Fitlife Health Club: Australian Market Leader In Sport And Fitness Industry

SWOT Analysis

Fitlife Heath Club is the Australian health club, which is established as one of the leader in the sport and fitness industry. It provides various fitness venues all over the country by offering various fitness related services. The Head office of Fitlife health club is in North Sydney. From there, it operates its branches in every state of the country. All the health clubs are offering the services like; swimming, recreation hall, gymnastic hall and gym for weight lifting and other exercises. The health club is working for its mission and vision with effective strategies. This marketing plan includes the marketing audit of the Fitlife by utilizing various analyses. 

The following table indicates the possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Fitlife Health club.

Internal	Strengths	Weaknesses Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper
· Strong brand image and market leadership · Innovative cultures · Expert and high class trainers and dieticians · Special time slot for the elders and children allows the parents to work freely · Availability of sufficient equipment and machines for work out	· Pricing structure is very high, so it does not attract international customers · Less social media presence · Lack of distribution channels in global markets · Higher cost structure (It includes cost of Maintenance, delivery of service and trainers) · It is hard to find out the high quality and expert trainers (Surujlal, & Dhruup, 2011). · Timings are limited, which are not suitable for all the clients.
External	Opportunities	Threats
· Global expansion · Online coaching · Improvement in the quality assurance by providing internal training · New products and services · It should implement the loyalty card program to retain the existing customers	· Competitors with lower cost services · 24*7 Opened health clubs · Growth in health and wellness related apps · Wide range of free health and wellness resources on internet reduces the use of physical health clubs. It teaches the people that how they can do exercise and eat without paying money (Fitness Australia, 2015).

Political	· There are some political factors, which impact the growth of health club, like; unfair contract regulations, sales strategies and miscommunication (Aubrey, 2017). · The health club must consider the following elements as they vary on a continuous basis and will have a large impact on delivery of attributed options: · Taxes: The Fitlife Health club has to adopt the changes in the taxes and tariffs · It requires keeping up to date with the policies and regulations to decrease the chance of claim for any injury (Payne, Kennedy, Davis, 2009). · The health club needs to comply with the Work Health and Safety Act, 2011 by introducing the compulsory online training to provide its staff easy access to the resources to implement in the Fitlife club atmosphere.
Economic	· Decline in inflation: Due to decline in the inflation, people are spending their disposable income on the luxury services like; health club membership. But if there will be decrease in the household income, the people will shift to the cheaper options. · The Australian health industry is growing continuously from the last few decades. The government is making many efforts to motivate the people towards getting the health club services to keep themselves healthier. · The health and wellness sector is earning about 1 billion revenues from last few years. There are approximately 3000 health clubs and gyms in the country (EZYPAY, 2015). · Increase in the expenses, like; rent, trainer’s salary etc.
Socio-Cultural	· 28% of the Australian people are obese · The increase in the reality TV shows related to the weight loss, initiatives by the government to encourage the healthy life are some factors, which have contributed in increasing the demand for fitness industry (McDonalds, 2007). · Impacts in social media have created more people of the society health conscious. · Most of the people want to go fitness centres and gyms for looking good
Technological	· Advancement in fitness equipment enables to use the internet, connect with the users, play music, watch TV and put their personal information into machines to make the workout personal. · There are various apps for fitness. 26% of the population use the apps to burn the calories and to search for the healthy recipes. · Approx. 14% of the people use the social media to follow the diets and fitness blogs. · Implanting new technologies in the products is very important. In Australia, there is an emerging trend of using the gym gadgets and other technology devices like; Fitbit Tracker (Luo, 2008).

Marketing Objective	Gap	Actions Bridging the Gap
1. To develop innovative and wellbeing  programs	Market segment is more interested in online fitness apps	Launch its online website and apps
2. To launch most revenue generating health bar	Premium prices of services	Implementation of effective pricing strategy
3. To provide offsite support	Lack of online presence	Create a app and providing videos of exercises and diet plans on the online sites

The below graph indicates the current position and desired position of the FitLife Health Club. The graph shows the gap between both the situations (Keyzer, Finch, Dietrich, & Sekendiz, 2014).

