TeamSnap Report: Price Is The Most Important Factor for Family Shoppers & Diners

Youth sports parents are great fans to have on your sidelines–yes, they cheer loudly for their athletes but they also make noise for their favorite brands.  

Compared to other parents, youth sports parents who use TeamSnap are…

 

• 90% more likely to make food and beverage recommendations to others
• 2x more likely to give advice to friends about online shopping
• 4.5x more likely to give friends fashion advice

Youth sports parents love to spread the word about brands and products they use.

To find out more about their favorite brands and how they choose them, we surveyed over 600 youth sports parents. Respondents answered three questions covering five shopping & dining brand categories—snacks, beverages, quick-service restaurants, retail shopping stores, and cleaning supplies. 

In each category we asked youth sports parents to tell us…

1. The name of their first choice brand
2. What makes that their first choice brand
3. What others are on their list of their household’s go-to brands

To see which brands made the top 10  and read the full analysis, download The 2024 TeamSnap Youth Sports Parents’ Picks: Shopping & Dining Brands here. 

Here’s what we learned:

Youth sports families are ballin’ on a budget

 

Our survey found that in aggregate, youth sports parents consider price to be more important than quality or convenience when it comes to choosing a brand in the shopping or dining category.
 

Digging deeper:

In each brand category, our survey asked youth sports parents to share their “top choice” brand. Following that question, respondents answered a multiple choice question:

What makes that your first choice? (select all that apply)

• It fits my budget 

• It’s the highest quality option

• It’s the most convenient option 

• All of the above 

• Other (open response field)

Here’s what we found:

• Younger parents are the most budget conscious

Of respondents who selected It fits my budget as a reason for choosing their top choice brand, 56% were parents aged 45 and under, even though they only represent 49% of the total survey sample. 

While youth sports parents on the whole most frequently selected It fits my budget as a factor in choosing their top brand, it ranked last among all options for parents over 45 who were most likely to select It’s the highest quality option as a motivation.

2. Quick service restaurants have the most to gain from low prices
   
   Youth sports parents were most likely to select It fits my budget as a reason for choosing
   their first choice quick service restaurant brand (46%+ selected budget as a reason).
   Those who selected It’s the highest quality option or shared that taste/preference
   was a driving factor made up <30% of the family diners we surveyed.
3. Family consumers swayed slightly more by convenience than price when
   choosing a retail shopping merchant.
   
   In the aggregate, youth sports parents most frequently cited It fits my budget as a
   characteristic of their first choice brand, but the story changes slightly in the world of 

retail. 

40% of youth sports parents told us that their first choice option was also the most
convenient, while a slightly smaller 35% of the survey group cited It fits my budget.

 

Youth sports parent responses showed Walmart as the most budget friendly option with
Amazon being seen as the most convenient and widely patronized retailer.

Why youth sports parents might be especially budget conscious

One reason parents may pick cost over quality when it comes to shopping & dining is because they are looking to off-set the rising costs of youth sports. 

Parents are faced with challenges to afford the cost of youth sports every day. The Aspen Institute’s Project Play conducted a study that showed that the average amount spent on a single child’s primary sport per season was $833.  The study found that around half of those people who have played youth sports or who have children playing youth sports struggle to pay for it. 

The most cost-effective brand option is often also the most convenient for parents. Take a quick-serve restaurant for example: It’s often in a favorable location, it’s likely affordable, and sometimes it even cures a craving! 43% of parents adjust their meals based on youth sports events and 36% make their vacation plans around youth sports. Meals are dictated by youth sports schedules, thus the probability of going through a drive-through or something quick and easy is much higher than the alternative. 

To find out which brands youth sports parents love the most, download the full report: https://brands.teamsnap.com/2024-teamsnap-youth-sports-parents-picks-shopping-and-dining-brands/