The fitness industry in the last year has been incredibly tough due to the onset of COVID 19. Not only the entire brick and mortar gym industry had been forced to shut down without notice but once the shutdowns have been lifted, they met with new challenges never seen before. Because of the pandemic, people have become more health-conscious. They want to lead healthier lifestyles and one that caters to their busy schedules and the new normal.
2020 was a Game Changer for the Fitness Industry
Despite the governments’ attempts to curb the spread of coronavirus that restricted gym capacity in some parts of the world, while closed the fitness clubs completely in some countries, it led to the predictable explosion of the hybrid economy, where fitness enthusiasts now prefer to access physical fitness centers and digital fitness content to keep fit. There is an enormous opportunity with this landscape change that club owners and operators can’t miss. How members interact with their club is expanding and evolving, meaning there are more and new ways for clubs to create an exceptional member experience.
It’s already been a year and a half that most fitness studios and gyms have joined the bandwagon to leverage technology with the intent to connect and engage with their members, improve member experience and boost retention, increase profitability, and set up their business for growth in a rapidly consolidating market.
Connected fitness devices, for example, are one technological innovation that has disrupted the fitness industry. The most common fitness tech ranges from fitness & wellness applications and digital coaching platforms to wearable technology and home gym equipment. The benefits that the combination of fitness tech and digital fitness offers are incomparable from the member experience and convenience and the club trainers’ standpoint.
How to Use Technology to its Maximum Potential?
Technology helps fitness businesses to
- Monitor activities and results to improve member experiences.
- Use technology to collect and clean data for actionable insights.
- Use these data insights to build good content and marketing programs.
- Address members’ expectations anytime, anywhere.
Technology Investments in the Fitness Businesses: More Challenges vs. Opportunities
Arguably, the evolved members’ behaviors and preferences have birthed both a slew of challenges and opportunities. However, it won’t be an understatement that most of these health clubs are hard-pressed to combat these challenges.
The fitness industry, in general, has been a laggard from the technology adoption standpoint. Let’s face it – fitness business owners have limited time and resources. Although fitness businesses know that technology can successfully add value and provide a competitive advantage, many owners do not realize that the technology must be coupled with business systems and trained staff to gain the benefit. So, they’ve until lately relied on its retail staff to manage all their technology-led initiatives.
As a fitness business, adapting to the changes in the industry is not as easy as one might think. You’ve invested time and management resources into your business, but now you need resources to collect and analyze all this data you’re collecting. But, it’s painfully difficult to find the right talent with good technology and domain skills to keep pace with the latest happening within your industry. This limited ability to leverage the technology results in most fitness businesses choosing off-the-shelf solutions that may or may not solve a problem.
DX Factor’s Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) Model
Digital disruption is now industry-wide; it’s no longer an option. You need a solid strategy to embrace it. Introducing Industry’s first Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) Global Resource Team sets your fitness business on the growth track and offers you a competitive advantage.
We’re an outcome-obsessed digital transformation (DX) team. We help fitness businesses navigate through the ever-evolving data and technology landscape and solve the most challenging business problems around your people, processes, customer experiences, and operational efficiencies.
The BOT model provides a way to transform your fitness business without having to make a massive investment upfront. It works like this; a fitness business owner tie-up with a technology service provider like DXFactor for an initial period of time, thereby allowing them to get their technology infrastructure built, managed, and operated. Once the entire setup is established and operational, the the fitness business takes over the entire operational facility.
The Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model is gaining popularity as a viable business option for creating and maintaining fitness solutions. We have helped leading fitness businesses build their digital capabilities through this model.
What digital capabilities can we help you build through our BOT engagement model?
