Yoga World took Macau like by a fresh breeze, and today, after more than two years, Yoga World is offering a rich variety of classes to its two-thousand members in Macau. How did they do it? We talked to Michael, the owner and co-founder of Yoga World.
After recognizing the great opportunity concealed in the growing business environment in Macau and the lack of body and health facilities, Yoga World was founded in 2007, targeting a niche that was never segmented before. “We decided to come to Macau because it just seemed like the right time and the right place,” Michael Kyprianou said.
He added “the decision to focus on the women niche came from two main reasons, first, it was a major money saving scheme for us. Having limited space, the women-only policy allowed us to utilize our facilities better, for example have only one changing room. Secondly, knowing that the health and yoga business will develop in the future, we focused on women, not only to be different from the other gyms and health centers, but also to make our members, and their husbands, more comfortable in our facilities.”
Currently, Yoga World has thirty staff spread between the Macau and Taipa clubs, and together they are constantly developing and offering never-seen-before programs and workshops. “It is a combined effort between all the teachers and staff. I feel that the right way to grow is to allow each member of the team to come up with their own idea and to help them develop it. This constant development made us strong, and today we are offering more than 170 hours of classes per week including muscle conditioning, dance, martial arts, Pilates, aerobics and yoga”.
When talking about ways of keeping the business hot and active, Kyprianou mentioned that one of the most basic and essential methods is having constant promotions and new offers for members and non-members. “We are aiming to reach different kinds of people from different backgrounds and styles, and therefore we are always bringing new surprising elements to our class range. Our most popular out-of-class activities are our one-time workshops during the weekend, or seminars which are open to the public.”
One of the most recent headlines that Yoga World has created was for its Bollywood dance sensation. “It is not every day that you see a group of local girls dressed up in beautiful Indian Saree, dancing to India’s best hits. It is amazing and surreal at the same time, but this is exactly what we are all about - new and surprising offers to the women of Macau.”
It hasn’t been all song and dance to Yoga World, and the recent turmoil in the world has taken its toll. “We’ve opened our Macau club just when the financial troubles hit the news, and we were wondering where it will lead us.” Kyprianou mentioned that just like many other businesses he saw the need to cut costs by prioritizing expenditures and creating a minimum number of participants per classes, for example. But with the uncertainty came an unexpected turn. “It seems that in times of crisis and insecurity, people usually tend to care about their health, and therefore we are still here, and looking ahead.”
Looking at the future, Yoga World has some ideas how to develop its Macau market. “There are plans to open another club in Macau, but its still in the planning phase. We want to have Yoga World in central as well as residential areas in Macau. Having it available and accessible to the public will answer our goal to satisfy our customers' needs. It’s all about them.”
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