Factors Influencing Choice When Enrolling at a Fitness Center

We investigated factors influencing enrollment choice at fitness centers in South Korea to estimate the relative importance of each factor to the customers. We analyzed data obtained from 283 customers who were enrolled at fitness centers in Seoul. Results were as follows: First, equipment, environment, accessibility, and membership fee were the primary factors that influenced customers' enrollment at fitness centers; second, customers placed membership fee as most important, then environment, accessibility, and equipment, in that order. We also examined the relative importance of choice factors according to how long individuals had been enrolled and exercised at the center. Results indicated that all customers made the same choices for the order of importance of the factors regardless of the length of time they had been enrolled at and using the center. However, results revealed that as the period of time they had been exercising at the center increased, the relative importance of the factors that directly affect exercise environment and equipment increased—that is environment and equipment—whereas the importance of membership fee and accessibility, which do not directly influence exercise, decreased. These results indicate that, for effective customer retention, managers of fitness centers should conduct customer segmentation by taking into consideration how long each individual customer has been coming to exercise at the center, and the factors considered important to each.