Funseeker Factsheet
Funseekers Australia Pty Ltd is an online multi-activity, adventure and social club that helps members meet like-minded friends, join new activity groups and discover new adventures. It is the only networking site in Australia that is both a facilitator and an organizer of events and adventures, enabling members to organize their own social activities and events, allowing businesses to promote events to targeted members and providing professionally-run activities and events through funseekers privately-held franchises.
Products or Services
Essentially, funseekers is an online activity and events tool that:
- connects people with people (M2Y- me to you) and businesses with people (B2C – business to customer), and
- facilitates the meet and greet process through member profiles, activity and event profiles, and online forums.
It allows members:
- to upload and personalize their profiles,
- to post upcoming events and to personally invite other members to attend,
- to post photos of, and make comments about, past events and activities, and
- to access direct links to social, adventure and recreation-based businesses relevant to their location and interests.
It allows social, adventure and recreation-based businesses:
- to gain direct access to a highly segmented group of members that have specifically requested activities and events relevant to the businesses’ products/ services, and
- to integrate their promotional messages within the content of the site, and therefore interact with potential customers at a time and in a fashion where they are most likely to respond favorably.
Target Market
Funseekers is geared towards singles, couples and groups, twenty-five and above, who have a common desire to try new activities, meet new people and live life to the full.
Trends in the Australian Market Place:
Group-Based Adventure and Recreation Trends
- Group-based adventure and other socially-interactive activities are one of the largest sectors in the recreation industry and are showing some of the highest rates of growth.
- Recreational pursuers* respond to a wide array of motivators including adventure, excitement, physical activity, personal challenge, opportunity for educational experience, and cultural enlightenment.
- Recreational pursuers expect to experience activities of varying degrees of risk and excitement, are looking for personal growth and achievement, and are particular in what they want. They are willing to pay, but only if the value and quality of experience is there.
- Because of time constraints and limited leisure time there is increasing demand for convenient outdoor and indoor recreation opportunities close to home.
- Adventure and recreational group activities are increasingly becoming ‘mainstream’—being sought by a much broader group of mobile and independent Australians in a wide range of age groups.
* Recreational pursuers: a broad term used to encompass a cross section of people who are in pursuit of new recreational opportunities.
Social and Cultural Trends
- In Australia, with the increase in marital breakdown and disconnection within the larger community, the continued growth of the internet, the downsizing of corporations and the trend towards working independently and/ or from home, social isolation is a growing problem.
- People are saving less and spending more, especially on leisure and recreational activities.
- People tend to work increased hours, particularly managers and professionals, resulting in a ‘money rich, time poor’ society. ‘More and more people are condensing a holiday into an intense weekend, or searching for new challenges and experiences through organised recreational pursuits and social events.’
- Physical fitness, healthy living and creative stimulus are becoming increasingly important to the consumer. ‘People are not only in search of more natural and spiritual experiences in their leisure time but are looking for a holistic type of recreation, an overall balance of body, soul and mind. This in turn is fuelling a market for physically and mentally stimulating pursuits.’
- There is a growing formation of social clubs in Australia, catering to the needs of recreational pursuers. However, despite the initial interest, many fail to sustain numbers as they are often seen as inefficient, impractical and inadequate.
- Online social networking sites are achieving unprecedented popularity, especially in younger demographics (under 35s), where the internet is now the most frequently used access point, outstripping TV and radio.
- Most recently there is a trend towards social networking sites that facilitate offline interaction by providing easy access to ‘group-based activities that provide a sense of belonging in response to an increasing sense of disconnection within society.’
Funseekers Potential Growth within the Market
Based on current social networking sites’ figures, Funseekers has potential access to 92% of the Australian Internet Market, with initial projections forecasting a minimum of 50, 000 users by the end of 2010, and showing the potential to reach a minimum 500,000 users by the end of 2012.
