Trends in Winter Sports and their Impact on the Business Areas of Ski Service and Ski Rental, Considering Target Groups as Defined by Wintersteiger Sports GmbH, with Implications for Future Product Portfolios and Target Group Needs.

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to analyse the impact of technological innovations, changing consumer expectations, and environmental factors on the ski service and rental industry to support the investment and product development plans of WINTERSTEIGER Sports GmbH. The most important research questions include identifying significant industry trends, understanding how these trends influence WINTERSTEIGER's target groups, and identifying critical market trends for future product portfolios. By conducting a literature review, qualitative expert interviews with 12 industry experts, and a quantitative online survey with 108 respondents, current trends in the industry were identified and analysed, and recommendations for action were then derived from this. Findings from the above-mentioned data sources include the absence of significant complaints regarding the quality of the ski service itself, which suggests that while customers continue to expect high quality rental equipment and services, but that the focus has shifted from the performance of individual machines to the overall customer experience or the “overall quality” of the service and the rental process, or the recommendations to expand the leading role in the areas of automation and digitalization in order to increase efficiency and remedy the labour shortage.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Christiane Rau (Supervisor)