Peloton. A brand I would expect most people reading this to have heard of. The ‘Netflix’ of the fitness world – on the back of selling you a high cost piece of equipment, their monthly subscription business model means recurring monthly income for the company in the millions of dollars. Every month.
Cost effective for the consumer, but also, and most importantly, flexible for the core community you are trying to reach. Accessible, results and community driven, a membership model that is a win for both the end user and of course the bottom line of the brand itself.
Having a flexible subscription or membership model, ideally online, but perfectly aligned with a hybrid, or offline, offering, means that any industry, brand or individual, can reach anyone with internet access across the world.
Of course, this isn’t ‘new’ as we reach 2022, but it does seem to be something still eluding the UAE, while reaching saturation point in the rest of the world.
Subscriptions can help to build a more sustainable and profitable fitness businesses. The opportunity is getting bigger, with Global Market Insights noting that online fitness programs will grow by 30 percent through 2026.
In 2021, my Dubai-based fitness company, Starcore, launched Starcore Fit, an online training and nutrition platform, which is dedicated to providing clients with personalised plans aimed at getting them in the best shape ever.
Amidst the global lockdowns put in place, the need for fitness and nutritional guidance has never been higher after gyms remained closed and fitness enthusiasts needed to find creative ways to work out indoors or around restrictions.
Starcore Fit is a subscription-based, tailor-made program that ensures each exercise and recipe is created to meet the client’s fitness goals specifically, taking into consideration dietary requirements and more.
Paying monthly, at various affordable pricing tiers, Starcore Fit offers our members a hybrid of online workouts, exercise and nutritional advice and opportunities to join in-person boot camp style classes.
Fitness membership sites make sense to the consumer due to the flexibility, and when well executed, recurring income for the business alongside the opportunity to build communities, service loyalty, social proof and many more options to leverage your brand – globally. We offer our members benefits to access complementary brands and services at discounted rates. Collaboration opportunities are endless and another potential income stream.
It might feel too big a project if you are a bricks-and-mortar gym, or indeed a solo trainer or entrepreneur, but the technology required to build the right platform, launch your own mobile app, take payments and market your brand is more accessible and user-friendly than ever before. And the demand for quality online fitness education has been growing steadily since 2004.
If you are a solopreneur in the fitness industry, you are trading time for money. You only have a finite capacity for training clients in the week – capping your income. In a competitive UAE market, you will also be competing on price. Creating an online membership model – the ‘one-to-many’ versus the ‘one-to-one’ business model provides you with uncapped income potential.
The same applies if you own and run a location-based fitness facility. Investment is required for anyone to set up and execute a solid offering virtually, but once this is made, again, your business is no longer location specific and you can reach new paying customers the world over. Whilst we cannot call any of this ‘passive income’ per se, we reach a point where the man hours are negligible compared to the potential reach.
The consumer appetite for video-based content shows no sign of abating. Exacerbated by the pandemic, clients old and new are now used to taking fitness classes online or learning through video tutorials – meaning that we have less work to do at convincing potential members of the benefits associated with flexible fitness subscriptions.
For Starcore Fit, there has been an obvious benefit in having our existing brand credibility in the local market. You cannot simply ‘build it and they will come’ – your marketing and retention strategy is key. Nurturing your community for existing members is vital as well as ongoing support both online and off.
Why would people pay for anything they can find so easily for free online? That comes right back to my previous point on brand nurturing and consumer loyalty. People buy people, but expect results.
Across industries, within the online membership model, members usually sign up for the benefits, but often stay for the community. Once your membership and community is launched, you will find that direct member feedback, coupled with the data you will gain via your platform technology and analytics will intelligently inform your business plans or pivot going forward. You will see what is working, what is not and when, how and what your members like to consume.
There are opportunities to offer different tiers of membership, premium or ‘bolt-on’ options to offer your audience going forward. Your first foray into a subscription model could be as simple as offering your knowledge and expertise via email, or even private access Youtube videos.
We can’t deny that the UAE market is keen on a freemium model, and when I say freemium, what I really mean is free. Overwhelmed by free content options across the internet can be a benefit to a solid fitness professional or brand. This is because overwhelm does not get people the results they desire, and confused people do not convert.
Setting your stall out from the start with paid memberships, just as you would in a bricks-and-mortar facility may take more time marketing-wise, but the ‘lifetime value’ per member in dirhams for you as a business will be higher. You will be working with clients who want to work with you and your brand.
Having a subscription-based membership means monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and this means:
- Better budgeting, forecasting and financial management
- Lower entry barrier for consumers – therefore easier lead conversion.
- Pandemic proof – any closures or restrictions will not affect your MRR
- Stronger member relationships that lead to more social proof (organic marketing) and better referrals.
- You can create subscriptions that scale.
Building and growing a successful subscription business model certainly takes effort and time, but the benefits for both our business at Starcore and our clients are obvious.
We reach more people and make more impact, and it’s time for the UAE fitness industry to offer more flexibility in fitness training and nutritional advice to the hundreds of thousands of potential clients in the UAE alone, let alone the ability to reach people across the globe.
Peter Barron, Dubai-based athlete and personal trainer and founder of Starcore Fit
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