EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ludo is an application for smartphones that aims to connect sportives to encourage physical activity and the creation of a sustainable sportive community for socialization. It is an integrated solution for users, that enables to go from research to payment of a sports facility in less than five minutes. The main features for users are filters for sports facilities, smart matching with other players, equipment rental, payment and cost sharing, rating, and access to a sports community through groups, chats and branded events. For sports facilities, Ludo increases visibility, maximizes capacity and improves operative planning, while digitalizing the process, resulting in a profit maximization. As a platform, Ludo takes a commission of 10% on each transaction.

Goal

Guided by the personal experiences of the founders, three problems are tackled by Ludo: the lack of interaction between players (no partners, no community feeling), the lack of information along the booking process (price comparison requires effort and time, risk of getting in touch with facilities with no available spots), and the inefficiency of the booking system (lack of digitalization and no capacity maximization). Reasoning as a double-sided platform, Ludo serves the user side by initiating the socialization (an arising need from the pandemic) and providing the simplest and most transparent booking system on the market. On the facility side, Ludo aims to drive the digitalization process needed to reach the ultimate potential of such business activity. Ludo plans to start operations in Vienna, expand into Austria shortly after, moving into Germany and start conquering Western Europe after 2025. The forecasted break-even point will be reached in Q3 2023.

Methodology

To validate the hypotheses for both sides of the platform a survey for the user side and interviews for the facility side were conducted. The survey questions included the potential users’ sports habits, their previous booking experiences, the desired features for the Ludo app, the interest of being randomly matched with peers and the demographics. In total 101 potential users were contacted with 62 complete survey answers. To validate the hypothesis on the facility side, structured interviews by telephone and e-mail with sports facilities based in Vienna were conducted. The interview consisted of seven questions about the business model, the level of digitalization, the opportunity to rent equipment and pricing strategies as well as the preference of entering into partnerships with service providers like Ludo. Limited by the lockdown imposed in December, the overall number of contacted facilities amounted to 20 with a response rate of only 40%. Furthermore, a close competitor analysis was performed in order to gain a better understanding of the market and its potential. The market potential was assessed by taking the population between 15-54 of the targeted markets, reduced by the percentage of people practising sport at least once a week and further diminished by the ones playing one of the targeted sports (football, padel and tennis). The revenues were estimated by taking the average fare calculated from the different sports price per person for a specific country multiplied by the 10% commission charged.

Results

To begin with, Ludo found out that the pre-defined hypotheses were mostly correct. 58% of people do not practice as much sport as they would like, one major reason being the lack of partners. 4.7/6 was the importance score given by users to have transparent information for facilities. In addition, 63% of users still had to book the facility over the phone or email. All sports facilities contacted stated that receiving money ahead of time would be beneficial, however only 62% even had the possibility of being paid online. The promising results from the surveys were also reflected in the market assessment. Not only did the market potential exceed our expectations, but it was also in alignment with the financial results of the competitor analysis. According to the estimated financials, a market entry strategy with a yearly budget was also defined. The positive results combined with the mission to create a sustainable sportive community gave Ludo the right boost to reach the ultimate vision of “Connecting sportives beyond the field”.

Cooperation Partner

• Ludo

Contact Person

• Michael Lazzaro - michilazzaro@gmail.com

Student Team

• Michael Lazzaro

• Matteo Liscandro

• Mathis Vuillermin

Project Manager

• Kretzschmar, Linn Msc