International Marketing Strategy for PureGym

Introduction

International marketing is the practice of designing and developing effective marketing mix strategic planning in order to expand the business and gain high competitive advantage in the market (David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2019). The aim of the study is to analyse the marketing activities of the organisation and develop a suitable marketing planning for the company PureGym in order to expand their business internationally. Through this paper, it is possible to discuss the value proposition as well as identify the internal business environment of the organisation through SWOT analysis and the study also provides a scope to develop marketing objective and suggest suitable marketing mix strategic planning, offering insights that can also benefit those seeking marketing dissertation help in order to target the right international market for successful positioning of the brand internationally.

Organisational background

PureGym is the leading gym operator in the UK which focuses on providing low cost fitness facilities across 200 sites. The business was introduced in the year of 2009 and the organisations focuses a simple business model of paying average £20 per month and enjoy the gym for maintaining fitness of the individuals. The gym is opened 24 hour a day where everybody can choose their time according to their life style and working schedule. The organisation is efficient to provide a full range of up-to-date cardio fitness equipment, fixed-resistance and free weights. The organisation developed the strategy of designing customer oriented gym with low cost where the individuals can afford the facilities at the gym. it focuses on develop great place for working out as well as the company provides online registration and booking services which gives the members to access the company website 24*7. The permanent staff members are here but the numbers of the permanent members is low as compared to other competitive firms operating in the UK and there are personal trainers, who are self employed (PureGym, 2019a). The CEO of the company said that, “While we may be leading the market today, we’re not complacent. We know we’re only as good as our member’s last visit so every day we try a little harder to be the best” (PureGym, 2019b). The organisation is successful to reach more than 200 clubs and it has over 1 million members in the year of 2018. It is beneficial for the company to target the international market for successful internationalisation of the business so that the company becomes the first best fitness centres across the UK and also across the globe as well in near future (PureGym, 2019c).

Task 1: International marketing planning

1.1 Value Proposition

The Mendelow’ matrix is suitable to understand the tactics of values proposition in the organisation. For value proposition of the company, the organisation PureGym focuses on developing supportive environment, where the employees and the trainers are informed about all the strategic move, vision and objectives of the firm. Creating values for them through providing them monetary and non-monetary rewards as well as keeping them satisfied are the best strategy of the organisation to maximise stakeholder’s values and retain them for achieving the organisational success.

As per the porter’s value chain model, the company PureGym mainly focuses on support activities such as developing efficient service, managing firm infrastructure with proper machineries and latest technology related o fitness facilities, human resource management and delivering high quality services to the customers (PureGym, 2019b).

The company focuses on delivering high quality fitness facilities to the customers and give them proper assistance 24*7 through efficient online activities (PureGym, 2019c).

1.2 Key findings facing the organisation

Through SWOT analysis, it is possible to analyse the organisational position in the market as well as identify key issues, which would be resolved in future.

As per the SWOT analysis, the major strengths of the organisation PureGym are such as providing low cost fitness facilities , serving across 200 sites, great place for working out, online registration and booking services and opened 24 hour a day which provides a scope to the CEO of the organisation to support the members and crate values for near future. The strengths as well as financial stability of the firm are the major reason of influencing the company to expand their business internationally, so that it is possible to grab the market opportunities and gain high competitive advantage in the market (PureGym, 2019d). Apart from that, there are some weaknesses of the company which are low permanent members, personal trainer required, only focus on the UK market, no swimming pools and no beauty therapy options. These are the major issues which needs to be resolved through developing proper strategic planning, so that PureGym can expand their business internationally and gain market share successfully in near future. the market opportunities in the fitness industry are such as the numbers of fitness facilities is increasing this year from 7038 to 7200 as well as there are rapid growth in the fitness industry, huge demand of the people in the market, total market value increased to £5 billion, total membership grew by 10 million, UK penetration rate increased to 15.6% and growing demand for online service which further influence the firm o expand their business and strengthen their competitive position in the market. On the other hand, the major threats in the market are such as intense competition, high threat of new entrants and substitute services in the market, increasing cost of fitness services and available options for fitness centres in the market.

