Target fitness equipment purchases to your specific clientele   

by Gordon Randall Perry  

When we design a product for the sporting goods market, the same elements that make it attractive for the consumer also make it attractive for the dealer — easy assembly, price and materials. In addition, people want something that is going to look good in their home and dealers want a product that will look unique in their store window. Our job is to fulfill the requirements of both groups. If exercise equipment doesn't look attractive, it will probably be stowed away and used rarely, if at all. The dealer ends up with a dissatisfied customer and just as importantly, he looses the opportunity to make a resale to an upgrade product or add-on sale that will allow the individual to have a complete exercise system in their home.

When choosing exercise lines to sell in his store, the dealer should make his buying decision based upon who his clients will be and buy to meet their needs. Today, more than cover, the design of home physical fitness equipment requires sensitivity to all the elements to which customers respond in the marketplace.

Design Consciousness

The first point everyone manufacturing or selling physical fitness equip­ment should keep in mind is that people today are more design conscious. Daily we are attracted by innovatively designed products that beg to be taken home or used in the workplace. At the same time, these temptations of the marketplace pose a real problem for most of us: our private space seems to grow smaller and more expensive. This means that the design attributes of an object increasingly influence our decision to purchase: How will it look when we get it home? Will it harmonize with the rest of our furnishings? Do we have room for it in our already crowded apartment or house? And not least, will it perform properly and provide us with pleasure in owning and using it?

All these concerns, so familiar to the product designer, reflect the fact that today's consumers are looking for more from an item than just its basic function. For these more demanding buyers, exercise equipment must look, as well as be, efficient and offer the psychic satisfaction of having bought a good product. When designing an exercise bike, for example, certain criteria have to be met. First, it has to function properly in exercising its user; second, it has to be ergometrically correct, in other words, fit the body or adjust to it; and third, in the case of an ergometer, meet the rigorous standards of using energy at a precisely measurable rate.

Beyond these critical physiological requirements are others dictated by the marketplace. Among them: good visibility in the retailer’s physical fitness department; universal customer appeal in terms of color and shape and no less important, the ability to blend into the home environment.

Color Appeal

Color is an important consideration and can be used to enhance the attractiveness of the product. As an example, by offering barbell weights in a spectrum of colors, it can lift them from being purely functional to be visually attractive. But while the designer can enhance the acceptability of some of the small products by adding color, the delights of sparkling, multi-hued shades are not necessarily appropriate for larger pieces like rowing machines and treadmills. Not to mention the financial and space demands that carrying an inventory of' such variety would place on the retailer.

Bright colors give the equipment a strong identity and can be used to tell the consumer, 'This is a powerful piece of equipment', but for the most part bright colors appeal to the young. At the same time black and chrome pieces are masculine and macho, giving the impression of being heavy duty. That’s great for the young who can get into that, but the dealer has to ask himself if the young comprise his biggest buying group.

For middle-age clientele, bright and macho coloration may actually make them afraid to use the equipment. Soft colors—grays, whites, earthtones with some black chrome — appeal to this group, making the equipment pleasant but not overwhelming. At the same time, loud or bright graphics also appeal to younger consumers and again, dealers should choose products that reflect the wants of this particular clientele. Colors and a consistent graphic identity enhance the dealer’s ability to achieve a package sale of more than one item from a line. If he is aware of the factors which influence buying decisions, he can use them to increase sales. He can anticipate one of the major considerations of virtually all potential purchasers and tell them, 'This will fit in your home.'

Comfort

To create a successful bike, treadmill, slantboard or rowing machine; besides ease of manufacture and color appeal, the third factor a designer has to be concerned with is comfort-- the product must be comfortable to use. In terms of human engineering, we need to focus more on how we can design equipment that is comfortable, will fit into the home and be used, not put away or relegated to the back porch, basement or terrace. The finish has to be attractive and the overall appearance neither gymnasium-institutional nor factory industrial. It must also be designed for use by both sexes to appeal to the family market.

Simplicity is the key. A machine that is too mysterious or strange in appearance can be off-putting to the purchaser. Therefore, we eliminate any design solutions that seem to be overly dramatic. Our objective is to give the product a certain elegance and an agreeable charm. And by its design, suggest that the equipment is easy to understand, effective in use and compatible with a home environment.

Understanding these simple elements of design can help the dealer build both initial and add-on sales. He must choose products with the design characteristics that reflects the lifestyle of his biggest purchasing group. He must determine who his customers are then choose product to meet their lifestyle. People know what they want and the dealer who is sensitive to his clients can target his buying to meet their desires and needs.