Life in Lockdown: BOX12

Jamie Cartwright and his business partner Jon Eade launched BOX12, a boxing fitness circuits studio at the end of November 2019. Three and a half months later, the studio was forced to close its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jamie and Jon immediately took the decision to rethink their business model to adapt to the new situation.

“All new members trial a Myzone belt to enjoy the full BOX12 experience and 80% of them go on to purchase a belt.”

Tell us about BOX12

BOX12 is a boxing-for-fitness studio located in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire. We offer 36-minute workouts consisting of 12, three-minute rounds that combine boxing and functional fitness exercises.

A new round starts every three minutes and continues all day, which means there’s no need to book a class, you just turn up and do a workout whenever you want. It’s a niche product and something our members had never seen before. One of the biggest barriers to exercise is getting to a class on time, but our members can turn up when they want and get a structured, technology-led workout. It’s a key selling point.

How important is technology to the concept?

Technology is critical to the BOX12 model. It takes a few sessions to learn the routine and develop the correct technique. Members follow our technology-led workouts which show a virtual instructor on 40-inch screens located around the studio, along with text prompts. We change the workouts every four to five weeks to keep the concept fresh.

"By working in the correct heart rate zone via Myzone, we can ensure members optimise their time and get the best from every workout"

Boxing can be high intensity and your heart rate can shoot up very quickly. We use Myzone to ensure members exercise at the correct intensity during the workout. This prevents them from burning out as well as plateauing as they get fitter. By working in the correct heart rate zone via Myzone we can ensure members optimise their time and get the best from every workout. All new members trial a Myzone belt to enjoy the full BOX12 experience and 80% of them go on to purchase a belt. The workouts are just not the same without it.

How did you respond to lockdown?

Like other operators, we were forced to close for lockdown in March. Our members were genuinely upset by the closure; they felt they had just discovered something new and then had to give it up. It may be tempting for some business owners to batten down the hatches until this all blows over, but we’ve decided to do the opposite. We immediately started to build an online platform to give members an element of the BOX12 experience online. We lost approximately 10% of our members early on, but the rest were happy to continue to pay for our new online service.

How does your new online model work?

Our membership comprises a wide demographic of people, from mothers and daughters to husbands and wives, including a couple in their late sixties, all of which have minimal or zero boxing experience.

"Myzone has allowed us to connect with members and engage with them generally"

We saw this as an opportunity to revisit our model and look at new ways of serving the public. We decided to extend the BOX12 experience to a new audience and have therefore developed three strands to our online offer:

1. Free content - a limited number of workouts, nutrition advice and emotional wellbeing for anyone to take part in.
2. BOX12 membership – regularly updated workouts, advice on nutrition as well as emotional wellbeing content, delivered by Dr Kim Embra, for paying members.
3. Transformational product – a brand new product, still in development, offering a 30 to 60-day body transformation via the BOX12 concept.

Our online platform allows us to support existing members while engaging with new people. I run a live workout every Monday evening, which attracts around 100 participants. Only 20 of these are members. A woman from Scotland emailed to say how much she loved the workouts. Why shouldn’t we continue to serve people like this who live beyond the physical location of the studio after lockdown?

How has Myzone helped you during lockdown?

Myzone has allowed us to connect with members. We launched our first 30-day challenge in April to encourage people to achieve 1300 MEPs. I know that if someone completes three BOX12 workouts a week, they will hit 1300 MEPs, so the challenge also keeps members engaged with BOX12.

Myzone allows us to engage with members generally. Yes, we can email and text members via our CRM system, but MZ-Chat has been a much more informal way of engaging with people during lockdown. You can scroll down the workouts, make a comment and have a bit of fun with them. It feels like the most appropriate way of connecting with people at this time.

What are your future plans?

Our goal has always been to franchise BOX12. With a small footprint and minimal overheads, the concept is ideal for a PT or fitness manager wanting to take the next step up. This remains our goal.

In the meantime, we are busier than before lockdown preparing for the new normal. I believe we are going to be one of the last sectors to open to the public and no-one really knows how studios will successfully operate with social distancing measures in place. Lots of people have opened up to world of online training during lockdown and as operators we need to embrace this, or risk being left behind. These are both exciting and challenging times!

For more information on Myzone visit www.myzone.org