Virgin Active spreading its wings

VIRGIN Active - the premium health and fitness club operator that's under the Virgin Group founded by Richard Branson - is busy expanding its presence in Singapore.

This year alone, it opened two new clubs here, taking its total to five. These are at Marina One, Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar, Duo Galleria and Holland Village.

Two years ago, the brand announced it would invest up to S$100 million to open as many as 10 new clubs in Singapore by 2022.

Singapore is one of eight countries that Virgin Active is present in, the others being the UK, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Thailand.

When BT Weekend met up with Virgin Active's managing director for South-east Asia Christian Mason, he outlined plans to grow its footprint in the heartlands such as Jurong and Tampines over time.

The 46-year-old Australian is responsible for Virgin Active's operations in Singapore and Thailand. Before moving to Singapore, he headed the operations in Australia, and prior to that he was the fitness manager for Virgin Active in the UK, looking after a total of 72 clubs.

This is an edited excerpt of the interview that was conducted at the Marina One flagship club in the Marina Bay financial district.

You've lived in Singapore for five years now. What's your assessment of the fitness industry here, which is obviously very competitive, and what are the prospects?

There's certainly an increasing awareness of exercise and wellness, and it's a trend that will continue to grow. What's matching that trend in terms of demand is the supply, and we feel very confident there are many opportunities out there.

Of Singapore's total population, about 6 per cent own a gym membership. Yes, there are a lot of outdoor spaces to exercise, there are a lot of other brands opening new clubs. Condominiums have their own pools and small gyms too.

You can look at all these as competition, or a headwind to your success, or see them as a feeder. For Virgin Active, we think that by offering a credible difference in the product that is available, that insulates us against the risk as more and more supply enters the market.

What do you look out for when opening a new club?

I'm very confident that we will see at least another five or six Virgin Active clubs, so we think we can easily get to 10 to 15 clubs. The pace is always going to be dictated by the opportunities.

Many brands in the past, in other markets in Asia, have chased a number, gone too fast, and run into trouble. The No 1 success factor for any health club is the location.

We've got three in the Central Business District, and we see ourselves moving into the heartlands - Jurong, Tampines, Woodlands. We're going to open in Paya Lebar Quarter soon.

We will grow at the pace we need to grow, to make sure we open the right clubs in the right locations, and that they cater to what's happening in that particular catchment.

With so many brands of fitness clubs for a consumer to pick from these days, how does Virgin Active stand out from the rest of the pack?

Apart from the facilities we have, the more important thing is how we treat our customers. Our sales representatives are called relationship consultants - they are building a relationship with you, not selling a membership.

We let people join us on a flexible basis of four weeks, and they give us three days' notice if they want to leave, and that's it. Let's face it, exercise is hard and people can be reluctant at times so we want to give them an option that's non-binding so they can just try us out.

We conduct free outdoor classes too for members and non-members. We want to bring the benefits of health and wellness outside of the four walls of a club.

It's a branding opportunity of course, but that's not the main reason. The heart of it is corporate social responsibility, to give more people the opportunity to get together and exercise. That's one way for them to get to touch our brand and for us to build trust, and if eventually some of them visit our clubs and sign up, we're happy with that.

In January this year, Virgin Active scrapped the joining fee (of between S$99 and S$300) at all its clubs in Singapore. What's the thinking behind doing so?

We were the first-to-market to do away with this fee. It was time for us to make a statement, and that's why we abolished them. It's part of the effort to reduce the barriers for people to get started on their fitness journey, and hopefully more will give us a try.

What's your exercise routine like these days?

I like to exercise in the morning. I'm trying to do more yoga (laughs). If I'm in Singapore, I'll do yoga at one of the clubs. If I'm travelling, I'll do it in the hotel room. It's really about finding those snippets of time to exercise, just a window of 20 to 30 minutes is enough. I used to run, but not any more as my knees are not as good to me as before.

I conduct an indoor performance cycling class and a Bodypump (a barbell workout) class every Friday morning at our club at Holland Village.