OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
Swim lessons create a “strong pipeline of young people and families” who might also use other elements of the Nuffield offering
Adults who take swim lessons stay five months longer and spend 70 per cent more over their lifetime with us
and service, but the broader visit experience and sense of community are just as important. We’ll encourage café visits after class, for example, with offers such as ‘kids eat for free’. We do similar with our older members, encouraging them to stay for coffee and a chat after mid- week, daytime aqua classes.” He continues: “Demand for swim lessons is very strong, but those who engage are more price-sensitive than we previously believed. Public perception has shifted in recent years towards viewing gym membership as essential spend, yet swim lesson spend is still seen as discretionary. “Our main focus at the moment is therefore on driving occupancy, getting all classes to 90 per cent capacity. With a maximum of six per class we aren’t far off that KPI, but there is still room to grow efficiently without having to recruit more teachers.
“Another interesting stat: we know that adults who take swim lessons stay with us five months longer than the average member and spend 70 per cent more over their lifetime with us. As Nuffield Health is a trading charity, this commercial rationale is only one of our reasons for providing swimming. It is, however, a strong argument.” Striking a balance Watson adds: “Of course, most swim lessons are for kids – for the most part children of members for an additional fee, although a few sites open their lessons to the public. This creates a strong pipeline of young people and families who we can potentially also introduce to other aspects of our offering: our gyms, clinical services, free- to-access programmes, even our hospitals. “Our lessons are smaller than the industry norm – a maximum of six per class – to ensure high-quality tuition
ADAM WATSON
We want to use our pools to support and reflect Nuffield Health’s charitable purpose, says the organisation’s commercial head
“We have 111 sites with pools, but with our estate having grown through acquisition, it’s an eclectic mix,” says Adam Watson, head of commercial at Nuffield Health. “Every site except Battersea has a 20m or 25m pool, but we also have kids’ pools, outdoor pools, integrated spa pools. It’s one of the broadest mixes in the private sector and it’s all free to access for our members.” He continues: “Pools are very important to our business: a core part of our fitness offering, an important differentiator in a competitive market and one of the top reasons people join and stay with us, whether that’s for
lane swimming, aqua fitness or additional services such as swimming lessons and baby swimming. “It’s hard to accurately track usage and ROI on the considerable costs of running our pools, as anyone who’s a member has access. However, Nuffield Health’s gym membership has reached record levels, with many sites at full capacity, and swim usage is up as a result. Our pools are really busy and interest in swimming continues to grow: we’ve seen a 10 per cent year-on-year growth in web traffic to our swim pages.
“If we want to engage all community groups, we need to better understand and address everyone’s needs and barriers,” says Watson
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023 STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
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