1.3 Setting and justifying Marketing Objectives

The vision of the company is to provide affordable and flexible membership to high quality gym to all the people in the UK, who want to increase their level of fitness. The marketing objectives of the firm are such as,

To maximise values for the customers

To improve efficiency of the staff through encouraging their creativity and innovation

To enhance innovation through opening beauty treatment and establishing swimming pool

To maximise corporate social responsibilities for running the business ethically

1.4 Strategic Marketing Plan

Target market:

The major target market for the organisation PureGym will be Asian countries, where is high demand for the fitness facilities. In the recent of globalisation, people prefer to eat healthy and be fit in the society in order to maximise their wellbeing and standard of living. In addition to this, there is high percentage of obesity in the Asian countries like Malaysia and Thailand for which it would be the best market for the organisation to target and expand their operational internationally.

Target audiences:

The major target audiences in the market would b the women, who are suffering from overweight. Apart from that, the company also will target the fitness lovers, where the people love to exercise daily and aim to increase their fitness level successfully in near future. Apart from that, targeting the people who love sports and athletes are also effective for the organisation to strengthen their customer’s base in near future. Apart from that, the company targets the high and medium income group so that the people can afford the monthly fees of the gym and make successful registration for their quality services and additional facilities.

Positioning strategy:

The major positioning strategy of the organisation will be high quality service and low cost where PureGym focuses in providing the best fitness facilities with additional innovative services at lower cost so that the people in the market can afford the products successfully. Apart from that, placing the brand and strengthening their position in the market depend on the promotional activities social campaigning and advertisement which in turn helps to improve the brand visibility and influence the company to expand their business successfully.

1.5 Marketing Tactics

As per the 4P marketing mix strategic planning, there are four components, which are product price, promotion and place through which the organisations can develop effective tactics to promote the brand and expand their operations in the international markets.

Product:

Product is the major factor for marketing planning where the company needs to focus on product diversification (McDONALD et al., 2016). In this regard, the organisation PureGym needs to investment on service innovation and launch swimming pool and beauty treatment activities in the centre and apart from that body message and spa facilities will also be effective from the company to focus on product diversification strategy and attract the new customers in the international market of Malaysia and Thailand.

Price:

Pricing policy is another factor, which focus on setting the effective price which helps to represent the products quality. In this regard, premium pricing policy will be adopted in the organisation for sustaining in the business and expand their operations in the international market where the organisation will set lower price for attracting the people in the market.

Place:

For placing the services in the new market, it is possible of the organisation to choose right location in Malaysia and Thailand such as the airport area and the local market place, where the people can avail the service successfully. Apart from that, hiring suitable staff and front desk manager are necessary, where the skilled workforce can manage the online registration in the international place and retain the people successfully.

Promotion:

For promotional activity, the organisation first of all focuses on developing digital content for uploading on FaceBook which is an effective social media site for promoting the brand and sharing the information related to the available services at PureGym and pricing offers. Apart from that, developing mobile application for the customers would be effete where the people can handle the Smartphone application for engaging with the organisation ad make effective registration for the innovation and efficient service related to fitness facilities. Additionally, arranging social media campaigning is mandatory where the company can attract the social communities and provide suitable information to the people for retaining them in long run.

1.7 Ethics, Sustainability and CSR

In the new marketing venture, the company in the recent ea of globalisation face problems in managing their business ethically and sustainably (Banerjee, 2017). Marketing ethics is hereby necessary to fulfil the requirements of the stakeholders including the government, social communities, customer, employees, suppliers and distributors, who are major stakeholders of the business of PureGym. In this regard, the company needs to expand their business ethically, where the company needs to avoid any controversy by developing negative content for online registration and online promotion. The company should focus on the simple content and there would be no such offensive language. Apart from hat, it must maintain the copyright act and intellectual property act so that the authenticity of the business can be managed well. In addition to this, the company must focus on managing the picture quality for their online promotion as well as digital marketing where clear and suitable pictures will be utilised for the company website and mobile application as well so that it can attract the customers in the market of Malaysia and Thailand. The government rules and business activities are strict in both the countries and it further influence the company to make proper paper work and run their business in the international market for running the operations sustainably (Smith, 2017). Apart from that, there would be the issue of environmental sustainability and for which the company must focus on the strategic planning to create vales for all the stakeholders where the company needs to use renewable resources in the fitness centres in which it may invest on solar panel for utilising solar energy. This would be efficient initiative for the brand to provide positive environment footprint in the market and maximise their brand image successfully in the new international market. apart from that, the company PureGym needs to create values for all the stakeholders by providing them positive retain on investment and in this regard, the company needs to invest on social charitable activities in the new international countries as well as satisfy the staff and trainers by giving them high incentives so that they would be interested to provide high quality fitness services to the customers.

