Customer Delight; The key to Success in Sports Businesses: a Thematic Analysis

Customer delight is defined as an emotional response to the element of surprise as well as a high level of positive expectations. The purpose of this study was to identify the happiness indicators of customers of sports products.

The research method was qualitatively thematic analysis with applied purpose and exploratory nature. The participants of the research were people who had a history and lived experience of using sports goods and services for at least five years, who were selected as participants using a targeted and accessible sampling method. Sampling was performed until the researcher reached theoretical saturation, which means that the researcher did not obtain new data and code after interview 19, and thus the sampling process was stopped (n = 17 + 2). The data collection method was semi-structured interview. 

In order to analyze the data, the inductive coding method was used to reach the final themes and to draw the network of themes NViVO 10 quality data analysis software was used. Analysis of findings was done in four dimensions as; Customer dimension (with two themes of expertise and product uniqueness); Service dimension (the main theme of differentiation in service delivery); Environment dimension (friendly and supportive atmosphere and professional interactions) and the Staff dimension (specialized knowledge and awareness and customer spirits).

The results of this research can enable companies and markets to offer sports products to identify the effective factors in creating customer happiness, which is a kind of deep emotional state and causes customer loyalty, and in today's competitive market, its loyal customers.