Newsletter December 2008

Click here to view the December newsletter

Hello,

In the current economic climate many health club and gym managers face the dilemma of having to balance offering enhanced customer service to aid customer retention while reducing their costs of service delivery. So how can Gladstone help you in mastering this opportunity?

Gladstone has clearly articulated over the past few years its view of the 'customer journey' and how Gladstone's philosophy can assist your business - before, during and after your members visit your centre or gym facilities.

The successful deployment of e-commerce solutions such as Gladstone Kiosk2 and Gladstone Connect2 really can solve your dilemma. Similar solutions in other retail environments such as travel, banking and the high-street trade have proved immensely popular in both the reduction of operating costs while enhancing the customer experience from a customer convenience perspective; and is now an ideal benefit for the Health and Fitness industry.

Connect2 and kiosk2 are powerful web-based products that allow leisure centre/ gym members to securely book, manage and pay for their activities online and on site. The core benefit from this e-commerce solution is the ability to significantly drive down service delivery costs by removing transactional based processes away from front-of-house staff so that their skills can be more effectively utilised by engaging with customers within the centre.

Both of these applications have proved to be extremely popular and have been used by a wide variety of customers from Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) in London, Valley Leisure Limited in Hampshire, Huntingdonshire District Council, Stirling Leisure in Scotland and Flintshire District Council in North Wales.

GLL have experienced particular success with kiosks. Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre now has three kiosks which handle well in excess of 3,000 visits a week. Business Systems Manager, Stephen Winfield has said that the kiosks also help with other aspects of their leisure facilities management. "The kiosks are allowing us to understand the usage patterns of our members a lot more clearly than ever before." You can read more on Stephen's comments at GLL in the full case study in this month's December newsletter.

Onto a more seasonal note, the festive period will soon be upon us and this year Gladstone is making a change. Instead of sending Christmas cards to all of our customers as in previous years, we have decided the money spent on the cards and postage would prove more useful going to a charity. This year we have decided to support The Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital charity where our contribution will be used for good causes. However, we much appreciate our relationship with all our clients and I personally extend our best wishes and Season's greetings to all our clients.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dr. Said Ziai
CEO,
Gladstone plc

Click here to view the December newsletter

5 December 2008