1.8 Controls, Measurement, Review, Risks and Contingencies

Critical success factor:

The major critical success factors for the organisation would be,

Effective and supportive leadership practice

Partnership working practice in the workplace through enhancing cooperation

Introducing efficient services at the PureGym centres such as body message, beauty treatment and care as well as steam bath

Effective cost leadership system to set lower price and maintain profitability

Effective change management for managing the staff in the workplace

Skilled workforce and trainers to manage the customers efficiently

Key performance indicators:

The key performance indicators are also necessary to be analysed in order to measure the success and identify the performance of the organisation in the market. In this regard, for controlling the planning and implementing the marketing mix strategic planning in the organisation, key performance indicators are necessary to be evaluated in the company. The key performance indicators for PureGym are,

Income source

Revenue growth

Expansion through more centres

Strong customer base in the new international market

Gross profit margin

Number of registration of the customers

Ratings of employee satisfaction

The above mentioned factors are important for understanding the performance of the organisation in the new international market. The company needs to focus on implementing the marketing plan through proper investment as well as measure the success through the above indicators. It is expected that, the company would expand their business by managing it profitability and sales volume where the activities and service quality of PureGym would be beneficial to satisfy the customers and establish the brand strategically.

Risk and contingencies:

During the control mechanism, it is necessary to identify the risks in the organisation to implement the marketing mix strategic planning and in this regard, the major risks that would be developed during the implementation of the marketing planning are such as,

Website crashing

Low new application acceptance in the market

Marketing budget

Lack of financial capabilities of the firm

Lack of understanding about the market demand in the new market such as Malaysia and Thailand

Poor marketing strategy to target the audiences

Lack of arrangement of social media promotional campaigning

It is necessary for the organisation to mitigate the above mentioned risks associated with the marketing mix strategic planning during expanding the business of PureGym in the Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Thailand, where there are high percentage of obesity and it would be the best option for the organisation to expand their business and target the audiences to increase their fitness level and stay healthy. Hereby, in order to expand their business in the international market, it is necessary to develop back up planning in order to resolve the risks associated with the marketing planning. In order to mitigate the above mentioned risks, there should be mitigation planning, which would be described further.

Task 2: Report on Uppsala marketing model

Uppsala marketing models effective to describe the internationalisation process of the business to enter into the international market. In this regard, he model is beneficial to improve understanding about the activities for the company PureGym to develop the tactics of internationalisation of the company in order to improve their global presence and gain high market share in the fitness industry. As per the model, the market knowledge is utilised to maintain commitment towards the stakeholders where the company PureGym can improve understanding about the target market like Malaysia and Thailand and strengthen their position in the market by attracting the audiences. As per the model, the model of operations such as direct export, export through independent representatives, foreign sales and foreign product and sales subsidiaries are effective to expand the business and export the product or services in the new market (Hanlon, 2019). The Uppsala model is beneficial for the business where it influences the change variables which are knowledge development process and commitment process, where the companies can manage their knowledge and improve their efficiencies for better performance (Smith, 2017). Market penetration and decision making activities are influenced by the model, where the companies try to make effective decision to enter into the new market and utilise the impacts of globalisation. The operational capabilities are also influenced by the Uppsala model, where it focuses on grabbing the market opportunities through innovation and creativity.

Conclusion and recommendations

It can be concluded that, the organisation PureGym has the capability to invest adequate amount the marketing mix strategic planning in order to expand their business and resolve the weakness of emphasising on one country UK. It would be sustainable strategic planning for the organisation to expand their business in the Asian countries mainly in Malaysia and Thailand which provide the chance to the company to establish their business and improve their global presence through creating values for all the stakeholders, engaged with the organisation. apart from that, the marketing strategic planning of high promotional activities both televisions media and digital media as well as product diversification with latest technology and service innovation through spa and body message, steam bath and added facilities will be helpful for the organisation to expand their business and secure their position in the new international market. As per the Uppsala model, it is necessary for the company PureGym to export their services into the new international target market which are Malaysia and Thailand, the Asian countries, where there are high demand for fitness facilities. Hereby, direct export through brand expansion and launching the fitness services through mobile application and online website of the company would be effective strategic planning for the organisation to enter into the new market and achieve sustainable growth in near future. In addition to this, the company needs to invest on promotional activities which are social media promotion through sharing the brand information including the product and services available, fitness facilities, pricing and seasonal offers in the market and apart from that, developing new mobile application for retaining the customers who need assistance directly from home and social campaigning. These are effective marketing strategic planning through which the company PureGym can expand their business and enter in the Asian region for targeting the new customer base and run their operational activities profitably.

Reference List

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