Meanwhile… Across the World
Each Tuesday, the focus of the morning is international development. elements? is well positioned to become the premium fitness and lifestyle brand for women, worldwide. Through our past business experience, we have many high level international relationships, and are able to leverage them to facilitate development deals in key international markets. We have approached international development with caution, making sure to be highly selective about our market choices, and more importantly - our development partners. It is typically a one year due diligence process for an international group to be awarded development rights by us, with several face to face meetings and quite a bit of strategy and rollout planning on their part.
Each Tuesday at noon
I have a conference call with our
country developers in India. I am always more than a little impressed with the work ethic, determination, and sheer pace that is sustained in this market. Our noon call is actually at 11:30PM their time, an unthinkable work hour for many American businesspeople, but something which is not at all unusual for entrepreneurs in this region. With 14 hour workdays, and seven day weeks, it is no wonder they are experiencing such tremendous growth.
Our focus, when considering an international market, is how to translate the brand culturally - much consideration must be given to the local culture, customs, and perceptions of an American fitness brand operating locally. elements has development partners in Asia, Israel, and now Latin America - a list which reads
like a who’s who of business. We are also closely exploring
development deals in the Caribbean, London, as well as Milan.
Today we were focused on the construction of the initial elements? club in Surat City, a posh region in the South of India. Flanked by diamond traders, international tourists, and exporting trades, this is quite a cosmopolitan destination for the brand. Retail store locations are much smaller in India, where commercial space is such a high premium. Twelve units must be combined to create what (in the US) is a relatively small club (4,000 square feet). Our Indian developers, no strangers to lifestyle based businesses, are highly excited about the venture, and are adamant that they would like the club to duplicate that of a US club, something which is the point of a small debate. We believe the club should retain more customary Indian designs, complimented with the elements brand feel, to make members more comfortable within the space… check in to see the final outcome, I will post the photos once they become available.
