Destiny is a Reality - The Economists Say So!

I went to a business womens breakfast last week in the Southern Highlands and they had arranged a sensational speaker a Dr Kim Houghton whos runs a business called Economic Solutions - www.economicsolutions.com.au.

Essentially, he puts a business slant on census data and economics, including individual area's demographics. I thought it particularly relevant to the NSW Club Industry as essentially, the Clubs are all about 'Membership' so a sound understanding of your Clubs individual demographics then, must surely be ESSENTIAL.

What is interesting, is that we all know we have an aging population, in fact, according to Dr Houghton, the age bracket of 50 - 59 is the fastest growing and is 13% of the total Australian population. There are also fewer traditional families - at only 45% of the total Australian population. Predictions as also that in a mere 10 years, there will be major shortages of people for the workforce as not as many people will be entering as there are leaving.

This is all important info for Clubs because the manner in which they brand their club, the facilities that they offer, right down to their entertainment and the nights that it is on can be critical to ensuring full Membership usage. Of course there are also regional implications that are overlaid, for example, inner city areas tend to have a much larger skew to the Gen X & Y, based on work location, universities etc.

I think, for example, that there are opportunities for Clubs to even foster 'educational' elements within their Club, for example, using the internet, starting with the Clubs own website and facilities and its Membership Rewards. Even the opportunity to have a 'business room' where Members can access the internet, as in some of the larger hotels. Clubs do have the opportunity to 'nurture' areas of their business that they would like to grow and develop.

It all starts with understanding Members and the potential for New Members and what is likely to attract those!

Strategic Economic Solutions has a website at www.economicsolutions.com.au