Chapter 864 - Proposal For Product Positioning and Detail

Guo Licheng continued, “The space in most users’ homes is limited. They can only have one fitness equipment. If they set up a treadmill and a spinning bicycle, the aerobic training can be done but not strength training.”

“That’s because strength training requires at least a push rack and dumbbell. Since there’s already a treadmill taking up space, it’s impossible for most people to have another set of strength training equipment at home.”

“On the other hand, if we set up a strength training machine in our home, we can use other methods to achieve aerobics exercises.

“For example, using yoga mats in the living room to do gymnastics, Burpee, etc.”

“Since the main purpose of the smart fitness drying rack is to do strength training, the parts we want to train must be mainly the core strength muscles such as the chest, back, and so on.”

“There’s no need for too many different designs. After all, people who have so many details for strength training would definitely go to the gym. We’re facing ordinary users. Most of them are fitness noobs. This machine has to be simple, easy to understand, and easy to persevere.”

“First of all, the equipment must be targeted at the chest. The chest muscles are relatively easy to train. They are efficient and obvious. You must have a chest fly machine that can train butterfly crossover, straight arms crossover, and reverse arms crossover.”

“The second is the back. The back is relatively simple. Make a high-back training machine at the top of the machine and a rowing machine at the bottom.”

“Then, we can make use of the existing structure as a booster for the upper body. The chair used to train the chest and pull the back can be used as a support for the kneeling posture when the booster is raised.”

“Then, we can make a cable curl at the bottom to train the biceps and Brachioradialis.”

“You can add a barbell with a rails in the middle. You can lie on the seat and do push-ups. You can also fold the seat and stand on the ground to do a weighted squat.”

“In that case… the exercises that this machine can do include: butterfly, straight arms, reverse arms expander, lat pull-down, rowing, pull-up, cable curl, bench press, and weighted squat. There are a total of nine exercises. Most of the muscles in the body should be able to be trained.”

“It should be about the same size as an ordinary cable crossover. The length, width, and height should be about two meters, one meter, four meters, and 2.1meters. It should take up about three square meters of space.”

Guo Licheng took a pen and paper from the side and quickly drew a sketch.

Chang You and Wang Xiaobin came over to watch.

The main structure was a rectangular frame made of metal. The back of the frame was for weight. Apart from the barbell, all strength training used this weight.

The seat was wider and could be fixed. It could also be used as a lever to move up and down. Of course, it could also be folded and not be in the waz

Two mechanical arms extended out from the upper half of the body. They could be used to do crossover exercises. There were two horizontal poles above and below the upper half of the body. They were used for lat pull-down and crossover;

There was a barbell in the middle, which could be used for bench press, squat, or to train shoulders.

Guo Licheng’s drawing skills were a little lousy but Chang You and Wang Xiaobin had gym experience after all. They knew the usage of various equipment, so they could still understand it.

Chang You nodded slightly after reading it, but he still frowned. “Strictly speaking, this is an upgraded version of the comprehensive fitness equipment. It should be functional.”

“However… this is obviously different from the smart drying rack that Boss Pei requested.”

Guo Licheng nodded. “Er, I only designed the most basic functions. The details must be perfected.”

Chang You stood up and got Little Jiang to enter.

“I’ll tell you how to change it. You can draw a simple prototype.”

Little Jiang nodded and began to modify according to Chang You’s instructions.

“First of all, since it’s a drying rack, the current size is definitely not suitable. The few pillars on the outside of the cable crossover is taking up too much space which is a serious waste. I think we should design it into a capital ‘I’ shape to support the main body, including the two rails of the barbell, and focus it on the vertical bar in the middle.”

“Initially, the structure of the cable crossover made people feel that it was like a cage. It was more closed up but would be more open after modification. It will be similar to the feeling of a basketball hoop.”

“The two mechanical arms of the crossover can also be made into foldable ones. They can be folded and placed together with the horizontal lever at the top. Then, the barbell will be set at a position closer to the top. After folding the seats, the center of the entire machine will be empty. It won’t affect walking around normally.”

“Second, we have to make some simple designs and functions for the drying rack.”

“At the moment, the design is more like an ordinary clothes rack. You can hang the clothes on the beam at the top and hang them in a row. What’s more, there are different levels. The beam at the top and the barbell poles at the bottom can hang different clothes.”

“We’ll install a few more fans at the top so that we can blow our clothes to speed up the drying process. At the same time, we can cool users down during the exercise.”

“Finally, the ‘smart’ part.

“In addition to adding artificial intelligence AEEIS, we can also install intelligent modules in various parts. For example, we can install modules on the accompanying mechanisms to know the current weight of users; we can install sensors on the mechanical arms and chairs to know if the user’s current movements are standard. At the same time, we can also judge if the user has restored the machine to the standard position after using it.”

“Finally, the game…”

Wang Xiaobin continued, “I think this game should be mainly used with this machine.”

“The idea of adding smart modules is a good idea. That way, we can monitor the players’ movements in real time.”