Market Growth Rate (Cash Usage)	High	Relative Market Share (Cash Generation)
High	Low
Stars	Question Marks (new markets)
m Children exercise programs m Exercise and diet programs for elder people m BodyAttack m Zumba m Nutrition program m Gym-Cardio	m Online and remote classes and fitness training m Introduction of health bar m Physiotherapy facility m Loyalty card program m New wellness and fitness programs
Low
Cash Cows	Dogs
m Swimming classes m Recreational activities (Table tennis, Basket Ball, Badminton and Netball) m Personalised weight lifting programs m One-on-one training sessions m Pilates m Body pump m Yoga m Cycling m Fat burner	m Kendo m Boxing

The above BCG growth matrix indicates the growth-share matrix about the different units and activities of FitLife Health club. This includes four categories; dogs, question marks, stars and cash cows. In the matrix, star shows the units, which generate large amount of cash due to the strong market share. But, the units in this category consume huge amount of cash due to higher growth rate. For the FitLife health club, the star matrix shows that the club can generate more cash from children exercise programs, nutrition programs, body attack, Gym-cardio and Zumba (Close, 2013). These activities are very common for the Australian people, who are very health conscious, but it requires a huge cost for installing the gym equipment and machines. For nutrition programs, the fitness center has to hire a nutrition expert or dieticians. The organization has to pay demanded salary to them. FitLife should invest in these services to increase its market share.

Investments made in these services will assist the health club in introducing new and innovative health and wellness programs. The health club should drop the services like; Kendo and Boxing, as the people are less interested in these services and it has low market growth and low market share (Alpert, 2015). These dropouts can help the organization, as it can invest the cash in other services, which generated from divestiture of related assets. The health club should focus on the profitable services to achieve the marketing objectives. It should make the investment in the services, which can generate more cash and revenues in the future.

BCG Growth Matrix

There are five forces, which affect the players in an industry. The Following model indicates the fives forces for the FitLife Health Club. It includes the five forces like; Competitive rivalry, threat of new entry, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and threat of substitutes (David, David & David 2016).

	The Threat of New Entry (High) · Development of private gyms and fitness centres  · Low product differentiation ·  Legal regulations ·  Requirement  of high capital
Supplier Power (Moderate) ·  High competition among suppliers ·  Quality of equipment critical ·  Similar production inputs · Low cost of switching	Competitive Rivalry ·  Large industry size · Fast growth rate of industry ·  Low exit barriers	Buyer Power (Strong) · Different range of services · Competitors with lower cost service providers ·  Health clubs with same facilities · Players with high prices (FitLife) can lose the customers
	Threat of Substitution (High) ·  High cost of switching ·   Private health clubs · Various options are available

Marketing Opportunity Option	Feasible? Yes/No	Rationale
Strategic alliances and cooperative business models	Yes	The FitLife Health club has the opportunity to alliance with any other fitness centre in Australia. It will help in raising its revenues and grow in the market (Chang, & Ming, 2013).
New products or services to target specific markets	Yes	It can offer new services and products in the fitness centre to target the specific segment like; for elder people, children, pregnant women etc.
Greater market penetration with existing products or services	Yes	It can go through the market penetration by introducing new services or by lowering the prices of existing services.
Take-overs	No	FitLife club is not as stronger that it can take over any business. First, it should establish its own business in all over the country, and then it should think about take-over.
New businesses and franchising	Yes	This is a new business initiative. In comparison to establishing a new business, the franchises business will have an already established brand among the customers.
1. Global Expansion	Yes	It has the opportunity to expand its business internationally by providing online coaching and increasing its social media appearance.
2. Introduction of new health and wellness programs	Yes	Introducing new and innovative and wellness programs can help the organization in contacting and attracting more customers.
3. Group fitness training classes for niche  segment, like; pregnant women, senior citizens  etc.	Yes	It can develop group fitness classes for niche groups including pregnant women, seniors, children, cyclists, kettlebell lovers, post-birth mums, yoga with babies and toddlers and aqua fitness.

