Industry Overview
Planet fitness relates to the fitness industry that includes fitness centers and weight loss centers. The US fitness industry is growing rapidly that is indicated by the increasing numbers of paid gym members by 18.6 percent in the period 2008-2014. There were more than 34 thousand centers in the United States in 2014. The revenue of the overall US fitness industry increased to $24.2 billion that is 7.4 percent in 2014.More than 533,200 people are currently employed in different fitness centers, and the employees are also expected to grow by eight percent by 2024.The market research shows that most of the Americans having an age of 20 years are overweight,and they are concerned about their physical fitness. The trend is prevailing in the US to reduce the challenges of Obesity and healthcare organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO) is prepare effective marketing strategy to influence people for reducing their overweight. People are trying to adopt various techniques such as joining clubs or gyms that can help in overcoming this issue. Also, baby boomers are expected to join these types of clubs as they are concerned for providing healthy and happy life to children. The increasing trend and awareness regarding obesity and overweight among them is the great opportunity for fitness industry to increase the volume of sales by targeting these customers .
Formation of the Company
Michael Grondahl founded planet fitness clubin 1992 by targeting price-conscious customers. The strategy of the company was those target customers look for the price while having membership in the club or gym. The objective of the company was to compete in the US market by lowering the price. Later on, the company focused on increasing number of customers by applying various marketing and sales strategy. Now there are more than 53 gyms that are operating under the supervision of Planet Fitness .
Size of the Company
The size of Planet Fitness is large as it hasmore than 1000 clubs all over the United States. Now it has also moved to Canada and Dominican Republic. It has generated more than $330.5million sales in 2015 that is increased by 60 million as compared to 2014. The growing opportunities attracted more companies to enter into this industry and boost their sales by providing fitness services to health conscious customers.
Main Competitors
The competition is high in this industry due to the increasing number of firms providing homogeneous products and services to consumers. The major competitors of Planet Fitness are Gold’s Gym, Equinox, YMCA, and 24 Hour Fitness. In fact, most of the competitors in this industry are targeting international markets for expansion to gain competitive advantage.
Three Stages of lifecycle
The life cycle of Planet Fitness involves three stages of a project that are discussed below.
Initiation Stage
Every new project is started by designing objectives that also consider opportunities and risks involved in it. All the options are assessed by analyzing its feasibility that whether they can provide an effective solution or not.
Planning
Planning includes setting the direction of the proposed objectives and assigning tasks to different departments or sectors. It is done by designating tasks and responsibilities to workers who are expected to provide a potential outcome to the organization.
Implementation
It relates to the execution and control of the planned project. During this stage, managers pay special attention for assessing that everything is moving in the right direction that can ensure effective outcomes of the project.
Attractive Points of US Fitness Industry
The prices of products and services are low as compared to its competitors that help in attracting new customers.
People are now more conscious of their health so the size of the market that is the number of customers is expected to increase in two to three years.
Planet Fitness owned many clubs and gyms in the US that show it has high market share.
The expansion plan of Planet Fitness to move towards Canadian and Dominican Republic ensures its growth in future.
The effective marketing techniques are used by the company to target those people who are conscious regarding their health and body image.
Works Cited
Franchise Help. Fitness Industry Analysis 2016-Cost and Trends. 28 April 2016. Web. 30 July 2016 <https://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/fitness-industry-report/>.
Planet Fitness. Planet Fitness-About. 29 June 2016. Web. 30 July 2016 <http://www.planetfitness.com/About-Planet-Fitness-Gym>.
