NEWS
News and views from the New Zealand fitness industry.
Is your fitness business trading fair?
The recently implemented ‘unfair contract terms’
changes to the Fair Trading Act came into effect in New
Zealand on 17 March 2015, meaning that some common
practices in the fitness sector need to be revised. The
new law affects everything from transferring and freezing
policies, through to what happens i f a member wishes
to terminate their membership before an already agreed
minimum term has been reached.
For some businesses, the modifications needed may
only be a simple rewording of certain clauses to ensure they
reflect both the facility’s and the consumer’s needs, but for
others the changes will need to be more comprehensive.
Analysis by ExerciseNZ leads us to believe that almost
all agreements used in New Zealand prior to March will
require some adjustments in order to be compliant with the
recent changes to the Fair Trading Act.
If you think that the changes only apply to the ‘big
gyms’, think again. The changes apply to any ‘standard
form consumer contract’, which includes membership
agreements used by gyms, health clubs, studios and
Retention research released
ExerciseNZ has just released its
second member retention research
report, which includes analysis of over
60,000 individuals spread around
New Zealand. The report shows
both trends in retention across
various demographics (age, gender,
membership type) as well as detailed
analysis of the factors driving
retention.
What’s very clear is that the
market has changed substantially
from 2006, which is when we
last did comprehensive analysis
of retention in New Zealand. Everything
from retention to seasonal sales patterns has changed.
Report author Dr Paul Bedford, otherwise know as the Retention
Guru, was commissioned to undertake the report in late 2014, and
all those that took part have received the report for no charge.
other exercise facilities, but also pre-written agreements
used between trainers and clients.
The Commerce Commission, which is responsible for
enforcing the new laws, has indicated it will prosecute
businesses that breach it, and will be reviewing several
industries including the exercise industry. Fines for
breaching the law could be as high as $200,000 for
individuals and $600,000 for businesses.
We don’t want to see any businesses falling foul of the
law, so ExerciseNZ has developed a best practice guide
for membership agreements to ensure exercise facilities
stay compliant with all New Zealand laws. For more
information on how to be compliant, contact ExerciseNZ
on 0800 66 88 11 or email [email protected].
Richard Beddie
CEO, ExerciseNZ
Health and safety on the agenda
Given the growing requirements of health and safety law in New
Zealand, ExerciseNZ is working to establish industry practice
guidelines for a series of common scenarios from a health and safety
perspective. Topics already identified include unstaffed facilities,
pre-screening clients, casual visitors and privacy vs health and
safety considerations with regards use of cameras.
The intention is to develop a series of hands-on guides to
common industry issues that can be used by facilities and exercise
professionals as they develop their own policies and practices.
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