Gyms Suck At Merchandise But Fitness Studios Rock!
As a gym owner or manager, you could be leaving hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the table because you are not merchandising properly! And I mean thousands!!!!
We know two key facts about our customers/clients/members:
- They love wearing active wear.
- Like all consumers they also love convenience.
Why wouldn’t you sell more merchandise?
And for the business, research conducted by IHRSA shows the more money members spend with us, the greater the retention.
How to sell more merch in your club in one simple step: display your merchandise as a retail outlet would display.
If you don’t have a staff member who has done retail displays, I bet you have a member who does. There will be someone in your network that can help you. Ask for help and treat your merch as a profit centre – give it some love with some creative thinking.
Here are two examples of merchandise displays:
Fitness First, Carlingford
Life & Soul, Broome
Guess which club sells more merchandise?
You can see outstanding fitness studio merchandise displays in the Member Hub for Active Management Members. Just click here and you can see them.
I have taken loads of photos of how Soul Cycle, Barry’s Bootcamp, Cycle Bar, F45, and more brands! You’ll see their reception area and how they display their merchandise to give you some ideas.
If you are not a member, you cannot see the visual tips
You will have access when you get started with us: Click here.
There is another key reason that you may not be selling as much merchandise as fitness studios: your member experience!
I know this may sound strange but quite seriously if the members’ experiences are not exceptional then they won’t want to remember them with merchandise.
Just remember when you have been holidays or been to a tourist attraction, you want to remember that experience so you buy a souvenir – at an inflated price!!! This is a tangible reminder of what you did and perhaps even more importantly how you felt.
Selling merchandise in a club is exactly the same: a tangible reminder of what they did and how they felt!
If you would like to some help creating awesome experiences for your members, then make a time to chat with me and we can work on a plan to build a tribe of people proud to wear your brand.
To plan your experiences and boost your secondary spend with members, why not launch a Boost Package of Coaching with me and you can find out more here.
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.