Consumer Behaviour
...fety Need: Women need to know their children are safe and well-treated. It is important for women to know that during the time they have reserved specially for themselves, their children are safe and, if possible, nearby. Self Safety Need: Health club equipments are usually designed for people with strength and women feel insecure when using them. It is important for them to know that there will be no bad surprises when exercising. On the other hand, not all women have the same physical resistance and they need to be sure the exercises are adequate to their age and health state. Healthy Food Need: Women usually pay much attention to medicine or health developments and they are very careful with what they eat. They want to be healthy. In fact, they do believe in the ¡§you are what you eat¡¨ principle. They like to eat healthy products or at least to feel that what they eat is healthy. Relaxing Need: Although women like to be in shape, they also search for internal balance. They need to feel happy and relaxed. 4.2. Product Attributes In our opinion, Body&Soul has the following attributes: Highly Qualified Staff: Skilled employees specialized in the problems of certain key points in the female body, who easily identify, for each woman, her specific training. Personalized Follow-Up: Each and all women have a personalized follow-up each month. That way, they can check by themselves if the system is effective or not (they can check if their performance is good). Trained Equipment adapted to the female body: Special machines that work on women¡¦s anatomy ¡§trouble points¡¨ as muscles, chest, legs and buttocks. Two in One Equipment: When exercising in one of our machines, woman can work simultaneously on two opposite muscles, allowing them to reduce the time they would take if working out on ordinary equipment. Safe System: The equipment is not driven by dead weigh as the conventional machines; instead it works hydraulically, and therefore the movements are more fluid. A machine can be stopped suddenly at any point during exercise, slowly returning to its initial position, without risk. A Place for Women: Our health club only accepts women as clients. They will not need worry about indiscrete stares from masculine eyes. Physical Exercise Can Be Fun: Strength training added to an aerobic work out is considered the most adequate solution to a steady reduction of body fat. During exercising time, women can listen to the music and they can even choose their songs - All machines are equipped with an MP3 system that allows women to choose their music during exercise - and aerobic courses are done to the rhythm of music. Exclusively System: The training system combines strength and aerobic workout, which is the most effective system in burning fat and toughening up muscles. Controlled Effort: The system stops each 10 minutes to check the person¡¦s pulse: this way, women do not over exercise or go beyond their limits, preventing unnecessary risks. Timetable: Our Center is open seven days a week and runs from 7 a.m. until 24 p.m., allowing women to exercise before and after work, after putting their children to sleep or during weekends. Nursery: Our center is provided with a space dedicated to children, where women can leave their children, who will be looked after by a baby-sitter. Facilities: Our clients can find in Body&Soul a lot of different facilities: they can eat an healthy meal at lunch or dinner, with salads, natural juices, diet food¡K They can also use the esthetical center, the sauna or even do a massage. 4.3. Needs/Attributes Map 5. DECISION PROCESS 5.1 Need State Our main goal is to alert women of their need to do specialized exercises with privacy, the product provided by Body&Soul: leading those who are in a balanced state in terms of the exercise satisfaction or in an unrecognized imbalance to a recognized imbalance. We have to persuade women that already go to a health club and are happy with the service provided ¡V balanced state - to feel the need of having a place thought for them, with specialized exercises and equipment, where they will feel completely comfortable and away of undesirable eyes: they have to recognize their imbalance. At the same time, it is important to convince women who do not exercise that they have the need to do so, and that more than just doing exercise, they must do it in a women¡¦s place, with privacy. At a first stage, our approach will be to inform about the existence of a health club with specific services only for women in our local market. At this phase, marketing activities will be focused in promotional actions, namely: ƒº Local newspapers and radio ads; ƒº Articles in specialized magazines, explaining the benefits of work out and of the equipment used in our health club on women¡¦s body; ƒº Sponsoring events related with health, beauty,¡K and other matters in which women are, in general, interested; ƒº Muppies and outdoors in strategic locations with teasers (for example ¡§Be on shape in a place designed for you!¡¨). 5.2 Needs Strength After creating conscience of the need, which can be satisfied with Body&Soul services, we want women to feel it intolerable, in order to take them to the action. The idea is to highlight the need and show the positive aspects of doing exercise and doing it in a special place thought and designed for women. With this purpose, we will use: ƒº Outdoors and muppies located in strategic points (close to the most important health clubs in the city) and with different messages from the previous ones, asking, for instance, if women are fully satisfied with what they have, and showing the attributes of specialized equipment and privacy; ƒº Direct mail, using available mailing lists, will also assume a great importance. This marketing tool allows a closer communication to our potential clients, beginning to establish a relationship with them. 5.3 From Internal to External After realizing that they should start doing exercise, and that it is better for them to have specialized equipment and exercises, with privacy, we should persuade them that they will benefit from doing it ¡§externally¡¨, in a health club, instead of doing it at home or by their one. In the health club they will have the support of skilled staff and at the same time they will have the chance to socialize, have fun while exercising and use support services. At this stage, the main marketing tools will be: ƒº Direct mail, with attractive pictures of the place and a description of the advantages of the equipment on the women¡¦s body and the additional services provided; ƒº Teasers and leaflets. 5.4 External Solution Set and Alternative Evaluation At this level, the consumer has decided to look for a health club, and she is going to decide about the potential choices that are able to satisfy her needs and we want her to include Body&Soul in the solution set. The woman will rank her alternative solutions according to a criteria of full satisfaction (be on shape, quickly and with durable results and feel happy and comfortable) and convenience in the sense of ¡§full services¡¨ offer. We want our segment to rank us first, and we believe it will, as Body&Soul has a great range of services conceived for women with high-quality standards, and the potential clients are already aware of these features of our health club through the previous used marketing tools. 5.5 Brand Choice At this stage, the woman has a set of possibilities, which are seen as potential alternatives to satisfy her needs. The specific needs were linked to the attributes of each alternative, and we need to highlight our attributes¡¦ advantages in relation to the competitors¡¦ ones, enhancing the recognized imbalance needs and demonstrating that our product is the best to fit those needs (our segment will mainly value the privacy and efficient results). The aim is to take potential clients to the place and showing in loco the features of the space and the concept, which we believe is one of our differentiator characteristics. The marketing activities addressed at this stage will be: ƒº Organizing conferences with experts, focused on our products, bringing potential consumers to our space (this way, they will get in contact with the space); ƒº Promote experimentation using, for instance, the actual clients as a channel to bring some potential costumers. This way they will get in contact with the product and will start feeling its benefits; ƒº Inviting well-know women from Oporto to become our clients, acting as opinion leaders to bring people to Body&Soul; ƒº Offering free extra-services (massages, treatments,¡K) for new clients; ƒº Making usage of the internet site, which will prov...