Wodify is a leading all-in-one fitness management software, trusted by 5,000 of the world’s top businesses. Wodify and O2 Pure Hydration have partnered to help fitness business owners plan, execute and optimize a retail strategy for their gyms. Over the next 3 weeks, O2 will be launching their Retail Results Series and we will be sharing a 3 part blog series that explains more on each topic every week.
While it’s hard to say the hard times are behind us, it’s our hope at Wodify that things are improving. Hopefully, you’re seeing your members return, with growing rosters and bigger classes.
In their 2022 Q1 Quarterly Fitness Index, Placer.ai makes the following observation:
“After a budding recovery in Q4 followed by an Omicron-induced drop in visits in January, fitness foot traffic rose once more, leading to an overall 5.6% increase in fitness visits in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2019. This means that fitness visits over the past two quarters have not only matched pre-pandemic levels, they’ve exceeded them. The current fitness foot traffic numbers are a testament to the strong demand for offline fitness channels, even after two years of home workouts and digital classes.”
With the return of members en masse to your gym, it’s time to review and revisit your retail strategy. Or, in many cases, begin building your approach to retail from scratch.
In either case, our Retail Results Series will help you quantify, build, and optimize a retail strategy that works best for your gym and your members. Let’s get started!
“Gym owners suck at retail.” Team O2 hears this often, and we couldn’t disagree more. In fact, many owners are FANTASTIC at retail and have made it an integral part of their business - both financially and in terms of their brand.
“By streamlining my retail operation, improving its visibility, and increasing its awareness, I’ve been able to easily increase my revenue per member over 40%.” - Dale King, CrossFit PSKC
Gyms that don’t have retail, or are executing it at a sub-par level, typically don’t have a vision of the impact it can have on their businesses. They’re expending the level of effort they believe is warranted based on the expected return.
Team O2 works with thousands of gym owners monthly, and we see the answer to “Why Retail?” fall into three categories:
Before jumping into retail (or revisiting an existing approach) it’s important to understand exactly why you’re doing it and what you hope to achieve.
A unique element of a physical member-based business is that your revenue is capped by the number of members you have or can have. Your revenue-per-member per month is fairly fixed, and your top-line revenue is 100% dependent on your member headcount.
Adding retail allows you to GROW your revenue-per-member per month, giving you an additional stream of revenue outside of memberships. This helps you weather the slow times better while helping you fully capitalize on the high-growth times.
Adding a basic level of well-executed retail can increase your revenue-per-member per month by 10%-15%. Gyms that focus heavily on retail can see that number grow upwards of 30%.
Does growing your revenue 10%-30% without adding any new members sound enticing?
Pro-tip: Wodify is the all-in-one platform that not only can keep a business owners financials in order, but also organize the POS to easily sell and track purchases.
Many gym owners are hesitant to fully commit to retail because they don’t want to come across as too “salesy” to their members. But, here’s the secret:
Your members are going to spend those dollars anyway, and they’d prefer to spend them with you.
Whether long-time members or brand new, the community you build around your gym looks to you to provide guidance and expertise around their fitness journey. Excellent programming and amazing coaching are at the center of that, but the more you can impact their complete fitness experience, the more value you can provide.
Nutrition, supplementation, gear, hydration, clothing - these are all things your members need to address, and they’ll be looking to you for guidance. Your expert opinion, based on their goals and combined with immediate in-gym access to the products you recommend, create a win-win situation for your gym and your members.
Your coaches are the “tip of the spear” of your brand - they spend the most time interacting with your members and tend to have the largest impact on member satisfaction. They’re also the prime source of product recommendations within your gym.
Developing a retail program with the full support and buy-in from your coaches ensures your gym staff are aligned. Involving them in product selection and educating them on how to speak to the products you carry will increase sales and position them (and your gym) as your members’ go-to fitness experts.
Done right, in-gym retail is not only financially beneficial for your gym, it also provides significant value to your members and your coaches. The further you can extend your “fitness influence” the stronger and more solid your entire gym community will be.
Next week in the Retail Results Series we’ll be moving past “Why Retail?” and dive into the details of “How to Retail.” We look forward to continuing this journey with you!
Special offer for gym owners: Buy 4 cases and get 4 cases free, PLUS a free mini fridge to keep your O2 ice cold and at the ready for purchase - a proven sales booster. Click here while the fridges last to take advantage of this unbeatable offer!
Let us know your thoughts and be sure to tag us, @Wodify, so we can share your feedback! Stayed tuned for 2 more blogs in this series!
Want to learn more about retail at your gym? Give our team a call to learn more about how Wodify can help. Book your call here.
