Hapana delights the boutique fitness market with the help of Ezypay

Hapana, a member management and engagement platform for fitness businesses, were looking for more than just a payment processor. Hapana initially launched with a traditional payment gateway but soon realised their members required more features and flexibility to cater to their preferences. As a result, they began searching for a new payment provider that could meet their customers’ evolving needs. Hapana was looking for a partner that could not only provide payment processing but also enhance their ability to foster a highly engaged community among their users. They were also seeking tools that would help them appeal to multi-site and franchised businesses, to offer value that other providers could not.
 
Eventually, Hapana found Ezypay, a payment provider that offered the necessary flexibility to cater to their members' preferences. The resulting partnership between Hapana and Ezypay has enhanced Hapana's ability to offer a seamless payment experience and engage with their members, ultimately fostering a sense of community for all studio and club owners within their businesses.     

About Hapana

 
Hapana is a member management and engagement platform, designed to assist fitness businesses of all sizes, ranging from small boutique studios to larger gyms and franchises. The last 10 years have seen significant growth in class-based boutique studios, offering Pilates, yoga, indoor cycling, or functional training. Traditional gym software platforms did not cater to these studios as they ignored the community aspect of fitness and primarily focussed on billing. “Both Boutique Studios and progressive gyms are exceptionally focused on member engagement which can be a challenge if using standalone point tools that don’t appreciate all the touchpoints of the member’s experience,” says Corey Loehr, Chief Revenue Officer at Hapana.
 
From its inception, Hapana’s goal has been to develop a platform that champions this style of health and fitness, going beyond standard member management and payment processing. Hapana understood that in order to be successful they needed to embrace the community component and focus on ways that studios can keep their members engaged at all touchpoints. The end result is a platform that transforms a members’ journey and continues to keep them engaged, delivering superior retention rates for the studio. “Boutiques and progressive clubs are really embracing the concept of community and realising that the app in their member’s hand can be that opportunity.“
 
Hapana has continued to grow, both in Australia and throughout Asia Pacific. They currently operate in over 10 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea. Their exceptional growth is in part due to the growth of their customers, specifically multi-site or franchised businesses. As a key component for both Hapana and Ezypay, these larger health and fitness businesses will continue to drive growth and will remain an ongoing focus in the future.

"Both Boutique Studios and progressive gyms are exceptionally focused on member engagement which can be a challenge if using standalone point tools that don’t appreciate all the touchpoints of the member’s experience,”

The situation

 
Launching with a traditional payment gateway provider allowed Hapana to easily enter the market and build its customer base, but with the lack of features it didn’t promote growth. Corey commented on their former provider’s lack of fit, “Covering off billing was always known and we initially launched with a traditional payment partner that could process invoices, but found that the market was looking for more options and features.”
 
Hapana knew if they were going to focus on boutique studios, they would need to find a provider that could offer unique features. These unique features included the ability to offer flexible payment plan options, multiple payment cycles and payment methods. Partnering with a payments provider that could offer these features was key to unlocking Hapana’s full potential in the industry. Corey expanded on Hapana’s wishlist when looking for a new payments partner, “Credit cards, bank direct debit, re-tries on failed payments, partial payments, refunds, and multiple payment cycles – these features together give members options that suit their financial situation. While all of these are taken for granted today, at the time they were slowly being brought to market and we needed something faster and found Ezypay.”
 
While looking for options, Hapana noticed that the majority of payments providers were not equipped to service their users' boutique studios. “We had met with a couple of other payment processors, but they were simply that with not much value to add.” As a result, Hapana had to search for a specialised payments provider who could cater to their boutique studio users' unique needs and offer more than just basic payment processing capabilities to add value to their business.
 

Choosing the right partner

 
Not happy with the outcomes from meetings with traditional payments providers, Hapana’s attention turned to Ezypay. They were already aware of Ezypay as a leader in the payments industry and were encouraged to start discussions after receiving endorsements from existing Ezypay customers.  
With meetings organised, the Hapana team started to better understand the value of the Ezypay team and how Ezypay could help their continued growth. “We initially met with Dan Moy (Partnership Manager) and then James Foster (CEO). As we met with others at Ezypay we could see that there was a theme of transparency and progress. We believed that we shared many values as well as the commitment to execution…not just the words,” noted Corey.

"...We believed that we shared many values as well as the commitment to execution…not just the words."

Hapana was impressed by Ezypay’s NextGen Technology platform and could see the potential of a partnership between the two companies. Ezypay already had key features that would enable Hapana’s customers to get the most out of the payment side of their business. This included multiple payment options, flexible failed payment handling and one-time payments.
 
