Chapter 4: Digital Transformation and Innovation in Portugal Fitness Centres

Consumer behaviour has taken on new dimensions as a result of digital technology’s impact on our lives (Dey, Yen, & Samuel, 2020). Fitness centre managers have gradually integrated new technologies into the organisation and administration of their businesses, not only to aid in this element of organisation and management but also to provide a more fulfilling experience for their members and increase members loyalty (Ferreira Barbosa, García-Fernández, & Cepeda-Carrión, 2020), one of the main problems in the sector (Clavel San Emeterio, Iglesias-Soler, Gallardo, Rodriguez-Cañamero, & García-Unanue, 2017). Technology is part of customer perceived value, directly related to perceived quality and therefore also to satisfaction and in turn to loyalty (García-Fernández, Gálvez-Ruiz, Bohorquez, Grimaldi-Puyana, & Cepeda-Carrión, 2020). This technological transformation, according to García-Fernández et al. (2020), has a direct impact on all the aspects of fitness centres. In this regard, fitness centres are increasingly relying on technological innovation services such as software management, fitness centre equipment, fitness applications (apps) and wearable fitness technologies (WFT). Despite of the fact that technology is already a very present reality in the fitness industry, the Covid-19 pandemic has created a need for the industry to adapt from face-to-face to online, relying on the new technological innovation services such as social media (e.g. broadcasting the group classes via Facebook) and On-demand (e.g. making available recorded virtual classes). A significant increase in the number of technological innovation tools is critical to develop a more favourable relationship between the member and the organisation (Pedragosa, 2021). However, there are few studies developed explicitly in this field, implying that the scientific community should further develop this topic, particularly in competitive markets such as fitness centres and health clubs (Miragaia & Constantino, 2019).