Q&A
FITNESS ON THE NET
The club interiors will have an urban feel, using a white, blue and orange colour palette
product, so we’re offering a money-back guarantee if it doesn’t live up to their expectations after a few visits. Our pricing is very fl exible – people can pay two weeks
at a time and cancel with a week’s notice. Basic membership will be around 6.60 a week, but with add-ons an average membership will be around 28–30 a month.
How do you see the wider fitness market evolving? The general consensus is that the market will continue to polarise. Either you’re at the high end or the budget end, or you’re niche. I think clubs stuck in the middle will struggle in the years to come. There’s a big splurge and dynamic expansion going on in the
UK at the moment, and the men will be sorted from the boys. But I do feel that the brands trading solely on price are not going to make it long term.
Any sights set on international expansion? Spain will be next, starting next year, and Brazil would be another logical step. If a concept has done well in Portugal, it usually makes for easier financing in Brazil. The fitness market there is currently hugely overpriced – but rents, build costs and taxes are also high. However, in terms of potential, São Paulo alone is a vast market. After that we might consider the UK and Europe.
What was the scariest part of branching out on your own? I’d been with Holmes Place for most of my career and was used to taking a regular salary. When I left, I soon realised that, if I didn’t get out of bed in the morning, nothing was going to happen! But when I look back, I’m amazed at how much has been achieved in just a year – from developing the concept to getting bank fi nance and opening the fi rst site.
And what’s the best part? It’s great to feel liberated and empowered and work with people you want to work with. We’ve shaken off our old
48 C
outts and his team are currently developing a Portuguese website called Fitness Net, due to go live in late 2011. Says Coutts: “I want to create a
platform where all personal trainers can share opinions and develop critical mass – an organic database that’s constantly growing, but that’s self-managed/policed via peer group and end-user feedback. “Fitness Net will be a space where all key
stakeholders within the industry can meet, contribute ideas and leverage benefi ts from one another. Only suppliers pay a fee for registering.” Fitness professionals will be able to display a profi le,
upload exercise videos, promote themselves to clubs and end-users, contribute to forums and benefi t from attractive deals on services from registered suppliers – services such as accounting, medical insurance, mobile phone deals and so on. Clubs can have a profi le, advertise job vacancies, search
the PT database and, for an additional fee, use the new ‘Marketing Wizard’ to create high-quality marketing material for a budget price. Fitness fans can have a profi le page, contact PTs directly,
ask fi tness questions and access online nutritional stores. The site uses google maps, so all parties can zero in on areas of geographical relevance, and all registered users will receive a bi-weekly email newsletter.
stresses, but of course there will be new challenges to come. Fortunately Andre, JP and I know each other well enough to talk directly, challenge each other, and not go off in a huff if we disagree.
The Portuguese economy is in a bad way – are you optimistic about the future? It is tough and there have been lots of business closures. However, I really believe we’ve created a concept that’s right for now, and that we’re not just going to survive in this economy, but thrive.
healthclub@leisuremedia.com julie cramer
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital october 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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