善用高科技,高端連鎖健身房這樣吸引回頭客
瑜伽課結束,美國健身連鎖品牌Equinox的首席執行官尼基·利昂達基斯閉眼端坐,深呼吸,雙手合十向老師致意:Namaste。利昂達基斯從頭到腳都是運動品牌露露檸檬,身材好得讓人羨慕,看起來跟紐約曼哈頓下城蜂擁上瑜伽班的人們沒什么兩樣。身旁一起練習瑜伽的人們很難想象,不久之前她還坐在樓上的會議室,討論這家健身房的公司未來發展,因為行業即將迎來技術革新的洗禮。 |
Equinox CEO Niki Leondakis sits with her eyes closed, breathing deeply, hands folded together. She bows to the teacher: Namaste. Clad head-to-toe in Lululemon and enviably fit, Leondakis looks like any other gym-goer in the crowded yoga class in downtown Manhattan. There’s no reason to suspect—and indeed no one around her does—that moments ago she was sitting in the boardroom upstairs, discussing the future of the company that operates this gym, whose industry teeters on the brink of technological disruption. |
利昂達基斯擔任Equinox的首席執行官并沒有多久,任職剛一年。在此之前,她在酒店業工作超過30年。在執掌Euqinox以前,她在美國科羅拉多州一家精品連鎖酒店Two Roads Hospitality任首席執行官。(利昂達基斯接手后,她的前任哈維·斯派瓦克升任Equinox母公司的執行董事長,目前母公司旗下還有高端健身俱樂部SoulCycle、瑜伽中心Pure Yoga和評價健身品牌Blink Fitness等。)某種意義上說,利昂達基斯跳槽的時機非常好。她接掌Equinox時,正趕上健身業爆發性增長。非營利貿易組織國際健康、網球及體育俱樂部協會(IHRSA)的數據顯示,2009年到2016年,美國的健身俱樂部會員人數增長了26%。僅2016年就有200萬美國人成為健身房的會員,其中經常健身者估計達5730萬人。Equinox開有92家俱樂部,今年準備至少再開八家,明年年初還要開設首家酒店。畢竟,健身已成為一種生活方式。 然而,樂觀的數據卻掩蓋了健身業發展不均衡的現狀,高端的奢侈品牌和低端的口碑品牌狀況良好,中端俱樂部則境況不佳。Equinox與Orangetheory、Flywheel和Rumble等高端連鎖健身房積極擴張,Planet Fitness之類每月會員費才10美元的平價連鎖健身房也吸引了不少新會員。然而,在美國西北部經營中端健身俱樂部的Town Sports International剛剛從破產邊緣掙脫,市值約為十年前的四分之一。 現代人比過去更熱愛健身,高端客戶更注重專屬服務的體驗。因此,健身業的公司也開始利用高科技。單車健身房Flywheel的首席執行官、曾于2012年到2016年任Equinox總裁的莎拉·羅伯·奧哈根解釋說:“通過科技手段可以讓人更投入健身。”當然,關鍵要鼓勵現有客戶堅持鍛煉。據IHRSA統計,健身俱樂部運營商每獲得一個新會員,投入的銷售和市場營銷成本中位值是118.65美元。而老會員每年為健身房收入貢獻的中位值是793.4美元。 吸引會員經常光顧健身房的一個方法是鼓勵其對自己身體責任。為此,多家健身房推出了收集會員詳細數據的系統。比如在單車健身房里,系統會追蹤會員的騎行速度和消耗的熱量。而在Orangetheory等高強度健身為主的精品健身房里,系統主要監控會員的心率數據。Orangetheory的首席執行官戴夫·隆表示,會員對收集的健身數據很“著迷”。 科技也能幫助健身房了解會員,有時確實能了解得很深入。Flywheel的會員就能“互粉”,像玩Twitter一樣關注彼此的健身情況。Equinox則是在移動應用中植入一個了解會員健身活動和目標的程序,在為期六個月的試點項目中,使用“數字教練”程序的會員活躍率比不使用的會員高40%以上。Equinox還為參與個人訓練項目Tier X的會員提供人工智能初創公司Halo Neuroscience的耳機,據稱可以從神經層面“調節”大腦,從而刺激肌肉更快適應訓練。 |
Leondakis hasn’t been Equinox CEO for very long. She took on the role a year ago after spending three decades in the hotel business, most recently as chief of Two Roads Hospitality, a boutique hotel chain based in Colorado. (Harvey Spevak previously led Equinox before ascending to executive chairman of its parent company, which now includes SoulCycle, Pure Yoga, and Blink Fitness.) In one sense, her timing couldn’t be better. Leondakis took the reins at Equinox at a time of warp-speed growth for the fitness industry. Health club memberships in the U.S. grew by 26% from 2009 to 2016, according to data from the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), an industry trade group. In 2016 alone, 2 million Americans joined gyms, bringing the estimated number of regular gym-goers to 57.3 million. Equinox has 92 locations and is preparing to open at least eight more in 2018, as well as its first-ever hotel—fitness is a lifestyle, after all—in early 2019. But those cheery statistics belie the fact that a fitness industry carve-out is underway, allowing high-touch luxury brands and low-touch value brands to flourish as middle-market clubs suffer. Equinox and upscale workout studio chains like Orangetheory, Flywheel, and Rumble are expanding aggressively as bare-bones gym chains like Planet Fitness, which starts at $10 a month, rack up new memberships. Meanwhile, Town Sports International, owner of mid-market clubs in the Northeast (New York Sports Clubs, et al.), just clawed its way out of the brink of bankruptcy with a market capitalization of about a quarter of what it was a decade ago. People are working out more than ever—and at the high end, they want an exclusive experience. So companies are turning to tech. “Technology is a route to making people even more engaged in fitness,” explains Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of