EUROPEAN FORUM REVIEW
THOUGHT LEADERS O
ne of my very fi rst jobs, as a recently appointed ‘policy geek’ at the old FIA in 2007, was to research the
options for the UK fi tness industry to have a greater infl uence and impact in Brussels. A hospital pass if ever I’ve seen one. After all, rarely does the word ‘European’ come up in British discourse without being closely followed by the word ‘exit’. So when I was invited to spend three
days with the leaders of the European health and fi tness industry in Vienna in June – at the European Leaders Forum hosted by EuropeActive – I naturally had to think about whether this was the best use of my time. But attend I did, and what struck me
was how far EuropeActive has come in those seven years. Some of the largest operators in Europe – including Basic Fit, Health City, Pure Gym, Migros, VivaFit, Fit for Free and many others – joined
Competitive advantage through data, and thinking outside our four walls. ukactive executive director Steven Ward reports on discussions at the recent European Leaders Forum
the EuropeActive team for three days of networking, debate and discussion. What surprised me was how closely
shared the views were among operators across the continent regarding the challenges and opportunities for the sector. Every single one was facing up to the new dynamics that have emerged in the European market over the past few years: the boutique, niche, specialist providers able to charge a small fortune at the top of the market; the low-cost, high-value operators engaged in a brutal
The organisations that create a role for themselves in this new connected world will be those that are able to extract insights from the data they possess
battle for membership at the opposite end; and squashed between these dual pressures, the ‘squeezed middle’ with an ever decreasing slice of the pie as operators strive either to bring value into their product – and with it charge a premium – or else strip back to be able to compete at the bottom.
Beyond our four walls By far the most fascinating aspect of the agenda, however, was the half-day spent looking at trends in data and technology. We heard from a range of experts, such as professor Evgeny Kaganer from IESE, and were treated to valuable insights into the wearable technology market – not least with an extensive review of the future of the Apple Watch. Operators in Europe are already
confronting their own existential crisis, trying to establish the future role of facility operators when personalised programmes can be delivered to a consumer’s wrist – linked to heart rate and with instructional guides and motivational support – without the consumer ever needing to go anywhere near a facility. But instead of seeing this as a risk, operators at the EuropeActive event discussed the role technology will play in the sector’s future. Delegates were inspired by the tale
Delegates acknowledged a polarising market,
driven in part by the low-cost sector
70 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
of Mercedes purchasing German-based taxi company MyTaxi as a result of its sector-leading navigation technology. Why did Mercedes do this? Because it sees itself as being in the business of transportation, not selling cars. Transportation of the future, in an age of driverless cars, will not be about car ownership. It will be about getting from A to B. Acquiring a company with specialist technology that means it delivers this exceptionally well will, Mercedes hopes, give it the head-start
August 2015 © Cybertrek 2015
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