Feasible strategies 

Marketing Mix	Strategy	Rationale	Alignment
Product	1. Quality services 2. Seasonal and special training packages	Providing quality services and special packages will make it different from other competitors.	Both the strategies will help in attracting more customers by providing high quality services.
Price	1. Competitive prices 2. Discount to regular and loyal customers	The company is providing the services at higher prices; it must reduce the prices and give discount to the loyal customers.	Lowering the prices of services will help in generating more revenues by increasing the customer base.
Promotion	1. Promotional plans 2. Increase social media appearance	The company is not providing online services, so it must increase its appearance on social media.	Implementing the promotional activities will assist health club in expanding the business internationally.
Placement	1. Expansion in distribution channels 2. Multipurpose fitness centres	It should expand the distribution channels and fitness centres in all over the country.	It will come up with other fitness centres with value added products; it will increase number of customers and allow it to increase the sales.

Product
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Product differentiation	Production	300$	2-5 weeks	Trainer
2. Service expansion	Gym owner	300$	1-2 weeks	Shareholders and promoter
3. Special packages	Gym owner	200$	2 weeks	Trainer and dieticians
Price
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Cost leadership	Accountant	100$	1 week	Shareholders and owner
2. Discounts for regular customers	Finance department	100$	1-2 weeks	Finance manager
3. Loyalty card program	Manager	150$	1 week	Customers
Promotion
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Online sponsorships	Marketing manager	200$	2-3 weeks	Advertising manager and customers
2. Ads in newspapers	Advertising manager	100$	2-3 weeks	Customers and print media
3. Mobile apps	Owner and partners	200$	3-4 weeks	IT
Placement
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Expansion	Manager	200$	2 weeks	Promoters
2. Opening new fitness centres	Gym owner	600$	3-4 weeks	Trainers and physiotherapist
3. Conducting events	Gym trainers	200$	1-2 weeks	Volunteers
	Total cost	($2650)

At this stage, the club will start to introduce its health and fitness services in the well-established industry in Australia. It will install the equipment and exercise machines in the center (Bauer, 2012). It incurs more costs to purchase the machines and hire trainers and nutritionists. Company focuses on establishing in the market.

At this stage, the sales and revenues of club will start increasing and competition will grow. The fitness services of the health club will be identified in the market. It will start to gain market share. The customers will focus on the special services of the health club. The products and services of health club fit in the growth stage of product development life cycle.

At the maturity stage, brand image will be strong in the market. Sales of the health club continue to grow but at a decline rate in comparison to past. At this stage, it will add new services and features to the services, like; special packages and discounted packages (Andreasson, & Johansson, 2014).

This stage starts to decline the sales due to changes in the trends and economic conditions. The organization will reduce the prices of the services and packages. Company has to make an effective marketing mix for increasing the revenues. This will beneficial for the health club to grow again.

Introduction
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Product promotion	Marketing manager	$300	2-3 weeks	Marketing team
2. Skimming pricing strategy	Gym owner	$100	–	Finance manager
Growth
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Focus on brand building	Advertising manager	$150	3-4 weeks	Marketing team and media
2. Product and service extension	Promoters	$160	4-5 week	Gym trainers
Maturity
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Set Price to beat competitors	Owner	120$	5 week	Shareholders and partners
2. Use of variety of media	Marketing manager	$200	5-7 weeks	Media and customers
Decline
Tactics	Owner	Cost	Schedule	Accountability
1. Cut the prices	Cost manager	$100	7-8 weeks	Accountants
2. Reduce market spending	Marketing manager	$110	8 & 9 week	Advertising and marketing team
	Grand Total	($1240)	(10 weeks)

The tactics mentioned in the above segments are meeting with the legal and ethical requirements.

The Fitlife Health club is complying with all the legislations rules and regulations. It is following all the laws and regulations of the Australian government. It has taken the license for introducing its services in the city (Australian Government, 2017). The marketing tactics are aligned with the laws and regulations, which are imposed by the government.

The tactics and strategies used in this plan align with the different acts and laws of the discrimination. Fitlife is complying with the Age discrimination act, 2004 and Sex discrimination act, 1984. It is conducting the fitness sessions for all the age groups. There is not discrimination by the gender. Equal programs and training is provided to both male and female groups.

Five Forces Analysis

For this aspect, the organization is following the Privacy Act, 1988. This Australian law deals with the privacy. It states that the organization must keep the client’s information private. It includes the information privacy principles. The club will take the client’s information, but will keep it confidential. Complying the copyright legislation protects the exclusive rights of the organization.

The Fitlife Health club is complying with the AANA code of ethics. It will follow this act at the time of advertising and marketing communication activities (Australian Government, 2017). It will not provide the fake ads of their products. The products and services will be provided according to the customer expectations. It is complying with the consumer protection act, 2010.

