Digitalization of Management in German Sports Clubs: Customer Pain Points and Sales Strategy for Clubway
Pfaffenrot, Evelyn (2026)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202603134312
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202603134312
Tiivistelmä
This thesis examines management digitalization in German hobby sports clubs and identifies the administrative pain points that create the highest workload for volunteers. The study focuses on six sport disciplines (swimming, karate, Turnvereine, cheerleading, American football, and ice hockey) to capture different club realities and operational patterns. A mixed-method design was used: an online survey (n=66) provided quantitative patterns, and semi-structured interviews (n=21) added context on why these issues occur in practice.
Across all sports, the results show a clear and consistent problem: clubs spend a large share of their time on coordination work rather than sport. Communication is the most time-consuming task in the survey and is described in interviews as difficult mainly because information is scattered across email, WhatsApp groups, spreadsheets, and separate software tools. Tool fragmentation is widespread, including in clubs that already use club software, and it leads to duplicate work, inconsistent data, and strong dependence on a few key volunteers. The most consistently demanded software capabilities are member administration, communication support, and finance/payment functions, followed by scheduling and attendance-related needs.
While the core issues are shared across disciplines, each sport has additional drivers (for example course and waiting-list management in swimming, belt exam administration and federation reporting in karate, course-heavy operations in Turnvereine, competition registrations in cheerleading, game-day logistics in American football, and pass-based administration in ice hockey).
Based on these findings, the thesis derives a sales and positioning strategy for Clubway in Germany: focus on reducing fragmentation by replacing multiple disconnected tools with one integrated workflow, and sell communication primarily as structured transparency and automation rather than more messaging. Limitations include the selected sport sample and the focus on administrative processes only.
Across all sports, the results show a clear and consistent problem: clubs spend a large share of their time on coordination work rather than sport. Communication is the most time-consuming task in the survey and is described in interviews as difficult mainly because information is scattered across email, WhatsApp groups, spreadsheets, and separate software tools. Tool fragmentation is widespread, including in clubs that already use club software, and it leads to duplicate work, inconsistent data, and strong dependence on a few key volunteers. The most consistently demanded software capabilities are member administration, communication support, and finance/payment functions, followed by scheduling and attendance-related needs.
While the core issues are shared across disciplines, each sport has additional drivers (for example course and waiting-list management in swimming, belt exam administration and federation reporting in karate, course-heavy operations in Turnvereine, competition registrations in cheerleading, game-day logistics in American football, and pass-based administration in ice hockey).
Based on these findings, the thesis derives a sales and positioning strategy for Clubway in Germany: focus on reducing fragmentation by replacing multiple disconnected tools with one integrated workflow, and sell communication primarily as structured transparency and automation rather than more messaging. Limitations include the selected sport sample and the focus on administrative processes only.