Environmental Analysis of Singapore Fitness Market
The American fitness market has emerged into a battle ground for international, middle level and local fitness clubs. The competition has been intensified with entry of brands from Asia and Europe. These brands are slowly capturing the market from the American companies. The paper would visit this situation considering Barbell Briagade, a middle level fitness brand (barbellbrigade.com 2018) and its entry in Singapore around 2019 . The researcher would show how the club can use its marketing strategies to sustain and expand in the face of this competition.
The environmental analysis of the market of the Singapore which the management of Barbell Brigade housed in Los Angeles needs to consider in making their marketing related strategies should contain Five Forces Analyses developed by Michael E. Porter. It must be clearly pointed out that M/s Barbell Brigade market fitness wear as well gymnasium equipment. This would play an important role which would come to the forefront in the Five Forces Analysis.
The first threat which Barbell Brigade would face in Singapore is threats of new entrants both from within the country and from overseas. The revenue from the fitness industry is already expected to surpass $ 28 million which means the industry is becoming extremely profitable with an expanding customer base of around a million (statista.com 2018). The fitness market of Singapore already experiences the presence of international fitness chains like Gold’s Gym Singapore (goldsgym.com.sg m 2018). Moreover, there are several chains of resident fitness clubs capable of competing with Barbell Brigade. These new entrant gymnasiums challenge the market position of the Barbell Brigade.
As far as fitness apparel is concerned, the Barbell Brigade is under continuous threats from international and local brands. The sports apparel market in Singapore is already invaded by European brands like Kappa (kappa.com 2018). There are also American sportswear companies like Nike which compete with Barbell Brigade to grow even in the Singapore market. This means that the latter has to form a formidable marketing strategy to counteract threats from sportswear firm entering the market both from the US and abroad.
The second threat which the Barbell Brigade faces is threats from substitutes both in terms of workout instruments and sportswear. As far as workout instruments are concerned, Barbell Brigade faces stiff competition from Singaporean arm of Gold’s Gym International Inc and other multinational fitness clubs (goldsgym.com 2018). These fitness clubs have their branches all over the Singapore and several other countries. They market their instruments on ecommerce websites like Amazon and ebay. They have made their instruments available at international retail chains globally. Thus it is evident from this discussion that Barbell Brigade has strong substitutes in terms of instruments (barbellbrigade.com 2018).
Threats to Barbell Brigade in Singapore
As far as the sportswear division is concerned, Barbell Brigade faces competition internationally from brands like Nike and Puma. As far as new substitutes for Barbell Brigade is concerned, the brand is facing competition from brands from Europe and Asia which are making way into the Sinaporean fitness wear market (economictimes.indiatimes.com 2018).
Barbell Brigade’s premium gym services face competition from other fitness regimes like zoomba, karate and yoga. The people in Singapore who want to avoid high intensity weight training prefer these workout forms to working out in the gym (adidas.com 2018).
The bargaining power of the customers in the fitness market is very high due to presence of several brands both international and local. Singapore is one of the largest sportswear and fitness market in the world with the sales at the outlets alone crossing $ 45 million (statista.com 2018). This is due to presence of American international brands like Nike and European brands like Adidas already in the market of Singapore. There is a huge spurt of local Singaporean fitness brands which offer sportswear and fitness instruments at more affordable prices than Barbell Brigade. This means that the bargaining power of customers in the American fitness market is pretty high means that there are always scopes for customer poaching by competitors. This means that Barbell Brigade should form its marketing strategies aimed to create value to the customers (?áslavová and ?makalová, 2015).
The bargaining power of suppliers in Singapore is pretty high due to intense competition and large number of sportswear firms in the market. The supply chain of raw materials of sportswear industry in Singapore is dominated by international brands and big local brands. The suppliers offer these international sportswear companies raw materials at lower rates. The suppliers of the leaders like Golds Gym Singapore and Nike on the other hand, charge higher rates from Barbell Brigade and other middle range fitness brands (Takata 2016).
The Singaporean fitness industry is extremely competitive and hence experience an intense rivalry in the industry among the competing firms. The Singaporean fitness industry is dominated by the international companies like Nike and Gold’s Gym Singapore having large share in the market. These companies provide high quality goods and services to customers. As far as Barbell Brigade is concerned, the brand holds a middle level in the Singaporean market. Its rivals on one hand consist of international brands like Puma and local brands on the other hand (Zhang and Chung 2018). This analysis shows that the firm is under intense pressure of providing high quality goods and services to compete with its international rivals like Gold’s Gym. It, on the other hand has to maintain its pricing lower than these international rivals in order to prevent local Singaporean sports brands from poaching its customers.
Marketing Objectives for Barbell Brigade
The marketing objectives of Barbell Brigade should be gaining higher position in the fitness market and generating higher revenue with every passing year. The firm faces competition from three sides which means the marketing objectives. The first area in which Barbell Brigade faces competition is in fitness equipment sale and secondly in case of provision of gymnasium facilities. The firm should provide appropriate mix of product, place and pricing to counteract competition in these two markets.
Figure 1Marketing objective in terms of gym service ansd instruments.
(Source: Author)
The third area of competition is sportswear where the price of products are lower than the previous two but more intense due to presence of international and local competitors (?áslavová and ?makalová, 2015). Hence, the pricing and product strategies should enable Barbell Brigade beat both international and local competitors. Barbell Brigade in this case has to provide an international assortment of sportswear at affordable prices (Marzband et al. 2016). The same aggressive policy should be adopted in terms of place and promotion as well. The objective should be selling products to the largest possible consumer base and generate immense revenue.
