How You Can Fight “Hobby Inflation”
Rising hobby costs are hurting club membership, especially younger members facing cost-of-living increases. This article details five club strategies to combat hobby inflation and maintain affordability: support side hustles, help with equipment (rentals, discounts), tiered membership options, promote club value, and lower event costs. Learn how Member Jungle can help hobby clubs thrive despite economic pressures and attract new members.
Hobby inflation is the term used for the sure but steady price increase of many hobbies. You don't have to look far to find people in all hobby communities talking about the price increases of their hobbies. Knitters are complaining that yarn prices are increasing, fishers are talking about rods and reels going up, and petrol for all the car and bike clubs is obviously up. Plus, all this talk is backed up by hard numbers; hobbies are getting more expensive to take part in.
I found a highly-rated three-person, three-season hiking tent priced at $625 today. This same type of tent was sold by the same company for only $265 in 2006. That's a price increase of 135.85%. While it's true that wages have risen since 2006, the median household income has only increased by 45% during that time, which clearly does not offset the significant price hike of the tent.
The simple fact is that many people find that their hobbies are becoming increasingly expensive. Combined with the cost of living crisis, this is leading many to either cut back on or abandon their hobbies altogether. Additionally, activities that were once considered merely hobbies are now often referred to as "side hustles." People feel pressured to only invest time, money, and effort into a hobby if it can generate income. Today, many people are either giving up their hobbies or trying to turn them into money-making ventures to justify continuing them. If you run a club based around someone's hobby, you should sit up and pay attention to this.
So, today, let's look at how you can fight hobby inflation, how Member Jungle can help you fight hobby inflation and keep your hobby club thriving.
How Is Hobby Inflation Affecting Clubs?
The most notable impact of hobby inflation is that less people from the younger generations (Gen Z & Gen Y) people are joining clubs, this is not because younger people are less interested in clubs it is a large part due to the fact that younger people are being forced to cut back on discretionary spending due to inflation and cost of living increases. As this graph from the Commbank IQ Cost of Living Insights Report 2024 shows.
This cutback on discretionary spending (spending that is non-essential, unlike rent, food, etc.) is causing many younger people to have to cut back on things like hobbies and pastimes. Let’s be honest: a club cannot exist long term without new people coming into it, and if, as the above table shows, everyone under 60 is being forced to spend less on hobbies, that will have a flow-on effect on your club.
That means less member growth, an aging membership and increased trouble attracting younger members, which is not good. It also means that when younger members join your club, they may spend less, attend fewer events and generally be less active members in your community, which isn’t ideal.
So, if hobby inflation means fewer people are joining clubs, are less active in them, and are more likely to fail to renew their memberships, we really need to do something to help lessen its effects. So, let’s talk about that.
5 Club Strategies To Fight Hobby Inflation & Keep Your Club Affordable
1. Support Side Hustles In Your Club
Let’s make one thing clear, I think side hustle culture is toxic. It sucks that so many people think that a hobby is only valuable if it can make them money. It really sucks that so many people are in a financial position where that is true. I am no exception to this either. I felt the need to turn drawing and painting (something I did for fun) into something that made me money, and as a result, I burnt out and no longer do either.
However, if the hobby your club is built around can reasonably make people money, think embroidery, knitting, pottery, photography, woodworking, gardening, etc. You should try to help them do this.
It could be something as simple as a page or blog on your website that gives people tips on monetising their hobby, or something as involved as events or courses educating people on getting better at their hobby and how to start making money from it. Showing them that you can be a valuable resource and ally in helping them make money from their hobby will make them more likely to join and stay engaged with your club.
I’d also strongly suggest that you reiterate that a hobby doesn’t need to make money to be valuable. It’s okay just to do something because it is fun.
2. Help With Equipment
One big hurdle to many hobbies is the price of getting started. A lot of equipment needs to be bought in order to take part. This equipment can often be very expensive or at least expensive enough to trip people up who are being forced to tighten their belts on non-essential spending.
