Industry Spotlight: What Does Mobility Mean For Health Clubs?

A Sea of Internet Connected Mobile Consumers Will Leave Their Mark On A Rapidly Changing Health Club Industry

It was 30 years ago last week that the first mobile phone was sold in the U.S. Today, according to Pew Research, 90 percent of American adults have a mobile phone, 58 percent have smartphones, and 42 percent have a tablet computer. For those living in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more, the rate of smartphone adoption is 81 percent. That is a lot of health club consumers with access to the Internet via their smartphones 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What does this mean for the health club industry? When you consider recent business models like Uber, which enables your smartphone to seamlessly order a car service on demand, or Amazon, which sold more than $20 billion of merchandise in 2014 via smartphones and tablets, it’s clear that consumers are migrating towards the convenience of mobile access — whether it be for buying a service or merchandise —and the health club industry will be impacted immensely from this trend. The tipping point of mobile adoption is here, as more consumers will be browsing the web in 2014 via mobile devices, as opposed to desktops.

According to a number of research sources, the percentage of members taking smartphone devices into clubs is 70 percent or more. In January of 2014, the fitness industry technology counsel released a health club survey report based on 748 responses from U.S health clubs, which touched on technology adoption. According to the report, only 31 percent of clubs offer to sell memberships online, a mere 20 percent utilize paid mobile advertising campaigns and 31 percent used some type of mobile app. All this while mobile and social commerce is surging.

During the IHRSA 2014 conference in San Diego last week, keynote speaker Gary Vaynerchuk had this to say about the health club industry in respect to consumer’s use of technology: “Technology isn’t ruining us. Technology is helping us do what we want to do.”

He went on to say, “We are experiencing the greatest cultural shift in history, and health club owners can’t be romantic about their business models in the midst of this change.”

What Vaynerchuk said has validity. In a world that is seeing so much change and with consumers who are expecting all of their interactions with brands via “omni-channel,” which is defined as interacting seamlessly with brands either in the physical or digital world, making mobile technology a cornerstone of your business model is important.

How should health clubs rethink their business models in light of these trends? The chart below shares a construct of how key processes for some club models might be “mobilized.” From QR codes to apps, and from mobile search to online mobile membership, if you aren’t at least considering how to utilize mobile you might get left behind. Carefully weighing the best strategy in light of your specific business model, existing technology platforms and available alternatives requires thought, and often the help of an experienced advisor. Regardless, there is no doubt that the mobile trend is here to stay, and if you are going to be competitive you’ll need to have a strategy around it.

Bryan O’Rourke is considered a thought leader on technology, health club, consumer and wellness trends and has been widely published in periodicals around the world. He is a keynote speaker, executive and shareholder in several companies including Fitmarc, Integerus, The Flywheel Group, and Ecofit. Bryan has advised many leading global health and fitness brands. He serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank, sits on ACE’s Industry Advisory Panel and is CEO of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com.