OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
Industry churn needs disruption. Use of AI, personalisation, profiling and intelligent data will all be key
We must start with the basics – cleanliness, maintenance, good customer service – and then raise the bar further by creating new products, services and propositions that meet the wellness demands of Gen Zs and Millennials. We must invest time and effort in customer care and fabulous welcomes; at Fitness First, we talk about becoming ‘the fitness hotel’. And we must look at how and where we communicate, understanding the different ways in which people now consume our messages. We must also look at the quality of the people coming through; current qualifications do not allow us to recruit for the quality we aspire to achieve. It’s a concern how quickly one can become a PT via an online course, for example. At Fitness First, we’re launching our own hybrid online/in-person academy and we’ll be training PTs to a much higher level, embracing topics such as nutrition, body analysis, supplements, apps, wearables and data so
trainers have more tools at their disposal to help members achieve their goals. Industry churn also needs disruption; I don’t mind admitting it’s the KPI that still needs the most work at Fitness First. Use of AI, personalisation, profiling and intelligent data will all be key here. Loyalty will come from completely satisfied, engaged customers who believe they’re getting good bang for their buck. On which note, we need to look very seriously at the ‘health’ element of our ‘health and fitness’ sector label. At the moment, what we deliver is actually a very small ‘h’ and a very big ‘f’. Moving forward, that has to change. For the new generation of consumer, we can’t just be about fitness. We have to make ‘health’ far more credible within our facilities. Bottom line: we need to innovate, modernise and disrupt – and do so rapidly. We must treat tomorrow as if it were the first day of opening a new fitness business.
We want to grow off the back of a unique, comprehensive value proposition that justifies price rises and meets the needs of a new generation
What’s the industry-wide picture? The sector continues to polarise: Third Space is expanding well at the premium end, while the low-cost brands continue to grow, if slightly slower than previously. However, I don’t agree with the much-touted notion that the mid-market is dead. It’s smaller now, but the mid- market is the mass market and still a valuable part of the sector. Fitness First is premium mid-market. Full-service comes at a price, but Millennials and Gen Z do want it. On a less positive note, having recently returned to the UK from the Middle East, I believe the UK is in danger of falling behind. The rapid pace being seen on other continents is showing us we have to invest in upskilling people, facilities and systems. There are some strong UK performances: the likes of Third Space, David Lloyd Clubs and PureGym, for example.
However, as a wider industry, we need to look at brands such as Wellfit and Fitness Time in the Middle East – at their embrace of technology – and ask how we too can reinvent ourselves. We cannot simply assume people will keep coming. We have to reinvent ourselves to survive – to avoid becoming the Woolworths or the Blackberry of our sector. What next for our sector? A recent PwC report suggested there’s scope for a further 2 million gym members across the UK. I wouldn’t want to be that specific on numbers, but I do believe there’s opportunity for growth. However, we first need to raise our game. Just look at the collapse of many big retail brands. We cannot afford to be complacent.
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
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