“Actually, the biggest problem with traditional fitness methods is that they are boring and cannot be sustained. The fun part of the game is to provide users with a certain degree of interest through the combination of graphics, sound, and gameplay, making it easier for them to persevere.”

“My idea is to package these fitness movements with a game aspect. For example, the protagonist is a warrior. A specific fitness movement is his skill. He can defeat monsters through skills. We can dismantle the training that requires daily training into checkpoints. As long as players complete these checkpoints, they can achieve the goal of training.”

“During the checkpoint, we can add encouraging voice-overs, the provocation of monsters, and other elements to stimulate the players’ fighting desire, making it easier for them to persevere.”

“The other key point is that we can let the players fill in their own height and weight. At the same time, we can measure their heart rate according to the training and roughly determine their physical fitness. We can also slightly adjust the training volume to ensure the best training effect.”

“What’s more, these data can be interconnected with the fitness data in Tengda Life App, including daily reminders, training schedules, and so on. They are all available and can be used directly.”

Chang You nodded as he recorded. “Yes, what will be the estimated investment for the game?”

Wang Xiaobin thought for a moment. “The investment would not be huge. Two or three million yuan should be enough. That’s because the movements, scenes, monsters, and other aspects can be used repeatedly. The main workload is still on the design and details of the stages.”

“This cost can be earned back by selling the equipment if the game is sold in tandem with the equipment.”

Chang You looked at Guo Licheng. “Coach Guo, how much do you think this equipment would cost if we don’t consider the smart module?”

Guo Licheng thought for a moment. “There are similar fitness equipment online. They’re selling for about 3,500 to 4,000 yuan. Our current set needs to be designed in a different way, in charge of installation and after-sales service. The cost of building it should be 4,500 yuan.”

Chang You nodded. “Yes. In that case, with the smart module and other functions, and considering the bundled price of the game, it would be more appropriate to set it at around 5,000 yuan.”

“It’s a little expensive. As a home fitness equipment, the pricing of mainstream equipment in the market is around 3,500 yuan. Our prices do not have much of an advantage.”

“While a machine that sells around 3,500 yuan is far inferior to our equipment in terms of functionality and interest, the difference of 1,500 yuan would still make many people hesitate.”

Xiao Jiang raised his hand and said, “Boss Chang, I have a different opinion.”

“Actually, the difference of 1,500 yuan is not the main factor for users who are willing to fork out money to purchase fitness equipment.”

“They are mainly worried about two things: the first is taking up space, and the second is that it is difficult to persevere.”

“Now that property prices are so high, the space in most people’s homes is limited. Even if this equipment was placed on the balcony, it would take up about three square meters. If we were to calculate based on the price of fifteen thousand yuan per square meter, it would cost nearly fifty thousand yuan.”

“What’s the difference of one thousand five hundred yuan compared to fifty thousand yuan, ?”

“If you buy fitness equipment and don’t use it, it will just be eating dust. You’ll also lose a lot by making it a drying rack.”

“Eating dust and taking up space. It’s not easy to sell them. That’s the key reason why most people don’t buy fitness equipment.”

“However, our product’s foldable design will save some space. It’s more useful than ordinary fitness equipment to hang up clothes. What’s more, it’s more interesting and more sustainable.”

“We will definitely be very competitive as long as we do well.”

“I think we should differentiate it from traditional fitness equipment in terms of style. We should not use black, but white because it looks more technological. It should look more like a technological product than a fitness equipment when it’s in a kept mode. It should look as beautiful as possible.”

“The key to this machine should not be its price but its popularity. As long as it has popularity and there is no competition in the market, the difference of 1,500 yuan will not be a big problem.”

“What’s more, we have more functions, better effects, and a game.”

Chang You nodded slightly. “Yes, that makes sense!”

Thinking about it this way fixed the product positioning even though the smart fitness drying rack was a little lame and could not guarantee 100% success.

Only young people would buy fitness equipment like that. Since that was the case, he would try his best to satisfy young people’s needs and win against all the other competitions.

What’s more, it should be alright to incur losses in the early stages as a supplement to the Deposit Fitness. Pei Qian would be able to earn it back in the future as long as the reputation of the game remained stable and its popularity slowly increased.

Boss Pei should be more tolerant towards the initial losses.

Little Jiang had already completed the rough design of the exterior while everyone was discussing.

Compared to other fitness equipment, the smart fitness drying rack looked more beautiful and technological.

On the other hand, the game would be made into a mobile game. It would be connected to the Tengda Life App’s Tengda Deposit Fitness statistics. One could use a cell phone, a tablet, or a monitor.

There was an intelligent module on the smart fitness drying rack. Once it was connected to a cell phone or tablet, it could detect the current state of the equipment, record the user’s movements, and so on. It could also provide real-time feedback in the game.

The three of them looked at the smart fitness drying rack plan again and perfected some details.

Chang You was very satisfied. “Alright, that’s the plan for now!”

“Everyone, finish the part that you are responsible for. We will maintain communication and will definitely complete Boss Pei’s task!”