Planet Fitness Competitive Advantage

An Analysis of the U.S. Health Club Industry in 2004 and the Role of Bally Total Fitness

Councilman Rick Hanlon asked how a membership drive did last year, and Rec Center Director Garrick DiSalvo said it brought in about $2,700 in the month of December. A Planet Fitness is opening up in Wooster, and the $10 a month fee with $1 down could have an impact on Rittman’s membership numbers. While Rittman has added a 24-hour access option to appeal to more members, the price for Planet Fitness is a good one, DiSalvo said.

"LA Fitness grew out of three clubs, each owned by one of the founders. In 1990 Fred Turock, Jeremy Taylor and David Turner decided to get together to jointly manage these clubs, with the aim of building up a network of gyms with first class facilities. In 1996 they created the LA Fitness brand and the following year they joined the top ten health and fitness club operators, catering to a wide variety of people of all shapes and sizes and with a huge range of goals. In 1999 the growth and success of the LA Fitness group led to a listing on the London Stock Exchange. In 2005 the team decided they needed more control - they wanted to make sure LA Fitness could continue to provide affordable membership and a fun environment for its growing

Physical Health should be a priority to any human being. We are given one life and should optimize every single day of it. With that, I would enter the Planet Fitness Industry. This company has created; what I believe to be, one of the best environments for getting and/or staying in shape. I do believe a lot of gyms have a judgmental ambience that most people find to be very uncomfortable. So, those people simply opt out of pursuing a membership. I personally have obtained a membership at Planet fitness for over a year now. The environment is exactly how it is advertised to be. Attending this gym has inspired me to do more for any person seeking to better their quality of life. Not a single human should be afraid or feel judged for going to a gym.

Nationally, Orangetheory Fitness is the fastest growing fitness franchise, at least partially due to the innovative ideas it brings to fitness. In detail, Orangetheory Fitness locations in Ann Arbor and nationally are effective in communicating the brand to community members using social media among other tactics. The reason that this brand strategy works is because of the niche industry that Orangetheory Fitness is in: a specialized fitness development program that is beyond just a gym. While there are other fitness centers out there that follow a similar strategy, none of them have established a sense of community, that’s Orangetheory’s competitive advantage.

As it relates to noteworthy differences, Planet Fitness requires a facility nearly five times that of the average Snap Fitness club. Surprisingly, the average Planet Fitness club is sixteen thousand square feet as compared to Snap Fitness’s average of three thousand square feet. Although absentee ownership is allowed, typically 90% of current Snap franchises are

Another opportunity that Weight Watchers has is expanding their business by forming an alliance with local gyms. This alliance could aide Weight Watchers by providing clients with a membership to gyms that are close to them and providing a place to exercise. The gyms would benefit from revenues generated from one million Weight Watchers members, and the members would benefit by having access to personal trainers, exercise equipment, and nutritional products. This opportunity could help fill the gap between the lessons learned from Weight Watcher’s point system and a place to practice those lessons. Additionally, members could take advantage of learning how to correctly exercise to avoid injury, learning proper form, technique, and limitations. By combining these essential elements to a healthy weight loss program, the clients would have a higher success rate at not only losing the weight but also learning how to maintain their weight once it is gone.

Everyone has different fitness goals for themselves. Even just making the decision to create new fitness goals can be intimidating and requires an immense amount of motivation. Choosing the right gym to meet those goals can be just as important as setting the goals in the first place. Planet Fitness is a low-cost gym that is mainly marketed towards those who are interested in getting back into shape and those people who don’t think that they should spend all of their free time in the gym, unlike many other well-known companies. When a person signs up for a membership at Planet Fitness, they can expect to receive a variety of membership benefits, the ability to work out in well-kept facilities with sharp physical appearances, and to feel comfortable

Snap Fitness, a fitness business based in Minnesota, offers franchise opportunities. The opportunity comes with a start-up fee ranging from $60,000 to $184,000. The following items are included in the start-up fee:

The biggest flaw that I believe planet fitness possesses is the fact that they live by the policy “do not cater to body builders,” so that they can create the dream of a “judgement free zone”. I am about to put a huge hole into the logic of this policy. There is no such thing as “judgment free”. Judgement and opinion are natural processing agents within the human mind. Everyone judges everyone whether it is acknowledged that they are doing so or not. Also, if it’s a “judgment free” zone, how come the gym is full of illustrations and slang words directed towards a stereotypical bodybuilder? Planet Fitness is being judgmental their selves. By keeping to this policy, Planet Fitness is not only making itself the laughing stock of the fitness industry, but it is also losing a large, plentiful amount of potential customers. Now that I’ve gotten that flaw out of the way, my second biggest frustration with Planet Fitness is the food and candy the facility offers. When people sign up for the gym, they are also signing a personal contact with their selves to be a better, heathier version of their selves. This process involves not only working out, but it also involves dieting, creating a balanced meal plan based on their goals, and being able to say no to eating poorly all the time and instead

The health club industry has continued to see an increase in the amount of health clubs/fitness centers. Since 1992, the United States has seen the number of health clubs increased by almost 40 percent, from 12,635 to 17,531 facilities. It has also seen an increase in membership by almost 60 percent, from 20.8 million to 32.8 million. What this all means for Fun 4 Life Fitness Center, LLC is that the market is ever growing which translates to more competition. Most fitness centers offer a variety of services to address the needs and convenience of the customers. Some of these services includes personal trainers, facilities with state-of-the-art equipment, and programs that cater to mostly every demographic.

Fitness is in. The percentage of people belonging to health clubs and gyms has doubled over the past 20 years. More growth is expected, fueled by an aging Baby Boomer generation in search of eternal youth and the reality that regular exercise can prevent or control diseases that are driving health care costs relentlessly upward. The 24/7 fitness opportunity is the newest model of fitness centers today.

In today’s busy world, it can be hard to find the time to even think about one’s fitness, let alone actually do anything to maintain it. The average person has school, work, family, pets, and many more distractions in their life to ensure their fitness is left on the backburner. However, when the thought of exercise does eventually enter their mind, the thought that often comes forefront is that of the gym. The concept of a gym is simple, populate a building with the necessary equipment for a variety of physical activities, attracting people who want to get that perfect body or even just get back in shape. However, many people who have never frequented a gym often come up with a plethora of reasons not to go.

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.

I moved through the process of selecting the right gym to join quite quickly as I was very motivated to get started. I took into consideration that this purchase posed physical and social problems and considered those when making my decision.