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Under the huge blue ocean demand, the competition has fallen into the Red Sea.
Vicious competition leads to the annual membership fee decreasing year by year, and the customer experience of one-on-one courses in private education is poor. Under the pressure of rent and labor costs, the business model is becoming more and more difficult to maintain. Many factors make traditional gymnasiums submerged in the red sea of competition.
On the one hand, the gym market is growing rapidly, exceeding 1000 billion. On the other hand, the whole industry is experiencing a middle-aged crisis, and more than 60% of traditional gymnasiums are facing operational difficulties, losses or even closure.
Strange images of gyms that outsiders can't understand are staged again and again in various places. If it weren't for this epidemic, many gyms would still muddle along on the old road, and the slight change might just happen to be a pair of new shoes.
And this epidemic is likely to be the last straw to crush camels!
The epidemic suddenly struck, and the fitness places that could not return to work were busy with online teaching, but they just made a loss-making business. In fact, it is infinitely close to the line of life and death.
At present, it seems that after the epidemic, it is estimated that more than 40% of fitness venues will die!
Sometimes I think that such a large number of gyms that are still struggling in the market will not continue to waste social resources! Of course, for most traditional fields, in the absence of actual results, it is always a minority who can accept and invest in change, while most people prefer to take the old road and maintain the current basic state of existence.
The gym market is such a typical conservative state.
However, as a veteran in the fitness industry for several years, entrepreneurs who are currently engaged in the Internet platform of the fitness industry have always been holding a childlike innocence and cannot watch this industry continue to sink like this!
For the development and change of this industry, I keep running and shouting, plus my constant exploration and practice. I sincerely hope that I can open up a road of reform that is really suitable for the development of gymnasiums for people in this industry who love and insist on it as much as I do.
Here, I put forward my own six-point transformation ideas for the operation reform of fitness venues after the epidemic, hoping to bring collective thinking and collision to practitioners!
Although the ideal is full, the reality is skinny, but we should be brave enough to stay full in the survival of skinny!
■? Optimize offline and force online.
Originally, according to the development of the fitness industry, the online part was inevitable, and the black swan incident seemed to accelerate the whole online process.
However, the sudden epidemic has made many gyms scramble to go online, simply thinking that going to Tik Tok, shooting short videos and doing some courses are all online. This understanding is too simplistic.
At present, the so-called online gym can only be a means to maintain the relationship between customers and guests during the epidemic. At present, family fitness can't resist human nature, and the comfort of eating snacks at home is far greater than that of "painful" independent fitness.
Coupled with too many tricks, consumers have been collectively aesthetically tired by all kinds of sudden fitness videos and paragraphs. After the epidemic, it will not continue to rely on online content. I believe the mainstream of fitness is offline after all.
The really correct way is for the gym to put all the fitness data and interactive content of fitness members online. At present, there are very few gyms that can make fitness data, and most members' valuable fitness data have been shelved and failed to play their due value.
At present, the best way for gymnasiums is not to develop an online data platform, but to choose a professional third-party online platform to assist venues in online data management and optimization. Provide all-round fitness data analysis and interaction for members, and master the whole fitness process of members more scientifically from the data change and analysis, and then assist in using the third-party online platform to do multi-scene fitness services for members.
Only in this way can online gyms play an efficient, intelligent and flexible role and truly empower the operation of online gyms! Other simple forms of so-called linearization can only be that the graph has a surface.
■? Change the traditional sales model, take the customer as the center, and implement the short-term charging model.
At present, the traditional business model of pre-sale system makes most gyms pay more attention to sales than operation, which makes the market fall into a vicious circle of word-of-mouth dilemma.
Traditional gym, taking your money, is to bet that you come less and it is better not to come. It does not make money by positive value chain, but by storing value and betting that users will not make money. This is the reverse value chain. The reverse value chain model has no future, and it will only be a chicken feather in the end!
I also heard that the government will introduce regulations on prepayment management. Consumers are cheering, but the fitness industry is complaining, not because the income is unhappy, but because if the policy is really implemented, 90% of the venues will die "immediately".
In fact, whether from the policy level or the market customer level, short-term charging is an inevitable trend. Instead of waiting to be hit, take the initiative to embrace the trend! In order to find a chance in the painful struggle!
I suggest that taking advantage of this epidemic, it is better to have a long-term pain than a short-term pain, focusing on improving the fitness effect of members through pay-per-view, and trying to improve the exercise frequency of members through fitness effect. Exercise frequency can help members develop exercise habits, which is an important weapon to ensure the stickiness of members. High-frequency members are the most valuable user groups in the club. The more users come to the store, the greater the possibility of renewal. In addition, high-frequency users will spontaneously transfer introductions, bringing more traffic to the club.
Therefore, gyms need to constantly upgrade and iterate their service system on the basis of pay-per-view, so as to bring better and better fitness experience to members. This is the real king!