cycling studio chain Flywheel and Equinox’s president from 2012 to 2016. Engagement of existing customers, of course, is key. According to IHRSA, club operators spend a median of $118.65 in sales and marketing costs for each new membership account. But existing members generate a median $793.40 in annual revenue. One way to keep customers coming back is keeping them accountable. Several fitness companies have introduced systems that gather detailed data about their customers. In the case of cycling studios, that means tracking things like speed and calories, while clients at Orangetheory, a boutique gym that offers a high-intensity workout, receive monitors to track their heart rates. People “get hooked on” results, says Orangetheory CEO Dave Long. Technology is also helping fitness companies get into customers’ heads—sometimes literally. Flywheelers can “follow” each other’s performance in a Twitter-like fashion. And Equinox saw users of its “digital coach”—a bot embedded in its mobile app that “learns” from a customer’s activities and goals—check in 40% more than nonusers during a six-month pilot program. The chain has also given Halo Neuroscience headsets, which claim to neurologically “prime” the brain and help muscles adapt more quickly, to members of its Tier X personal training program. |
利昂達基斯相信,Equinox很快就能吸引大批數字技術用戶。(無獨有偶,人氣跑步與單車應用Strava標榜打造運動員社區,已經確實圈到不少用戶。)目前Equinox在十家健身房分店的器材上安裝了自帶定位的“標記”。通過收集的數據,Equinox能夠了解會員屬于哪類健身人士(比如喜歡跑步還是喜歡臥推),然后向會員提供有針對性的建議。 數字服務也能幫助連鎖健身房獲得線下客戶,聽起來可能不合常理,但事實如此。誰說健身房一定要開實體店?2012年,一家高端單車健身公司Peloton開創了新商業模式,用戶跟著實時播放的視頻學習,在家中就可以健身。Peloton的競爭對手紛紛仿效。視頻健身教學班的利潤比不超過50人的實體健身房開班利潤還高(Peloton可以同時開數千個實時視頻教學班)。在豐厚利潤的吸引下,Flywheel和ClassPass最近幾個月也推出了類似的平臺。該模式資金投入有限,理論上卻可以無限增加開班數,的確很有吸引力。 利昂達基斯倒并不太擔心健身業大量應用數字技術。她預計,人們還是會去實體健身房,健身不是因為有新型聊天機器人或者酷炫的耳機,而是因為人們希望“盡可能享受健康精彩的生活”。現在人們上網時間越來越多,健身房增加網絡投入也合情合理。(財富中文網) 本文首發于2018年3月期《財富》雜志,原文標題為《經歷數字技術的陣痛,終有收獲。》 注:本文已更新,澄清了Town Sports International雖然曾面臨嚴重的財務問題,但并未破產。 譯者:Pessy 審校:夏林 |
Leondakis says she believes Equinox will soon enjoy a flourishing digital community. (Not unlike, say, the one created by Strava, a popular running and cycling app that markets itself as a social network for athletes.) Armed with the data from geolocating “beacons” installed in the chain’s facilities—there are 10 such locations to date—Equinox is able to know what kind of exerciser you are (Runner? Bench presser?) and nudge you toward certain activities. Counterintuitively, fitness chains’ forays into digital services are helping them build analog communities. But who says you need a physical location at all? In 2012 Peloton, a pricey exercise bike company, pioneered a business model based on at-home workout experiences using live-streaming video. Competitors have since caught on. In recent months Flywheel and ClassPass launched similar platforms, attracted by profit margins that are magnitudes larger for a streamed class (which for Peloton might serve thousands of living rooms at a time) than a physical one with 50 people or fewer. Limited capital requirements, theoretically infinite scalability—it’s an attractive business to be in. Leondakis isn’t particularly concerned about the influx of technology into the fitness business. People are still going to gyms, and it isn’t because of chatbots or fancy headphones. They come back because of the promise, as the Equinox CEO puts it, “that they can live their best lives.” As people spend more of those lives online, it only makes sense that fitness companies join them there. A version of this article appears in the March 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “Through Digital Pain, Gain.” Note: This story was updated to clarify that Town Sports International never entered into bankruptcy despite serious financial troubles. |