The Athletic Industry & Tanning Beds: Enjoying a convergence

Businesses exist to make money. Through providing valuable services that cater to a dynamic client base, opportunities for adding revenue to established lines of business becomes a simple matter of recognizing what the client wants, and conveniently providing it. Gym owners are in a unique and lucrative position to embrace opportunities like tanning beds to add significant revenues to their business. Incorporating tanning bed equipment into your athletic club is a valuable investment that:

• Entices clientele to take advantage of tanning services. A tanned appearance emphasizes physique, gained from strength training and endurance workouts, and goes along seamlessly with staying fit.
• Provides combined services, which is both a convenience and an incentive, for customers who are hesitant about purchasing gym memberships. Customers perceive unsurpassed value for their time and budget.
• Allows clients to take advantage of year-round bronzing, regardless of the climate in which they live.

A ProSun Customer Spotlight

While it is becoming mainstream for athletic clubs to include tanning beds as a basic business development strategy, we would like to demonstrate specifically, how one gym owner associates his financial success with the tanning industry. Here is our interview with Garry Blaine, owner or Pak Fitness in British Columbia in Ontario.

Is tanning equipment new to your facility?

“Yes. This facility is my eighth health club in two decades of managing and operating clubs in the fitness industry. Back then, I explored the opportunity of adding tanning beds to my clubs, and found the magic number of beds needed to generate a considerable level of profits to be three or more.”

What is the primary reason you’ve elected to purchase a tanning bed for your new athletic facility?

“To provide the most options for our clients, and to extend amenity-type services. Creating profits for a gym takes dedication and a little creativity. Club owners need a distraction from any negatives associated with gym memberships that customers are inclined to bring up. It gives members increased perceived value towards their whole-body wellness, and complete package of services that we provide.”

Tell us why purchasing both a tanning bed and a stand-up tanning booth is advantageous?

“Originally, my motivation for exploring new equipment options, and for selecting both a bed and a booth, was out of pure consideration for my customers. Over the years it became evident that I needed to upgrade my equipment in order to stay competitive. To successfully replace my older equipment, I needed versions that would exceed the previous models quality, but that would also remain appropriate for the existing room sizes, and my budget. I ultimately settled on the V7 stand-up tanning booth and the Luxura X5 bed. As a rough estimate, the two new units alone have grown our revenues just under $75,000.00, including profits from lotion and accessory sales.”

What feedback have you received from your customers since?

“The V7 stand-up tanning booth is by far, the most popular choice. In addition to this booth, we currently operate a total of 4 tanning beds that are open for business from 5:30 a.m. through 9:00 p.m. consistently. Customers have provided feedback on how much they love both their tans and their tanning experience. Specifically, they comment on the sleek look of our equipment. I advocate for athletic clubs to have a total of three stations. A two bed, one booth combo works favorably, and also provides a tranquil tanning experience to those customers who have more time on their hands for leisure and relaxation, after their workouts.”

Do customers appreciate the convenience of tanning services offered at your gym?

“Tremendously. In fact, a full third of our athletic members participate in tanning. We have also found that tan-only clients rarely hold a gym membership at all; therefore we are not missing out on any prospective gym fees, from that perspective. We also know that when the time is right for these clients to join a club, they will select ours because they’ve already become accustomed to our services and our friendly staff.”

Do you extend reservations?

“Yes. We have used the TanTrack system for well over 10-years now. Since we have a total of 5 stations, appointments are rarely necessary, but we always enjoy taking them down for customers upon request. Our 3-hour cancellation policy protects us in the event that we have reserved equipment, and it goes unused. Even when tanning stations are booked back-to-back, we are still able to accommodate drop-in clients, reasonably well.”

Is the demand for tanning services steady?

“It really is. Clients desire tanning services because it completes their efforts towards creating a healthful appearance. I have found that when business owners explore profit-increasing ventures, they do so for three primary reasons. First, they have identified a demand, and are able to derive a worthwhile solution for responding to it. Second, they implement services that complement their current line of business. Finally, tanning stations are a golden goose enterprise. When a gym owner incorporates an added value such as tanning, it can rewardingly generate the business’s overhead exclusively. After membership fees, personal training profits and tanning service revenues are combined, it markedly results in significant cash-flow and success.”

As with any business, fitness club owners should be constantly seeking opportunities to add revenue or value producing services that make sense for their particular company. In many instances, tanning beds provide such an opportunity for several reasons:

• Aside from building strength and cardiovascular stamina, one of the motivating factors people work out is to look good. Tanning is associated with a healthy look and tends to accentuate the cuts created during strength training. Thus the two activities, working out and tanning, complement each other.
• Potential customers who currently pay to go to tanning salons can more easily justify joining a fitness center and paying more money. They can combine two activities in the same place to save money and save time.
• Many people like to get UV rays in the winter when they miss the sun.