My venture idea is to open up a fitness center/gym around my neighborhood. In todays society youll find that people tend to place a lot of time and effort into staying fit and being healthy. We aspire to have “summer bodies”, look like our favorite celebrities, be active in our daily lives and be the best that we can be. So why not give them a place where those needs can be met?
So here are a some issues gym goers usually run into (based on secondary and primary market research); Convenience, affordability and quality. I believe that there is no primed time to workout and a gym should be open for most hours of the week. The equipment should be state of the art and broken machines will be periodically replaced for quality assurance. My competitions around me are(results based off of ReferenceUSA); Golds Gym, Planet Fitness, Richies Gym and although it is quite some distance away, LA Fitness. Each one of these gyms come across one or more of the issues stated earlier. These competitors take away a segment of my target market which are those who only wish to life weights. I will use niche marketing concepts to counteract this dilemma by addressing the different needs of the market and not focus on just that one entity. For example I plan on offering classes such as Zumba, yoga, fitness classes, etc. Also there will be basketball courts, trainers and a smoothie bar available.
I am offering an alternative to someone who wants to do more than just lift weights. My target customer is anyone that is just trying to get fit, no matter their age. This business would be able to sustain itself because people place an emphasis on staying fit. Its scalability and profits would go hand in hand as the popularity of the business grows and gaining a steady stream of loyal customers.
Really glad to see you used the databases! I think you already have a location in mind, definitely list that out and analyze the location (e.g. the demographics in this area, the income level, the rent).
Since you already have the information of your competitors and your competing strategy, it will be great if you can show that you are indeed the only one that offers those classes and courts.
I like you idea and the fact that your are talking about a location that you know lacks a good fitness center.
However, my question for you is based on personal experience. Back in 2014, I had a gym registration in Germany that cost me $50/month (when converted to dollars). The fitness center offered most of the services/classes you mentioned above and even a pool and sauna. It was for anyone who wants to be “fit” and not just lifting.
In the beginning I went often (the first 2 months). At some point, I don’t know what happened, I began going at most once a week. Therefore, I felt like me going 4 times to the fitness center per month wasn’t worth the monthly fee I was paying and I decided to cancel my registration. Running such a fitness center is probably very expensive so I guess you cannot set the prices to low. Do you have an idea on how you’ll make money? Not everybody is able to work out often so don’t you think offering a daily access or just the classes without requiring a monthly fee is a good idea?
I think that high quality equipment in a gym is one of the most important things that a gym must provide and I like that you emphasized about the importance of it. If I go to a gym, and I see broken or out of order machines, I would probably not go back to that gym again. People and athletes who like to lift weights do care about these things, and when they go and some machines are not available or are broken, they get a bad experience and won’t last long there. Losing these kind of members really means a big loss in profit for the gym because these kind of members are the ones who remain constant and usually have long-term memberships.