■? Pay attention to service and strengthen experience.
For most gyms, it seems that service is emphasized, but there are few gyms that can really achieve accurate and personalized quality service (not the so-called POS sales process). Without online data processing ability, accurate service to members can be said to be just a slogan.
The service for members should not only provide a good fitness environment, but also tailor the service guide and process for each member's accurate data (refer to the first operation), so that members can experience the heartfelt service experience.
Secondly, for traditional gyms, it has always been taken for granted that service is to serve members. As we all know, the gym also has a client: the fitness instructor in the venue.
At present, the income of private education is increasing, and the specialty and service level of fitness instructors determine the quality and income level of private education. Therefore, the current fitness venues should operate themselves as a platform, and provide the ultimate service for members and coaches on the basis of building a good platform, so that fitness coaches can give full play to their professional standards to serve our fitness members on this platform, thus achieving a positive chain.
However, such a change in concept requires our gym operators to reverse the long-standing business concept! If you dare to make such an adjustment, I will definitely give you a thumbs up. Because you have broken through the limitation of self and reorganized your interests, you must be greeted with unexpected positive benefits.
■? Streamline staff and enjoy coaching.
As a fitness center, it has been dragged down by high operating costs, and the invisible financial costs of all kinds of manpower are not unknown. This is a shocking situation. Since the outbreak of this epidemic, hematopoiesis in gymnasiums has basically stopped, but various expenses have been accumulated.
This makes us have to reflect, what kind of stadium manpower composition and role distribution can reduce fixed costs and increase revenue?
In my opinion, after the epidemic, the only way for fitness venues is to clarify the various roles of the venues, streamline personnel, focus on the good operation and service of the venues, and leave the rest to professional third-party platforms and professional freelance coaches. This operation especially recommends that some small and medium-sized venues gradually accept and try!
Perhaps many venues will be difficult to change for a while, but the existence of freelance coaches will be unstoppable in the future and will surely become a firm professional force in the market. It will be a pioneering effort for some venues with high operating costs! If the management is good, it will certainly produce high efficiency and high income that the traditional model will not have!
■? Embrace technology and integrate resources
With the development of science and technology, the power of science and technology has gradually penetrated into the gymnasium. It is an essential link to make full use of artificial intelligence to add points to the gym, especially on the basis of streamlining personnel, many gym service functions can be completed through smart devices.
At this point, many gyms have been advancing, but they are not thorough and efficient enough. Next, the gym should make the unmanned scene to the extreme in order to maximize the power of intelligent technology! Really reduce costs and increase efficiency!
At the same time, using the expertise of some third-party technologies, the venue area is optimized from the aspects of the beauty, dynamic line, area division, equipment placement in each area, cost-effective materials, etc., so as to cut off unnecessary areas and save fixed operating costs.
At the same time, the outbreak of the epidemic not only makes people pay more attention to health and immunity, but also has obvious high requirements for ambient air quality, especially in the closed environment of gymnasiums. How to ensure air quality is a problem that our operators must face up to.
After the outbreak, whoever can take the lead in introducing the indoor air improvement system into the gym will have a unique advantage, and the governance of this air environment depends on the initial concept of our operators! To tell the truth, the so-called fresh air and air improvement system in many gyms is only superficial, and has no substantive function, but more of a self-comforting function! Environmental upgrading, health first! I believe you can do it.
■? Mergers and acquisitions, holding a group to warm up
It is a good M&A opportunity for a strong gym that can still have capital reserves after the epidemic.
Although there are various problems in the fitness industry, the general trend is bound to flourish. After the epidemic, many gyms can't keep going. At this time, for a powerful gym, spending reasonable funds to acquire it to a certain extent will lay a solid foundation for its own development.
For some gyms with weak strength, after the epidemic, many small and medium-sized venues will develop together, or find a suitable acquirer to integrate into a stronger platform, or simply stop loss in time!
If it sounds harsh but realistic, the future gym market will definitely be more and more concentrated in a few chain brands, forming an oligopoly aggregation effect. The rest of the market will be divided up by some small shops or alliances with distinctive advantages. Speaking of which, I think as a gym operator, you must know what you should do next.
The above is my advice to gym operators as an entrepreneur, and I believe you will find the answer to the question.
In fact, for many gyms, you can't do the above six points, but you can selectively promote some reform ideas according to your actual situation. I believe you are already ahead of many people!
This epidemic has brought real and painful effects to many gyms, and also brought many unexpected challenges and difficulties to our operation. Facing the economic challenges and the increasingly complex epidemic, Charles Munger said that we must bear the macro, and we can make a difference at the micro.
At the moment of the epidemic, danger and opportunity coexist, which is the time to test our own choices. Be sure to remember that the trend is strong and the trend is weak!