Fitbit Consumer Behavior

The marketing problem that Fitbay currently needs to solve is to increase the number of users to create a bigger group of future customers interested in their product. More specifically, this includes attracting online shoppers, businesses (excluding clothing manufacturers/retailers) and new market segments. Through the varying marketing audiences targeted Fitbay hopes to resolve this marketing problem.

For last week assignment, we were all asked to download three fitness apps of our choice and to monitor our daily physical activity and calorie intake. The three apps I decided to download for this assignment were Myfitnesspal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/), MyPlate (https://www.livestrong.com /myplate/), and SparkPeople (https://www.sparkpeople.com). In order to use each of these apps, I had to input general information about myself such as height, current weight, weight goal, date of birth, and whether or not if I would like to gain, lose or maintain weight. Having the ability to scan my food barcode made each app easy to use. Out of all three apps, I would say that Myfitnesspal and MyPlate were the easiest apps to figure out. I had a little difficult time using SparkPeople in the beginning. I had a hard time figuring out how to automatically set up my step from my iPhone. Most of these apps were not complete, in order to track my macros or to know what foods rank the highest in nutrients, I would need to pay for premium membership to gain those type of access. However, with each of these apps, I was able to choose a variety of workouts.

Lastly, threats to the company are changing buyer tastes, needs, and demographic changes that adversely affect the business. Everyone who wants to lose weight wants it quick and easy but Weight Watchers motto of teaching people to choose more healthy choices is not a fast process. With all the free apps online posing the threat of growing bargaining power of customers and suppliers (Abraham, 2012), it is easy to track your calorie intake. Many of Weight Watchers competitors take the guess work out of calorie counting by

Old is new again, hopefully not tie tied shirts and flared jeans, the Fitbit One is a 21st century update on the basic and time proven method on how to lose weight and improve your health and fitness.

Hamblin make claims that he has somewhat become obsessed with counting steps and that sights of a Fitbit makes him feel nervous. They drive people to be competitive to walk harder and to work more. Anything less than a Fitbit would just copy cake knock that is just be pointless and not even worth time. Also, he speaks on the matter about how those who live in Venice, Italy, tend to be healthier, even with eating pasta and drinking wine all day. This is because they walk everywhere due to the lack space for roads or cars. He believe that small, roads is something that can led to a city becoming healthier.

They have begun to also utilize the fitness tracker fitbit into their wellness program. The fitbit program can help with tracking employee’s fitness in real time. This is a great tool to have to motivate people to get in shape. This is a great way to use new technology and also help people connect with other people who have the same type of goals.

Park and Friedman were able to ship around 5,000 units with a further 20,000 orders on the books. Park and Friedman raised more money for their product from Brad Field and teamed up with Best Buy. Fitbit products are now found in 650 Best Buys and thousands of retail stores worldwide. The first tracker was reviewed as “pretty good”. In 2011 Fitbit was improved by adding an altimeter, digital clock and a stopwatch. In 2012 Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip were the first wireless fitness trackers to use Bluetooth 4.0/ Bluetooth Smart. This model allowed people to sync their Fitbit with IOS and Android as well as the Fitbit website. In 2013 Fitbit created a wearable bracelet: Fitbit Flex. Although the product was not entirely successful. The wristband was irritating people’s skin due to the nickel in the product. This resulted in a recall in 2014 and the irritating factor can still be a problem in some of their products today.

Identifying and evaluating the market would be the best course of action for Fitbit. A global presence is a terrific opportunity. Data surrounding markets which have the capability to leverage the tool would be important. Third world countries may benefit from the product, but not have the electronic capability to support and/or use Fitbit. In addition, the culture and social dynamics of the market would play a factor into how Fitbit is received and would be adopted. A health conscious country similar to the United States dynamics would be ideal. Or segments such as Hong Kong and parts of China may prove as ideal locations, due to the forward thinking

After analyzing various studies in USA which all show that obesity is continuously increasing. Weight Watchers realized that in order to reach the larger target consumer group, new programs had to be adapted to the company’s business model. New marketing tools where integrated, with the launch of weightwatchers.com (online), followed by WW phone aps (mobile), moreover the company has changed its strategy by using men and woman in their advertisement campaign in order to try and reach male consumers (90% of its members are woman).

Although personally, I believe Fitbit like yoga pants are more of a fashion accessory than life changing. In our generation, today, we have taken many things related to fitness and have made them a trend. There has been a good amount of research studies that have based their hypothesis on the Fitbit, or use the Fitbit in some compacity during their research. Some of the studies I looked at explained that the Fitbit tracks many aspects of your life, but it is not something to rely completely on. It would be more of a complimentary product than a center stage product. I wasn’t able to figure out who exactly funded these studies, but some were posted in the clinical journal of pain, and the journal of science and medicine in sports. I, myself, didn’t sense or see any forms of quackery. These devices are sold in store as well as online. The claims aren’t definite more motivational. On the website, I didn’t see any testimonials

Health. Fitbit has become a cultural trend. For example, if a person observes someone lose weight by tracking their fitness on a Fitbit, then that person learns that they may also be able to lose weight if he or she acquires a Fitbit and replicates the same behavior. With the upper and middle classes being more health conscious, Fitbit is likely to sell more of its product

Today, people are focused on living and eating for a healthier lifestyle. One of the fastest growing businesses in the United States is the health industry. Business owners are investing and purchasing fitness franchises that offer low-cost membership as well as convenient hours. Snap Fitness is one of those franchises that have over 1,400 locations worldwide. One of the reasons that Snap Fitness would be beneficial to invest in and also to purchase is because it is a growing industry. “Economically, the health club industry has proven to be recession-proof, as health-minded consumers continue to look for a high-quality workout solution that provides the best value for their buck.” (Snap Fitness, 2015) Snap Fitness provides an in-house

FitBit is dedicated to helping people live healthier and more active lives. The company aims to create innovative, inspiring products and online services that combine the power of new technologies to make people more aware of their diets, daily activities and motivate them to do more exercises.

The fitness industry is one that is rarely thought of as an electronic industry. However, in recent years, more and more fitness related smartphone applications including workout planners, calorie counters, support forums, and many more fitness centered resources have become available to the public. This big move from time sensitive face-to-face fitness instruction to convenient face-to-screen instruction has changed the way that the fitness industry operates. With the rising rollout of fitness apps geared toward the convenience of the user, fitness instructors, personal trainers, and the like have had to go to extreme measures in order to keep up with the rapidly changing digital fitness environment. This paper will outline the evolution of the fitness industry to illustrate its move from an entirely brick and mortar operation to a largely electronic industry. This paper will also discuss the reasons behind the switch and the pros and cons associated with each way of getting fit.

But these products were never quite able to break out of a “niche” category. From a marketing standpoint, two main issues have always plagued smartwatches: