Abstract
Despite having a membership rate higher
than soccer, German fitness studios are suffering badly from the pandemic.
Sales in the fitness industry fell drastically in 2020. The decline in sales
poses major problems, especially for owner-operated fitness studios, which
account for about half of fitness facilities in Germany.
While fitness chains, forced to draw on
financial reserves, were able to slightly increase the number of their studios
despite the pandemic, more than one in 100 individual studio owners had to
close their doors permanently because of financial difficulties. The corona
pandemic is suddenly turning a once-thriving market environment into a
difficult terrain in which gym operators must fight to retain members.
But what do these efforts look like?
How can customers be retained at a gym and how can cancellations be avoided in
times of crisis? The influence from the corona pandemic on customer retention,
especially in the severely affected individual studios, represent and raise an
interesting and currently relevant field of research.
By evaluating an interview with an
owner of two individual gyms, it can be shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has a
negative impact on customer loyalty and on membership numbers. To counteract
this loss of members, owners learned that being present, open and comprehensive
communication and personal loyalty are particularly important. Social media
also became increasingly important as a communication channel due to the
temporary lack of possibility for face-to-face communication. Alternative forms
of training, such as online courses, are an effective means of customer
retention during the pandemic. Although these options are likely to continually
be offered, they will be significantly reduced after the pandemic.
-Today |
0 |
 -Yesterday |
278 |
 -This Month |
20993 |
 -Last Month |
24473 |
 -All Days |
225549 |
IJBMS by IPRPD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.