiing which turned out to be faster than the typical classic XC style. He went on to win a medal at the Winter Oympics and a new form of XC skiing was born. As popularity increases, more and more skate skiing areas can be found. In Oregon however, Mt Bachelor is the only area that offers groomed trails. As cyclists and runners are looking for endurance sports that provide excellent cross training to maintain fitness in the winter, skate skiing and snow shoeing have become the premier choices for a fun, challenging, endurance sport to maintain fitness.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

In Oregon, there is only one other venue that offers groomed skating trails, Mt Bachelor in Bend. Since most users of Bend’s skate trails are from the Willamette River Valley in Oregon, having a skate park that is more accessible to the greatest concentration of population makes sense. Adoption rates, now that there are convenient venues, should grow significantly.