![\"\"](\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/group-fitness.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn the Midst of COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n With the COVID-19 outbreak, the government manded that most gyms and boutique fitness studios close their doors back in March. Similar to many store-front businesses, this put them in an incredibly difficult financial position. Should they still continue to charge their customers a membership fee? Most big-box gyms such as Planet Fitness and Equinox have proactively paused memberships while others allowed customers to freeze their memberships at no cost. [4,5] For many, the financial hit will be devastating as many of these businesses with require high upfront capital expenditures, high rent (if in prime city retail locations), and labor and operating costs.<\/p>\n While the physical locations are closed, many of the boutique fitness studios have looked to innovate on ways to engage with their customers while not gathering together physically. At first, Barry\u2019s did what many other studios did\u2013 limit capacity. In the first few weeks of COVID, Barry\u2019s offered 50% capacity classes and double downed on sanitation procedures. When the doors finally closed, Barry\u2019s leveraged its strong following on social media to launch Barry\u2019s IGTV Workouts, featuring Barry\u2019s instructors from all over the world. Not only did it draw its existing customers to its platform, but it allowed new customers to experience Barry\u2019s given the ease of access and no charge. On April 13, 2020, Barry\u2019s opened up the (Virtual) Red-Room titled Barry\u2019s At-Home, a 35-minute virtual Barry\u2019s instructor led class conducted on Zoom. The virtual classes mimic the in-studio classes, focusing on a different part of the body such as Chest, Back & Abs, Full Body, etc. While there is no treadmill portion, the instructors include different types of in-home cardio to get the heart pumping and use a variety of in-home equipment (bands and weights). Barry\u2019s offers a feature called BodyWeight, if you don\u2019t have any weights or bands at home, but Barry\u2019s also sells in-home workout equipment with branded bands, booty bands, benches and mats for you to replicate the Barry\u2019s experience in your own home. \u00a0[6]<\/p>\n See their At-Home Class packages below:<\/p>\n A few online reviews regarding the Barry\u2019s At-Home experience:<\/p>\n \u201cThe intensity and legitimacy of the workout was impressive. The moderator used Zoom\u2019s chat feature to encourage those in the class to \u2018Keep it up!\u2019 and I enjoyed the social aspect with classmates at the beginning and the end of the class. I ended the class extremely eager to do my next, and I can\u2019t wait to see how the company integrates these virtual experiences into their business even after our lives return to normal.\u201d [7]<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGreat class. Way way too many credits for what it is though. I think other people here have complained about it being 12 credits and I agree. It should be 6-8 credits\u201d [8]<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDid not get to participate beyond the first 10 minutes due to technical issues.\u201d [8]<\/em><\/p>\n How and why was Barry\u2019s able to quickly launch these at-home classes only a few weeks into the COVID-19 shutdown?<\/p>\n Post COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n When Barry\u2019s is allowed to re-open its studio doors, what kind of world will it open back up to? Just like restaurants, fitness studios may need to limit capacity to 50% or less for its classes for the next few months until protocols such as testing, contact tracing or a vaccine exist. It is also unclear how customers will feel about going back into a \u201cRed Room\u201d where sweat and germs can easily build up after a few classes.<\/p>\n Going forward, Barry\u2019s may have to consider modifications to their in-studio business:<\/p>\n The question remains as to how Barry\u2019s will change its overall business model after COVID-19. Will it continue to offer these in-home classes for $20 per class? The At-Home classes could be an opportunity for Barry\u2019s to target new customer segments and leverage its data to provide ideas for future geographic expansion. In addition, with a recession, individuals may decide to lower their spending on these premium priced boutique classes. The At-Home model would provide an additional revenue channel and retain customers who want to experience Barry\u2019s but at a lower price point. Lastly, the At-Home model provides Barry\u2019s an opportunity to utilize any network effects of its digital business given the platform between instructors and users and lower barrier for entry for new users (same-side effects).<\/p>\n In the same vein, if Barry\u2019s wants to offer both in-studio and at-home experiences, it may have to consider the following:<\/p>\n Overall, Barry\u2019s by launching At-Home, Barry\u2019s put itself in a unique strategical decision-making point that many other businesses are facing. While its original customer value proposition was dependent on in-person and in-studio, digital is inevitably changing the landscape of the industry overall and begs many new important questions. Should will Barry\u2019s play in the in-home workout space going forward? If so, what organizational changes may need to occur, and what percentage of Barry\u2019s business should be digital going forward?<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n Before COVID-19, fitness spending was booming with much of the growth coming from boutique fitness studios. With their studios closed, how have they adjusted to providing experiences for their customers at home? Barry’s Bootcamp has tried to bounce back by launching their At-Home workouts live with instructors on Zoom. Is this a good strategy and should they continue to do this once COVID-19 is over? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11399,"featured_media":13373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[26],"class_list":["post-13372","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","hck-taxonomy-organization-barrys-bootcamp","hck-taxonomy-industry-service","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/digital-innovation-and-transformation-during-the-covid-19-pandemic\/","yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n