AusLeisure

Preliminary results from Ezypay’s fitness industry survey have revealed that club members want more classes, better equipment and improved changing rooms.

Early responses from the annual survey, which this year has been expanded beyond Australia and New Zealand to include fitness clubs and club members in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, also show a growing number of members using smartphone apps to track their fitness progress.

With more than 5,000 surveys completed, responses to a new question; “if your club had more money to invest where should they spend it?” revealed that members want:

• More group fitness classes;
• A bigger facility;
• Better equipment;
• Better facilities like showers, change rooms and steam rooms;
• Improved machine maintenance and cleanliness;
• Extended opening hours on the weekend and early in the mornings;
• Air conditioning.

Commenting on the responses, group fitness expert Mel Tempest – the owner of Ballarat Body & Soul Health & Fitness Studio explains “group fitness is growing at a rapid rate in clubs with group fitness program providers creating cool class concepts with top 40 music allowing instructors to turn their classes into rock star events. Benefits are displayed in marketing, wearable devices and happy members.”

In his JT Active Management Blog fitness business consultant Justin Tamsett adds “if you are a gym owner or manager and have a little extra money to invest this year in your club please listen to your members and make sure you put more group fitness classes into your timetable.”

In relation to technology, when asked if they used a mobile app to track their fitness progress with a mobile app, 25% of fitness club members surveyed answered that they do with a free app and 5% using a paid app.

Commenting on this growing trend, Ezypay Director of Sales, Marketing and Relationships Celeste Kirby-Brown states “mobile health and fitness apps are becoming popular with members. However, the market is only in its infancy.

“(As a result) it’s no wonder tech giants like Google and Apple want to a slice of the action.

“During the recent Google I/O Developers Conference Google announced an initiative called Google Fit - a fitness and health tracking platform for Android across various platforms and wearable devices.

“(In addition) Apple have launched HealthKit for developers. Similar to Google Fit this will provide a hub for users to keep track of fitness goals and health-related information.

“IHRSA’s Global Report 2014 suggests there are 17,397,622 members in the Asia-Pacific region. If 30% of these are tracking their fitness using a mobile app this equates to 5,219,286 members across the region.

“That also equates to 86,981 users paying for the apps.

“Let’s say on average they pay $3 an app that is a $250,000 already spent on mobile apps across the region!”

“Fitness clubs are now also able to take advantage of the popularity of mobile fitness tracking apps (with) fitness equipment suppliers like Precor are offering apps like Preva Mobile.

“The app provides a mobile platform for members to measure all fitness activities and not just those within the gym.”

The 2014 Fitness Industry Survey is still open for both members and clubs.

For more information go to www.ezypay.com/fitness-industry-survey 

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