With all the above legislations, the Fitlife health club is going ahead by following the work health and safety regulations. It is providing a good working environment and conditions to the employees, like; trainers and dieticians. Safety and health standards are taken into consideration by the health club.

Hello sir,

I am hereby attaching the marketing plan for the initiative of Fitlife health club. The plan includes all the effective strategies and marketing tactics in the tactical implementation plan. It includes internal and external analyses for the health club. All the factors, which may affect the organization, are discussed. Furthermore, it includes how the services will go through the product life cycle phases.

Here, it is request to you that kindly review the marketing plan of organization and give the feedback immediately, so that we can implement the plan in the operations. You may arrange the meeting, if there is the need for discussion. Along with this, assign the date for implementation.

Kindly revert.

Thanks & Regards

Marketing Team

FitLife Health Club

Marketing Metric	Example of Implementation
Revenue per member	Measuring the revenue per client can provide the clarity and easiness of tracking.
Client retention rate	Retention rate measures the rate of clients, which are spending in the services.
Member lifetime value	This value refers to the value one client is worth over the whole time which are engaged with the gym.
Client Satisfaction	The health club can take the feedback from the clients by using the survey and questionnaires method. Client satisfaction can help in measuring the effectiveness of the plan (Kipley, & Jewe, 2014).
Profit margin	Measured as a % of revenue, profit margin is simply how much you have left over once you’ve applied expenses to revenue.
Number of members in the events	The effectiveness of the events can be seen by measuring number of members present in the events and fairs.

Conclusion

Thus, FitLife health club can use this marketing plan for expanding its business and services. This will assist in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the health club. All the analyses in the above discussion include all the strengths and drawbacks of the organization. The health club should focus on the profitable services to achieve the marketing objectives. Porter’s five forces analysis shows the situation of the industry. There are some factors, which affect the growth of health club in the Australian industry.

In an organization, cross cultural communication can be a challenge. It is an increasing norm in this era. The growth in internet and technology has introduced new markets which allow the organization to promote the business to different geographic locations and cultures. A productive organization has the environment that assists the cultural diversity. There may be people at the workplace, who is from different culture and who have different cultural values, cultural beliefs and cultural practices. There must be implementation of some strategies to avoid the issues of cultural diversity (Dabija, & Abrudan, 2015). The cultural competency training program must be implemented, so that more different cultures can work together. When the company starts to recruit the new comers, it must provide the training to its existing staff about the new culture. Cross cultural training and cultural awareness assists in avoiding the misunderstanding between staff and clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. There must be a welcoming environment in the organization for new comers. Appointing a leader of a team, who is working across different cultures or who knows different languages will be beneficial for managing the cultural diversity. There are some factors, which can affect the cross-cultural communication, such as; different languages, non-verbal differences, low context vs. high context cultures and power distance.

Marketing Opportunity Options

If there are different cultures in the organization, then it must create some effective strategies to avoid the related issues in effective communication. In this, language may be the biggest barrier to both the new employee and organization. It can overcome by providing training to the employee about different cultures. The following activities can avoid the issues:

• Stay with the open mind in the unfamiliar situations
• Increase the interactions and aware to the different manners the people interact
• Understand the background off different community groups
• Encourage the people to learn about the different cultures
• Keep a personal touch

The managers in the organization can use effective communication techniques and methods to establish cross cultural communication, like; observation, feedback system, active listening, stress management etc.

An effective leader may play an important role in this context by motivating the employees. The leader must try to motivate the team members to develop a positive attitude towards the culture and working environment. He must try to boost up their confidence levels regarding the performance. By establishing an open communication with the followers, leader can inspire them. The leader must listen to them and their opinions must be taken at the time of decision making process. It will keep them motivated. The ability of leader to admire and provide the guidance to the employees has a critical impact on motivation and morale (Leitner & Guldenberg, 2010). The leader should provide the training and coaching to develop new skills and abilities for enhancing the performance. An effective leader can become an ethical leader by possessing honesty, integrity and trust. The ethical leader always inspires the team to work with the integrity and honesty for achieving the organizational goals. Thus, these strategies and methods can be used to motivate the new comers in the organization.

References

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