The target market of Barbell Brigade would consist of the Singapore however, the target customer base would vary with the three product categories. The target market for the gym services should teenagers, working adults and fitness active customers. It must be pointed out that the Barbell Brigade is a middle standard gym with attractive facilities which local gyms cannot provide. The gym as a result has to charge high membership prices in order to be able to provide these facilities (Soo,et al. 2016). Thus, the preferred customers would be teenagers and adults from the middle and upper class strata of the society (Lovelock and Patterson 2015). Geographically, the preferred customer base would be urban people who are fitness freaks and enjoy working out in gyms with high-end facilities to keep themselves fit.
Target Market for Barbell Brigade
As far as fitness instruments are concerned, the target customer base of Barbell Brigade would comprise of the upper class society customers who have sufficient disposable funds to afford its high end instruments (Takata 2016).
As far the sportswear product line is concerned, the target customer base would be middle and upper class people of different ages who love wearing sports apparel. The customer perception here would be living healthy lifestyle and looking fit in sports apparel. The target customer segment here can also include towns and rural areas (Zhang and Chung 2018).
The marketing mix of the Barbell Brigade should consist of the following components:
The products of Barbell Brigade consist of gymnasium services, gym instruments and sportswear. The gymnasium services of the firm is superior to many local gyms in the US but not better than international fitness clubs like the Golds Gym Singapore. Barbell Brigade should provide services of the standard of the international gyms but at a lower prices. This would enable it to steal customers from these gyms and generate higher revenue (?áslavová and ?makalová, 2015). The fitness brand in order to counteract the challenge it faces from clubs providing alternative fitness regimes like karate, should either start providing yoga classes or acquire a fitness center providing these alternative fitness training. The product strategy of Barbell Brigade in Singapore should also include offering health food and supplements either free of cost or at subsidized rates. The gym in order establish itself in the market of Singapore should also offer services like spa, health and diet consultant and in-house swimming pool. This product mix of the gym can also contain mix of martial arts forms from China, Japan and other countries. These offerings of core gym services and peripheral services would render Barbell Brigade the desired product differentiation (Takata 2016). This product differentiation would enable the gym to set itself apart from its competitors and enable it to attract more consumers.
The next component on the product line of Barbell Brigade consist of fitness instruments which the firm sells. The firm should provide an extensive range of fitness instruments and pieces of equipment. As far as offering is concerned, the club can use product bundling to enhance the value creation if the consumers. For example, it can offer a set of free dumbbells with a dumbbell rack (Lovelock and Patterson 2015). This would enable it to enhance rthe value of the purchasers and generate more revenue.
Marketing Mix for Barbell Brigade
The product strategy in terms of sportswear of Barbell Brigade should consist of extensive ranges of apparel in different colors. The product line should range form casual vests, gym vests to semi-formal t-shirts. The product line should also expand to include shoes, caps, bags, belts, watches and sunglasses. The firm should once again use bundling techniques to attract more customers here and generate more revenue (?áslavová and ?makalová, 2015).
The place strategy would play an important role in strengthening the market position of the Barbell Brigade. The place strategy should consist of both store strategies and online presence strategies. Barbell Brigade should open stores across Sinapore which would enable it to sell its products. The firm in addition to these strategies should market its products via retail outlets like Tesco, especially for the sports apparel (tesco.sg 2018).
The next place strategy of Barbell Brigade should a strong online presence. The firm should market and sell its products on the ecommerce platforms like Amazon. This would enable it to get access to a huge customer base and generate high revenue (Soo,et al. 2016).
Price as a component of the marketing mix would play a pivotal role in case of Barbell Brigade. It must be noted that the market position of Barbell Brigade is higher than local fitness clubs but lower than the international fitness clubs. Hence, the pricing should be high in order to create a strong perception about quality and standard among the upper class customers. Barbell Brigade can offer discounts and offers to attract more customers (?áslavová and ?makalová, 2015). The same strategy should be followed by marketing wear. The company should offer special discounts for online purchase of its products. These strategies as far as pricing is concerned would enable the club to generate immense revenue.
Barbell Brigade should promote its products in health magazines, business magazines and fashion magazines. The fitness club should promote its services on the digital platform by using social media websites. This would enable it to generate more customers and generate high revenue (Lovelock and Patterson 2015).
The budget attached shows sources of income and expenditures. The budget clearly shows that at least in the initial periods, the owners have to borrow form banksin order to meet the expenses. It also shows that in the initial stage, the gym would earn less surplus which would increase gradually.
The management of Barbell Brigade should hold a very stringent communication strategy and exercise total control over the content of the promotional activities. The firm should be ethical and transparent regarding its facilities and offerings (Marzband et al. 2016). This would enable it attract large number of consumers and establish itself strongly in the market of Singapore.
Conclusion:
I can reflect on the discussion and point out that Barbell Brigade should take into consideration the market conditions of the Singapore and form its marketing strategies. The firm must take into consideration the intense competition which already exists in the fitness market of Singapore and presence of international brands like Gold’s Gym, Singapore. The fitness club should prior to entering the market of Singapore should form a marketing mix that would render it the required product differentiation. It must offer a large array of peripheral products like swimming pool and supplements along with gym services. The marketing of the gym in Singapore should take into account networking, communication, advertisements and public relationships which would befit the international standard of Barbell Brigade.
References:
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