“We expect the fitness industry to bounce back well”

Matteo Cerruti, chief experience officer at TRIB3, explains how the boutique fitness brand has adjusted since the outbreak of COVID-19

Tell us more about TRIB3. What differentiates you?

At TRIB3 you don’t just get a workout, you get a workout experience. This is the exciting thing about the boutique fitness market - there’s a unique focus on customer experience across the entire journey.

Our 45-minute, coach-led HIIT classes leverage our proprietary TRI training system - treadmills, resistance and intensity - all topped off with a custom shake bar and retail offering.

What really differentiates us though is our purpose. We’re passionate about bringing like-minded people together through next-level workout experiences and community sits at the heart of what we do - from our store designs to our programming and events.

How have you been dealing with the impact of Covid-19?

The main priority remains the well-being of our team and customers, what we call our TRIB3Rs, but we’ve also had a consistent focus on engaging and building our community.

This includes launching TRIB3 at Home, a series of live, at-home, coach-led workouts that are free to everyone, whether you’re currently a TRIB3R or new to the brand. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response and engagement.

We’ve also been running a series of charity initiatives, including our three-hour workout, Sweat for a Cause, in support of Age UK. Behind the scenes, we’re also supporting our new franchise partners to continue the work to open their stores in the coming months across the UK and Spain.

How are you getting ready for the future?

In preparation for reopening, we have been focused on creating an augmented experience that protects our TRIB3Rs, while also protecting the experience of the workout they know and love.

Research, both internal and external, is showing the vast majority of people are keen to get back to their gym or studio, so we expect the fitness industry to bounce back well. We’ve designed our new layout, timetable and programming to allow for distancing measures while keeping the store profitable and at a strong occupancy.
We’re also accelerating planned digital transformation. In May we launched our custom heart rate monitor, the SWEAT BAND 1.0, and our new SWEAT app to enable further connectivity with the TRIB3 community, as we recognised how much it could support people working out at home as well as in the studios.

There are several other exciting digital platforms on the way too, including a new booking app and TRIB3 Live, our upcoming virtual live workout offering.

Why do you think fitness franchises, in particular, will be important after the Covid-19 pandemic?

One of the most important messages throughout the pandemic has been that being physically active is crucial to long-term health and keeping people fighting fit.

Fitness franchising allows for efficient and fast growth of the sector and we’ve seen historically, after any challenging financial global conditions, both leisure and franchising increase in popularity due to more people looking to improve their well-being and also to secure their own future income streams via a proven model.

Boutique operators, like TRIB3, are able to implement physical distancing efficiently into the model, as class-based fitness is already built around capacity management and zoning.