Les Mills Aerobic Fitness System - the Internal Environment

1. The Internal Environment: Background and Situation Analysis

 1.1 Introduction

There is always a trend in fitness, and the Les Mills aerobic fitness system is one of the current fashion fitness exercises in the world.

In New Zealand there are plenty of fitness brands such as Les Mills, City Fitness, Jetts Fitness, Any-time Fitness, Snap Fitness, True Women Fitness, ect. Les Mills is a health and fitness gym service center of very high quality in New Zealand, with branches in New Zealand and around the world. Les Mills opened its first gym in Auckland in 1968. It has been more than forty years old and can be considered an antecessor gym. Les Mills first opened in Auckland in 1968 and was founded by New Zealand Olympian Les Mills Snr, who was the gold medal winner at the 1966 commonwealth games. After 10 years of operation, the number of members at the end of 1979 was less than 1,000. Even during peak hours, the number of aerobics classes was only about 20 people. The operating conditions of the club are indeed not very optimistic. In 1980, Phillips Mills (the son of Les Mills) took over the business with the goal of incorporating group fitness classes into the clubs. He led his team of coaches to create a brand new aerobics program - BODY PUMP. The idea of this project is to let the barbell go into the operating room and let the fat-loss bodybuilding training be fun! This concept has brought a new revolution to traditional fitness training. His hard work has not been wasted, and their business has undergone a revolutionary change. So that in order to accommodate more members, they had to double the size of the club every year for four consecutive years. In the end, they had a large operating room that could accommodate more than 300 people at a time. In Auckland, the population is only 1 million, but there are more than 100 health clubs. Les Mills is the most expensive member in the industry, but it has the largest number of members. After more than 40 years, Les Mills wholly owned and operated 12 clubs branches in New Zealand, located in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Dunedin and Christchurch and has had over 55,000 members nationwide (Les Mills Gyms, Our Story, 2018). Les Mills has 6 branches in Auckland. All of the fitness centre in Auckland are at good positions, for instance, Newmarket, Britomart, Takapuna and City Centre, ect.

 1.2 Vision and Mission

About Les Mills, ‘Les Mills is a passionate, motivated, positive and professional team. Since the Olympian Les Mills opened the first club - Auckland Club - in Auckland in 1968, it has been committed to bringing changes to New Zealanders’ lives. We love our work and are dedicated to improving health and well-being and helping people become their best choices. With the country’s most extensive and state-of-the-art fitness equipment range, our large group fitness class and passionate personal trainer, Les Mills is sure to help everyone. This is something we will not despise, which means we are always looking for ways to improve. We are also keen to maintain a healthy planet and fully support the highest ethical standards to protect our international green footprint.’ (Les Mills Gyms, Why us, 2018). Their vision and mission is to make millions of people fall in love with fitness every day through Les Mills workouts and to create a fitter planet. Les Mills International is a finalist in the New Zealand International Business Awards for best business with revenue $10m to $50m category.

 1.3 Marker Segmentation and Target Market

Millennials are the core target market of Les Mills.

Millennials are doing gym-type activities than any other generation, making them our most important target market. According to the Neilson, Les Mills Global Consumer Fitness Survey (2013), which questioned 4,600 adults over 18 who currently exercise, or have an interest in exercising, across 13 countries (including the United States, ten European countries, Brazil and Australia), reveals that more Millennials are now doing gym-type activities than any other generation. Millennials make up 48% of all 18+ regular exercisers who do gym-type activities, while Generation X comprises 32% of this market and Baby Boomers just 20%.

With the rapid development and progress of society, people are facing with more and more pressure to keep up with the pace of social development. The pressures of life and work, environmental pollution and other factors are causing people to face with a growing number of health problems, such as decreased immunity, obesity, lack of energy, attention cannot concentrate, etc. These problems make people realize that maintaining health is very important, so more and more people are beginning to go to the gym. Also some other people go for fitness is to maintain their perfect body shape.

Les Mills has over 55,000 members which cover all ages. Les Mills provides all kinds of group fitness classes for young people, middle aged people and even old people. Before joining the membership, every customer will have to complete a detailed survey of their own health issues so that instructors of Les Mills could give reasonable advice based on the individual's personal health status, no matter you are going to the gym receptionist directly or applying through the Interner. Les Mills also provides classes for kids, the gym recognizes that developing a fitness awareness, fitness habits and fitness knowledge from childhood are vital to the children’s healthy growth. If you visit one of Les Mills branches located on Victoria Street West in Auckland, you can see a huge studio room is for kids class. Before classes begin, the staff will use many boards to block the fitness equipment placed beside the walls to prevent children from using fitness equipment by mistake so that kids will not be injured and ensure their safety.

 1.4 Value

All the seven elements of the marketing mix influence each other. Marketing mix is like a chain or a circle. Les Mills provide high quality products that are high quality fitness classes and fitness equipment to attract customers. Without attractive courses, customers’ willingness to join the gym will be greatly reduced. The price of membership requested by the gym should also be reasonable, and appropriate discounts should be given to attract customers. Unaffordable prices have always been the first consideration when people are purchasing. The gym should be set up in a reasonable location like city or near residential area, otherwise no one would go to a gym which is quite far from their work or home especially when they are after a long day work. People working in the gym should be