However, what really drew Hapana to Ezypay was the ability to support the growth of multi-site or franchised studios. Ezypay had a number of features that catered specifically to these larger businesses and would help foster the growth of both Hapana and their customers. Ezypay not only had the global footprint and rapid onboarding to help these businesses scale with ease, but they also featured MultiSplit Payments capabilities, allowing franchise fees to be distributed before settlement is made to clubs. Corey expanded, “Our customer base has seen a continuous growth in multi-site brands and the ability to give our brands critical features for corporate owned and franchisee settlements, as well as franchisee royalty split payment processing were appreciated as high value add services.”

This feature of the Ezypay’s offering would be critical in convincing Hapana to join Ezypay, as both companies understood the prospects that come with multi-site or franchised studios. As growing companies, both Hapana and Ezypay saw an opportunity to develop in partnership and help foster the growth of other Australian health and wellness businesses.

Along with the extra features they required, Hapana knew there was a need to have a reliable payment provider. As billing would be central to the partnership, it was crucial for Hapana to trust Ezypay’s ability to process payments timely, accurately, and seamlessly, creating the best possible experience for both Hapana’s customers and their members. Corey added. “First and foremost, the billing needed to be foundational. Successfully processing invoices ensures the business meets cash flow obligations while offering members the most flexibility.”
 

As growing companies, both Hapana and Ezypay saw an opportunity to develop in partnership and help foster the growth of other Australian health and wellness businesses.

Developing a solution

 
With Hapana convinced that Ezypay could tick all their boxes, the two companies began working on the solution. In bringing both companies’ technology teams together, common ground was found through the functional scoping and use case scenarios descriptions.  Being intensively focused on end user outcomes and efficient business processes ensured that both companies’ intentions were brought to production with immediate business value being released to our customers. With both teams following principles of Agile development, the bigger project was shaped into a number of sprints for each team which were coordinated to a timely robust production release. Further minor enhancements were brought to the platform to continue to drive innovation and  to deliver more business value through our partnership.      

 
The outcome

With the integration complete, Hapana was finally able to deliver a payment solution that catered directly to boutique studios and class-based fitness clubs, with particular focus on multi-site and franchised businesses. These larger businesses gained crucial tools to control their licensing fees, while also creating an avenue to earn more revenue. Hapana’s broader customer base also gained access to a suite of advanced subscription payments options, including variable payment cycles, upfront and ad hoc payments and both card and bank payments. Through the partnership with Ezypay, Hapana users are now equipped with the tools they need to keep their members engaged and delighted.
 
And at the heart of the integration, Ezypay took full control of the payments, ensuring a seamless experience for both clubs and their members. Ezypay has proved its reliability, processing payments accurately, timely and seamlessly.
 

Conclusion

 
Hapana needed a payments processing partner that could tailor its offering to the unique needs of boutique studios and class based fitness clubs. While meeting with other providers, it was quickly apparent that Ezypay was the only provider with the technical ability and payments understanding required to help Hapana support their growing customer base.
 
Hapana can lean on Ezypay’s Intelligent Payment Capture and NextGen Technology Platform to provide its studios and clubs the flexibility and advanced payment features  they need to engage their members and provide a customised experience for everyone.  Doing so has also given Hapana a competitive edge when appealing to larger franchised or multi-site businesses, utilising Ezypay’s MutiSplit Payments feature. When asked about the success of the partnership, Corey commented, “We have continued to grow our partnership over the past years, and has led to new clients, new countries and multiple currencies across Asia-Pacific. Ezypay has brought the right people into their company and it’s those people that are delivering every day.”
 
Ezypay CEO, James Foster added to this by saying, “The mutual success of our partnership with Hapana is testament to our shared vision of innovation in the Health & Fitness industry. We are glad the Hapana team has been able to leverage our 27 years of experience in Health & Fitness payments, as well as our unrivalled coverage in the Asia Pacific region. Our dedication to partners is not only evidenced by our market leading Net Promoter Score of 88, but also by the growth and success of partners such as Hapana.”
 
The relationship between the two partners continues to be mutually beneficial, with both companies working together to provide a state of the art, end-to-end member engagement solution, whilst they both continue to grow throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Hapana founder & CEO Jarron Aizen commented on the ongoing partnership saying “the ambitious nature of both companies has enabled us to solidify our Australian footprint while expanding together across APAC with many of our multi-site boutique brands. I know that Hapana’s continuous desire for a true partnership and mutual success will see both parties continue on our trajectory of expansion and accelerated growth."

"I know that Hapana’s continuous desire for a true partnership and mutual success will see both parties continue on our trajectory of expansion and accelerated growth."