member payments
Moving with the times: People could soon be able to book fi tness classes via Amazon or a smartphone app
Fresh Fitness in Denmark allows
members to pay for add-on options such as group exercise classes via a contactless wristband, which also doubles as a membership ID. Other operators such as Fitness First in Frankfurt offer cashless facilities through the use of ‘smartcard’ bracelets, where drinks can be purchased simply by placing the bracelet against the reader. “Munich-based operator Nautilus
Fitness has even applied the principle to the gym itself, whereby a member can pay extra for use of a ‘premium’ piece of cardio equipment,” says Muench. “Its income per member doubled as a result of this unbundling.” Where the basic membership fee for
the club becomes so cheap, in effect, it becomes a commodity. People don’t cancel, but pay more as they use more of the facility’s resources. This approach could mean a complete rethink of customer retention measurement, as paying a minimum fee is seen merely as a neutral state rather than being a sign of continued use and commitment to a club. “Now that the low-cost club model
is becoming established and successful, many of these new ways of working are sure to be taken on by mid-market and premium operators over time,” says Algar.
cash moves to ‘the cloud’ Payments using mobile devices are also
growing rapidly, with almost a third of internet users accessing the web through smart phones, according to the Boston Consulting Group. In the past,
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people thought of internet use as a ‘sit forward’ activity using a screen, keyboard and mouse. Now you have internet TV, iPad and other tablets (so called ‘sit back’ internet) as well as – the biggest change of all – mobile devices and smart phones. Joining online can just as easily be ‘joining on the move’, as the power and sophistication of mobile devices accelerates at a dizzying pace. Along with being able to pay for
something on your mobile via SMS, pretty soon most (if not all) mobile devices will be equipped with a chip for Near Field Communications (NFC). NFC transforms your mobile into an electronic wallet every time you place it near the appropriate receiver – think London Underground Oyster card in a mobile phone. No more membership cards: just wave your phone to gain access. Owe money? A wave of the phone deducts the amount and allows access again. The Olympics in 2012 are proving
to be a big driver for friction-free payments via mobile devices, with a recent partnership between Visa and Samsung sure to be the fi rst of many. The biggest thus far has been the recent announcement of Google Wallet for the Android mobile phone operating system. With market researcher Gartner predicting the total value of mobile transactions to reach £147bn in 2014, demand for mobile wallet services will be huge and can’t be ignored by operators or suppliers. Another interesting development is the growth of Quick Response (QR)
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
codes. These are similar to barcodes but can hold substantially more data, opening up the possibilities for buying goods and services. For example, a trial membership or day pass can be purchased online, with the QR code sent to the customer’s phone. All they have to do on arrival is show this to the appropriate QR reader and they can gain access. A member could also be given a personal QR code which they can use to pay for items in a ‘cashless’ system. Kevin Scott, managing director of
collections services provider Harlands Group, has seen the potential of friction-free payments for club operators and predicts that the health and fi tness industry will see many more changes in the near future: “With so many new technologies coming into play, club operators will need to re-evaluate and re-engineer what they currently offer. Customers won’t tolerate long-winded paperwork, complicated processes and less-than- instant access. For innovative operators and their suppliers, this is a tremendous opportunity to reach out to many more people than was previously possible – and at a much lower cost.”
healthclub@leisuremedia.com stuart dyson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stuart Dyson is founder and managing director of SDA Solutions –
www.linkedin.com/in/stuartdyson
july 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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