Managing Uncertainty: Analysis of Tone Fitness Studio's Issues

This report analyzes the challenges faced by Tone Fitness Studio, a women's fitness studio in Abu Dhabi, established in 2014. The report identifies key issues including a very specific market segmentation focused on housewives, a single-sourced revenue stream based on hourly charges, and an ineffective marketing strategy. The root cause of these issues is identified as high competitiveness in the UAE fitness market. The report provides recommendations divided into short-term, mid-term, and long-term objectives. Short-term recommendations focus on creating an effective market segmentation strategy. Mid-term strategies emphasize multiple revenue streams, and long-term strategies center around an effective social media marketing campaign. The report concludes by suggesting solutions like an innovative social media campaign using the hashtag "#FitnessForFreedom" and offering different subscription models to increase customer satisfaction and market capitalization. The report provides insights into the competitive market challenges and the potential remedies that can help the companies to gain strategic advantage in the competitive market.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Critical analysis...............................................................................................................................2
Issue 1: Very specific market segmentation................................................................................2
Issue 2: Single sourced revenue stream.......................................................................................3
Issues 3: Ineffective marketing strategy......................................................................................3
Root cause of the issues...............................................................................................................3
Recommendations............................................................................................................................4
Short term....................................................................................................................................4
Mid-term......................................................................................................................................5
Long term.....................................................................................................................................5
Solutions..........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference.........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Tone is an Abu Dhabi based fitness studio for women and offers several types of services
like yoga and dance for fitness classes. The organisation was established in September 2014 by
Amna Mohamed Omer and her two sisters. However, the organisation I currently facing a
number of issues that can jeopardize the successful start-up initiative of the Omer sisters. In this
regard, the current report is going to find out the issues and investigate the root cause of the
issues. Apart from that the report also discusses a recommendation for Tone to get competitive
advantage in the competitive fitness and gym market of UAE.
Critical analysis
Issue 1: Very specific market segmentation
Tone is focusing on specific market segmentation with the house wife customers
specifically. Mainly the fitness studio is targeting the young women of 22 to 45 years of old near
the location of Al Macta. It is true that choosing the specific taget customers can prvide strategic
advantage for Tone in the competitive fitness market of UAE. However, the company
specifically emphasizes on the housewives. As a result of that other target customers on the same
market are not getting any service offers from Tone properly. In addition to this, the research of
Chekhovska (2017) stated that despite of considering the fitness industry of UAE as booming
sector. The UAE women specially the housewives does not get much time to visit the fitness
studios. Therefore, it is a grave problem for Tone to get more customers.

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Issue 2: Single sourced revenue stream
Tone offers its clients a single subscription facility that is based on an hourly price of the
training. The price of each hour is priced from 80 to 199 AED. It varies due to the different
fitness trainings and type of workout. The organisation focuses on the daily lifestyle of the UAE
women and realised that it will be effective to offer a single subscription of hourly charges.
However, it is not the best method of attracting customers. As per the research of Pradeep,
Vadakepat and Rajasenan (2020) the successful business companies are very particular regarding
their service offering and the price that is charging for the service. Customers have different
types of mind-set. Some are interested in monthly and yearly subscription whereas some are
liked to pay on daily basis. Henceforth, there should be option for the customers to choose the
subscription of their choice. However, Tone only provides hourly subscription that counters the
demands and specifications of some of the female customers.
Issues 3: Ineffective marketing strategy
The marketing strategy of Tone is developed on social media marketing which is a very
effective marketing tool for start-up businesses. However, the social media marketing needs to
be creative and must have any impact over the society. Therefore, many companies are presented
social messages in the social media marketing technique in order to generate a strong customer
driven approach. In response to this, Olson et al. (2018) argued that social media campaign is
very effective formula for attracting maximum number of customers. Tone must use the same
practice and initiate a better social media campaign to maximise the target customers.
Root cause of the issues
High competitiveness in the UAW fitness market is the root cause for all the issues faced
by Tone. There are several fitness studios and gym in the market and each of the studios provide

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unique service offers to the customers. However, the success and sustainability of the fitness
studios is depending on effective marketing strategy with proper segmentation of the target
customers. From the research of Qin, Yuan and Wang (2017) it can be stated that market
segmentation is the fundamental basis of successful business operation as it reflects the in-depth
understanding of the target customers and their psychology. The product and service offerings of
the companies are depended on it. Therefore, it is pertinent for the organisations to enhance its
perception over target market segmentation and set the marketing practice accordingly.
Recommendations
There are some key recommendations that Tone must follow in order to resolve its risks
and challenges in the competitive fitness market of UAE. The recommendations are divided into
short term, mid-term and long term objectives.
Short term
Creating an effective market segmentation strategy will be helpful for the organisation to
understand the customers and their psychology at first (Saleem, Eagle & Low, 2018). The entire
success of the organisation depends on the segmentation and target market customers. It is
considered to be the short term objective for Tone because the initial problem of identifying the
target customer will be mitigated through the effective segmentation strategy. According to
McAlexander, Koenig and DuFault (2016) the market segmentation process helps the business
organisations to get the initial target customers who are considered to be the target customers of
the company. Therefore, the company must take initiative to understand the geography,
demography, psychograph and behavioural traits of the target customers. As a result of that it
becomes easier for the organisation to choose strategies and decision making properly in

