Sunbeds, snacks and over-55s key to success

Retaining members is one of the key challenges facing health and fitness clubs today. Failure to achieve rapid weight loss, boredom and unrealistic expectations are the main reasons why many new members quit the gym after their first few months, but the changing age profile of members may provide the solution to this problem.

Following the excesses of the Christmas period many people make New Year's resolutions to get fit, adopt a healthier lifestyle and lose weight. January is the month when most gyms will record their highest new membership figures, but, as is often the case, many of these new members will have cancelled their membership before the summer.

Mark Tooke, director of Jackie Skelly Fitness, estimates that if a club can hold on to 60 per cent of its customers, which is the industry standard, then it's doing well. "The only downside of the business is that there is always going to be this percentage of customers that stop attending, for different reasons. Going to the gym requires an element of regimentation in your life, which some people find hard," he said.

Andrew Hughes of the West Wood group believes the transient nature of the population in Dublin has a significant effect on gym membership. "Sometimes people are only based in the area for a short time. Take West Wood in Clontarf, where a lot of members come from companies in the East Point Business Park nearby; if they move job, then this gym is no longer a convenient location for them." Clubs which have a number of outlets around the city will find it easier to retain members in a transient environment.

Price is the key to retaining members according to Ben Dunne. "We provide a five -star facility for £12 (€15.24) a week; that's important when it comes to holding on to members. You have to look at the reasons people are attracted to joining health clubs. Most join either for exercise, weight loss, relaxation or to relieve stress. Seventy per cent of people are also there to tone up, so if you continue to provide a good service for the right price then the members will stay. To continue to provide a good service you have to continually reinvest to have the best equipment and facility," he said. One third of net profits at Westpoint are reinvested back into the club.

Retaining members is necessary for maintaining profits generated from secondary spend - the items and activities health club members spend money on when they're visiting the club, including health and beauty treatments, juice bars and gear from the shops. New members are less likely to avail of these services than regular long-term members.

Sunbeds, snack bars, health and beauty treatment rooms, hair salons, creches, bars, restaurants and health food shops are becoming increasingly popular features at health and fitness clubs. Developers are aware that these additional services are necessary if they wish to retain members; if the gym is a firm fixture in their lifestyle, then members are less likely to leave. Fitness and sporting facilities at Dublin gyms have also become more sophisticated. A large number of supergyms now boast indoor and outdoor tennis courts, indoor running tracks, climbing walls, swimming-pools (West Wood at Clontarf has one of Ireland's only 50m pools) and yoga classes as well as cardiovascular equipment and aerobics classes.

The changing age profile of gym members is another challenge facing the industry. The fastest growing category of health club members have been the over-55s, according to Mintel, the market research firm. Gym membership among the over-55s sector is rising four times as fast as the 18-34 category. This is a reversal of trends in the early 1990s when an estimated 60 per cent of health and fitness club members were under 35.

A UK survey carried out by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund supports these figures and found that women over 65 exercise nearly twice as much as women aged 25 to 34. Retired people have more time and motivation to make the gym a part of their daily and weekly life. In continental Europe, governments keen to promote health lifestyles are offering tax deductibility on employers' health club costs. Insurance companies are also beginning to offer policy discounts to health club members - e.g., Spain and Sweden levy lower VAT on gym membership fees.