America’s fitness centers were decimated by the COVID crisis as many remained shuttered for months, unable to generate profit. Now that the pandemic has become an ongoing crisis, many gyms are looking for new ways to keep their clientele safe while navigating constantly changing health and safety protocols.
With membership numbers at less than half of what they were last year and large numbers of members keeping their memberships frozen, gyms are struggling to break even. More importantly, nearly 17% of all fitness centers in the United States had closed permanently because of the pandemic. But now consumers who have been released from social isolation are looking for ways to get back into shape, regain their health, and find a strong fitness community they can relate to — safely.
“Safely” is the operative word here.
Successful fitness centers are looking for new business models to help them keep revenues flowing in, such as online classes that can stream in real time or on demand or online access to personal training. Some gyms even offer an equipment lending library to help keep customers coming back to brick-and-mortar locations, even with social distancing in place.
Contactless payments, low or no-contact fitness options, and streaming services that still offer a sense of community offer a great alternative for those who still don’t feel safe in an in-person fitness environment. And one technology tool is helping to put these options at gym owners’ fingertips in a cost-effective way: Cloud services.
Leveraging the Power of The Cloud for Your Fitness Center
As many businesses begin to take advantage of advances in technology to spur their recoveries, the cloud and its associated tools and technologies are at the forefront. Below, we’ve listed several ways that cloud services can help your fitness club improve profitability and grow membership.
- Contactless Payments
Contactless payments not only offer customers a safer, no-touch way of purchasing memberships, checking out or buying equipment, clothing, or other point-of-sale products, but they also help your fitness center achieve faster transaction times. Faster transaction times mean that you have access to your revenue more quickly — and there is less potential for fraud.
- Mobile Apps
Developing a mobile app for your fitness center can help employees and customers connect, make purchases, and get customer service in a completely contactless environment. In fact, 34% of smaller businesses are using mobile apps to improve their customers’ experience and enhance branding — a win-win in the highly competitive industry of personal fitness.
- Personal Training Platforms
The cloud and cloud services can help fitness clubs expand revenue through improved contactless offerings such as online personal training and community-based training programs. Through digital technology, fitness centers can develop applications and programs to connect their membership and training in an online environment that removes the health and safety barriers associated with in-person training while still fostering a sense of community and competitiveness among attendees.
In addition to helping to grow membership, cloud applications provide enhanced security, access to 24/7 tech support and troubleshooting, and access to scalable software that can grow with your business.
Let Blue Technologies Bring the Power of the Cloud to Your Gym
Creating a member portal, an exclusive mobile app, or an online platform can be easier, faster, and more cost-effective if done in a cloud environment. At Blue Technologies, we provide leading-edge cloud computing services to businesses of all sizes to allow them to maximize capabilities while protecting valuable capital reserves.
Our cloud products help you remain competitive in a hypercompetitive marketplace and access to our knowledgeable staff means you no longer have to rely on an in-house IT team for assistance. A cloud-based infrastructure not only grants you access to the state-of-the-art technologies you need to provide a high level of services to your customers, but it also streamlines workflows and optimizes your center’s IT environment.
If you’re looking for new ways to keep your members active in your center, grow your membership, and stay competitive — the cloud is the right environment for you.
Take advantage of all the benefits a cloud-based environment has to offer your fitness center.Contact a Blue Technologies consultant today and learn how our cloud services can help return your center to profitability.