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accordance with the market segmentation. Understanding the insights of the employees is one of
the major concerns for the business companies operating in competitive market (Carter, 2019).
The entire success of the organisation indirectly depends on the effectiveness of the market
segmentation. Henceforth, Tone must carry out a better market segmentation at first and apart
from the geographic description that the market segmentation practice has to incorporate other
elements as well.
Mid-term
The mid-term strategy for Tone should be focused on multiple sourced revenue
streaming. This strategy is considered to leave a mid-term impact over the organisation because
the organisation will provide adequate offers to the customers for the time being. The current
business situation of Tone is depending on attracting the primary target customers so that it will
never be possible to attract customers on a single service offer. From the research of Remeňová
and Jankelová (2018) it can be stated that the role of the business organisations is to engage the
customers effectively with the business practice so that it can facilitate loyal customer base and
bring effectiveness to the organisational development in near future. Different service offering is
created a better customer maximisation process as the customers will get multiple options and
choose the best one that can meet their desires (Lewis, 2017). Henceforth, the focus of Tone has
to be vested on the customer satisfaction measure and multiple sourced revenue streaming will
fulfil the interests of both the organisation and customers effectively.
Long term
The long term benefit for Tone will be generated by introducing an effective marketing
practice. As per the research of Baxi, Panda and Karani (2016) business companies are choosing
the marketing tools as per the needs and financial condition of the organisation. However,

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execution of the marketing tools properly is highly pertinent for the business organisations to not
only maximise the customers but also formulate a long term initiative for the organisation by
developing a sustainable brand image (Katsikeas, Leonidou & Zeriti, 2019). For Tone, choosing
the social media marketing is very pragmatic and relevant approach for the organisation.
However, the organisation must emphasis on meeting the long term objectives by implementing
the social media marketing. Henceforth, a social media campaign over women empowerment
and equality can provide a global message to the customers and the customers will get attracted
with the benevolent idea of the organisation. Bandyopadhyay and Ray (2019) advocated that the
purpose of effective marketing strategy is to attract the customers heavily and make them loyal
to the brand for a longer time. Therefore, it is considered to be an effective practice for Tone to
keep focus on the social media campaigns in order to attract more female customers.
Solutions
The social media campaign of Tone should be linked with women empowerment,
equality and the need of fitness in current lifestyle. Therefore, the organisation needs to
formulate an innovative headline that can easily attracted the female customers. For instance,
“#FitnessForFreedom” can be an effective measure that Tone must take. It will definitely attract
the female customers to visit the fitness studios of Tone as they feel motivated and touched by
the campaign of the organisation. Moreover, providing different subscription offers for the
customers will also help the organisation to create an attraction among the customers. As opined
by Bandyopadhyay and Ray (2019) the customer satisfaction measure should be the primary
concern for the business organisations. Therefore, different service offers with an effective social

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media campaign will definitely facilitate enough market capitalisation for Tone despite of having
a competitive fitness market in UAE.
Conclusion
The report intends to project risk factors that the start-up business companies may face in
a competitive market. For better understanding, the report emphasises on Tone Fitness Studio
and its challenges in business in the UAE fitness market such as business expansion, customer
maximisation and continuous revenue streaming. Therefore, the report recommends some
important measures like focusing on the customer segmentation practice, create multiple source
of revenue streaming and social media campaign for Tone to gain competitive advantage in the
UAE market. Based on this, it can be concluded that the report provides insights into the
competitive market challenges and the potential remedies that can help the companies to gain
strategic advantage in the competitive market.

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Reference
Bandyopadhyay, C., & Ray, S. (2019). Social enterprise marketing: review of literature and
future research agenda. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.
Baxi, B., Panda, R., & Karani, A. (2016). Community Marketing: an effective Marketing
Strategy. Romanian Journal of Marketing, (3).
Carter, L. L. (2019). Equivalence and Research Design Optimization for International Market
Segmentation. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 13(3).
Chekhovska, L. (2017). Fitness industry: state and prospects of development in the countries of
the world. Slobozhanskyi herald of science and sport, (2 (58)), 19-24.
Katsikeas, C., Leonidou, L., & Zeriti, A. (2019). Revisiting international marketing strategy in a
digital era. International Marketing Review.
Lewis, F. (2017). Slipping Through the Cracks: How Digital Music Streaming Cuts Corners on
Artists' Royalty Revenues Globally. Brook. J. Int'l L., 43, 297.
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Pradeep, S., Vadakepat, V., & Rajasenan, D. (2020). The effect of service quality on customer
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Qin, R., Yuan, Y., & Wang, F. Y. (2017). Exploring the optimal granularity for market
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