Business Research Res 351

Preparing to Conduct Business Research- Part 3: LA Fitness

RES/351

March 5, 2014

Paul Mahajan

Preparing to Conduct Business Research- Part 3: LA Fitness

LA Fitness is a privately owned health club chain with over 340 clubs within the US and Canada and millions of members. The company was formed in 1984 and has grown from small individual clubs to larger uniformed clubs. LA Fitness is well-known for its many amenities such as pools, racquetball courts, and state of the art exercise equipment. More recently, LA Fitness has added more to their member services by offering small healthy snacks at their in-house juice bars, group fitness classes, and personal trainers. Despite its innovative ways, longevity within the industry and its reputable brand, LA Fitness has received thousands of complaints from their former and current customers as well as their former and current employees about the personal training service that the club offers.

Current Problems of LA Fitness

The company’s mission statement is, “to help as many people as possible achieve the benefits of a healthy lifestyle” by creating a network of sports clubs offering its members “the widest range of amenities and the friendliest service at an affordable price” (LA Fitness, n.d.). As of late, LA Fitness has faced major problems with high turn-over rates and low morale amongst the trainers. Marketing director Tony Orme (2012) stated that retention is “just as important as acquisition”, which used to be the brand’s almost sole marketing focus as it used price-led promotions and exclusive offers to encourage people to the brand. This says to the current customers, LA fitness will make sure the customers are shown care and attention even after their initial contact with a LA Fitness Salesman. However, this statement should address the employees’ retention rate. In addition to the aforementioned problems, LA Fitness has experienced an increase in customer complaints due to poor customer...