When I started rock climbing, there was no way I would have stuck to it if I needed to buy a $300 pair of shoes and a $100 chalk bag straight off the bat. However, my climbing club was able to provide rentals. The rentals weren't the best quality ever, but that didn’t really matter; they did the job till I was invested enough to buy my own. When it came to that, my club could offer me a discount on the gear I needed. So I got a decent price, and as I imagine they bought them in bulk and got a lower price, they could make some money, too. This is a win-win and something you should definitely be doing.
If you can buy some good, cheap equipment that members can rent from your club, it could really help out. Think about buying in bulk to get discounts. You could even negotiate with local businesses and suppliers to get them to offer discounts to your members. You advertise those businesses on your website and/or promote them to your members, and in return, they give discounts to your members in-store.
Get some rental gear by checking out second-hand stuff on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. It doesn’t matter how you get it, but if your club needs members to have things like bikes, kayaks, hiking tents, or boots, making that gear available for hire or purchase through the club will make the hobby way more affordable for everyone.
You should also consider running courses or events to teach members how to maintain and restore the equipment needed for your club. Many people may only be able to afford slightly rough second-hand gear, and if your club can help them restore and maintain it, that adds value to your membership and makes your club more affordable. Also, consider having club equipment that members can use to repair their equipment, saving them from having to buy their own tools.
So, help members restore and maintain their gear, offer them rentals and offer them discounts on new gear.
3. Tiered Membership Options
If you don’t already have multiple membership levels, setting them up is an excellent idea. This allows you to offer memberships to your club with varying levels of benefits for varying prices. You can have a premium membership with full perks and full access to your club, and you can have a basic membership with limited access and perks, but at a discounted price.
This allows you to offer a more flexible and affordable membership option for members who may not otherwise be able to afford it. Just ensure you keep enough perks in the main membership levels to keep members enrolled.
A great example of this would be a classic car club that offers a Gold Membership that gives members access to club events, 25% off events and courses and 10% off all gear from the club store. Plus, access to the blog full of information on how to repair and maintain your classic car. The club can also offer a Silver Membership that only offers access to club events and information on classic car maintenance, but no discounts on events, courses, or gear.
4. Promote The Value Of Your Club
It may surprise you, but the key to addressing hobby inflation isn’t to lower your prices; it is to reinforce your membership's value. You need to show people all the great things you do for them, all the discounts you provide, all the events you provide, and all the education you provide. Make them understand why you are worth whatever you’re charging for membership.
I have already discussed this in length, so check out all the details you need here: Why Demonstrating Membership Value is Key to Increasing Member Retention.
5. Make The Associated Costs Of Your Events Cheaper
This one is pretty simple, but it is no less important for it. I once interviewed a car club that said they were going on fairly common cruises to wineries. However, they realised that several of their members couldn’t afford fortnightly lunches at wineries and were skipping events as a result. So they started going on cruises to equally nice but cheaper places like cafes or skipping organised meals altogether, and more members began turning up to these events because they were much more affordable.
People are proud, and they aren’t going to tell you that they can’t afford winery trips or to take a day off work just because you scheduled an event on a weekday; they will just not attend. I don’t know how your events are organised or what they involve, but do yourself a favour and look them over to see what costs other than tickets are associated with them. Stuff like travel, food, accommodation, etc., there may be some really easy adjustments you can make to make your events much more affordable.
Attracting Younger Members To Your Club
The problem of hobby inflation disproportionately affects younger members, and Gen Y (millennials) and Gen Z are already disproportionately underrepresented in club memberships. So, getting younger members into your club is definitely something you should be focusing on. To help with that, read Why You Should Focus On Attracting Younger Members To Your Club Or Association.
For another way to help your members with pricing and affordability, why not have a look at 5 Ways You Can Use Coupons To Help Your Club Or Associations.