Tag: How COVID-19 has changed the fitness industry

In India, the revenue within the Fitness segment is projected to succeed at US$2,152m in 2021. Revenue is predicted to point out an annual rate of growth (CAGR 2021-2024) of 2.68%, leading to a projected market volume of US$2,331m by 2024.

Although the threat of corona virus has left the fitness industry ailing and barely able to stand with smaller gyms on the verge of shutting down, larger chains contemplating huge losses and unemployment becoming a very real prospect for thousands of trainers and support staff.There were approximately 5,500 gyms in Delhi employing around 1 lakh persons whose livelihood was compromised. Fitness trainers, executives, cleaners, equipment vendors and housekeeping staff were affected they were even struggling to cater to their daily needs.The owners had the burden to pay electricity bills, rent, bank EMIs, and school fees of their children and this could not be done when the business was closed. They were ready to follow the guidelines of the government to get back to the track.Since gyms across the country shut shop and the industry already crumbling under the pressure of the COVID-19 outbreak led to a lockdown in many parts of the country had hit fitness centres big and small — whether neighbourhood gyms, with maybe a couple of treadmills and a cross trainer or two, or nationwide chains like Gold’s Gym and Cult.fit that have at least 20 centres in one city alone.

Mumbai’s Cult.fit centres, asked many of their employees to resign over the phone no matter the employees suffering from financial constraints they were only offered with a compensation salary for 45 days which couldn’t oblige to the request. Over 800 employees were laid off. It was sad to see people getting removing in seconds. Apart from metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai, the fitness chain has a presence in cities like Indore, Amritsar, Kochi, Kota, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Surat, among others. And 90%trainers of the Cult. Fit gym continued to be there and was soon moved to a fixed plus variable model to tide over the crisis. All employees’ part of the downsizing was provided with a significant severance package to help them with the situation, including extended health insurance for them and their families.

As Nikhil Kakkar, COO of Gold’s Gym India, puts it, overseeing 150 gyms and employing 2,000 trainers. In Mumbai, all gyms closed on March 13, 2020. Rent forms a major chunk of the revenue, nearly 25 percent, and in seeks of waivers but landlords did not give any assurance. Payroll comprises 30 percent of the cost, while electricity took up 10 percent. Payments were also to be made for housekeeping, vaults, security and maintenance of equipment’s.

One of the most popular chains for gyms in the world – Gold’s Gym – had also filed for bankruptcy as the corona virus pandemic hit the US economy. The 55-year-old company was looking to pursue restructuring for its 700 centres across the world. However, its India business remained safe as assured by Karan Valecha, director and co-founder Gold’s Gym India. He claimed that the situation absolutely did not have any impact on Gold’s Gym India as a Master Franchise and yet their commitment for providing customers with the best fitness experience was full of confidence.

Whereas on the other hand Pravesh Gaur, who owns the Fast Fit chain of gyms in Delhi and Faridabad, had sent some of his staff on unpaid leave and were looking at a loss of more than 30 percent of annual sales and was left with no other option than shut. Each of his gyms employs nearly 20 people, including trainers, cleaning staff and receptionists. The trainers were at least kept on board while rest members were kept off the board.

But according to Chirag Sethi, owner of Anytime Fitness outlets in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar and Saket, the current state of the fitness industry in India was a far cry from what it was in April last year. He reveals that many mothers who seek gym memberships owing to extra time on their hands due to the onset of the pandemic it has got to a point that people are scared to even enter the gyms for which bearing 100 percent losses, while it would normally have made a profit of Rs 20-28 lakh every month, but ever since the lockdown began it was registered a loss of Rs 60-80 lakh,”

There are around 24,000 gyms and studios in the country, according to an estimate by Fitternity, a web aggregator for fitness outlets. To prevent their businesses from running completely dry, many have taken to providing online training sessions over WhatsApp, Skype, and FaceTime. Cult.fit is now imparting online training sessions for its members on its app, with trainers doing their best to instruct in as much detail as possible.

Sethi, who is also the Vice-President of the Delhi Gym Association that represents over 3000 gyms in the Capital, is also participating in the online campaign, urging clients to pre-buy their memberships to help sustain the fitness centres, especially the smaller gyms, and stop them from shutting. The smaller gyms had gone bankrupt as they had to access to aid (capital). It had become a fight for survival with a hand to mouth situation.

Even as the gyms open in the post-COVID world, the fitness industry the world over is set to witness a major change — with social distancing and hygiene measures becoming the prime focus. Even across the globe, where things have already started opening up, gyms are bracing for the new normal. For instance, the operators of Britain’s 4,000 gyms are in advanced plans for reopening once they are given the all-clear. When gyms do finally open, capacity is likely to be reduced by half to maintain the two-metre distancing, while personal trainers will have to offer advice from a distance. Members will be able to use an app to monitor when their gym is quieter and plan their visits accordingly. An app was also developed, wherein members were assigned time slots for a limited number of days. As opposed to having 50-60 people drop in during peak hours (morning and evening), a maximum of 15 will be allowed with two or three trainers deployed to help them and out of the six treadmills on the floor, only two were operational to ensure social distancing. Sanitisation exercises with disinfectants being sprayed on exercise equipment’s after every hour and temperature checks will be the new norm, as was witnessed in several gym outlets before the lockdown began.

Hence comparing the branded gyms like Gold’s Gym and Cult.Fit along with their franchises with other small and non- branded gyms and fitness centres the outcome is the difference of the capital that made the branded fitness companies survive during this hardship but yet on the other side the non branded and small fitness centres with less capital couldn’t survive, because Capital is always scarce in growing a business. And in franchising the capital needed to expand is provided by the franchisee.

The year 2020 bought a few lots of changes within the way we eat, think, act, live, but most of all, it caused a change within the way we treat our minds and bodies not only this but also being lively and spending quality time with the loved ones made a grave impact

While sales for home workout equipment sky-rocketed over e-commerce sites, fitness influencers took charge and began multiple series to assist people workout at the comfort of their homes.

The fitness industry is evolving rapidly with the arrival of a budding ecosystem comprising consumers, service and equipment providers, complementary industries, and government initiatives. Indians became more health-conscious and have started taking note of their daily habits and lifestyle. However, the thought of a healthy mind during a healthy body isn’t new Indians – yoga, akhadas, Ayurveda, and meditation have always been a neighbourhood of our culture modern lifestyle again gave us a reason to get in touch with our roots.

The delivery of fitness to the buyer is evolving

In an attempt to curtail spread of the virus, many government entities forced the closure of fitness facilities everywhere the planet. These mandated shutdowns have resulted in the bankruptcy of huge health spa operators like 24-Hour Fitness and city Sports International, also because the closure of studio operators likes Flywheel and various independent business owners. These closures are a big source of disruption and have resulted in lost jobs and incomes for thousands of health and exercise professionals. However, these closures have also encouraged more widespread use of virtual programs. While home-based workouts aren’t new, the pandemic has spawned an explosion of online services that represent a completely new way of delivering workout programs to consumers.

Pratik Kalra, a personal trainer at Fitness First’s Noida branch had claimed to put the annual membership fee on hold, which were resumed after the gym could resume operations. In the meantime, they were also offering online personal training sessions to interested customers at a nominal rate. To retain its patrons’ interest, Fitness First is also offering online live fitness videos with celebrities like Jonty Rhodes, Mouni Roy and Mandira Bedi, for Rs 2,000 for five sessions.

Online classes are also being dished out to regular customers of gyms with 900 members each, over Facebook, Instagram and Zoom, free of cost “just to keep the members with them”. Mumbai’s JG’S Fitness Centre, which has got no new member registrations since the outbreak, has initiated online fitness consultations and training sessions to keep the banks rolling.

But online classes of gyms are what food delivery is for fine-diners — a patch on their actual sales. Meanwhile, some of them have come together for an online campaign to highlight what needs to be done to save the “fitness industry”. Kakkar is part of bodyandstrength.com, wherein they post requests by top fitness professionals and centre heads — including asking for a moratorium on utility bills, GST waiver for the coming months and a freeze on rental for the affected months.

Facilities like studios and health clubs need to pay rent for a physical location; when the mandated shutdowns occurred, operators had to shut their businesses and forgo the power to gather revenue while still being contractually obligated to pay rent. Companies that provide live-stream fitness classes, like Peloton, Les Mills and Mirror, on demand have a serious competitive advantage over traditional fitness facilities therein they will deliver workouts to an almost unlimited number of consumers while paying only a fraction in rent. Video fitness providers were experiencing gradual growth before the spring of 2020, but as governments established the shelter-in-place orders that forced facilities to shut, that growth became exponential.

Virtual fitness classes are often delivered one among two ways: asynchronously (i.e., on demand), meaning a consumer can choose a workout from a library of previously recorded programs; or synchronously (i.e., live streams), where the buyer follows alongside class because it is being taught live and broadcast over the web. Whether on-demand or live, consumers trying to find workout solutions reception quickly adapted and have become familiar with the convenience of doing an instructor-led workout from the comfort of their house. This alteration in consumer behaviour will create business opportunities who can begin offering streaming workouts of their own.

Large companies aren’t the sole ones providing streaming workouts. When health and exercise professionals were placed on furlough or terminated by their employers, many responded by using services like FaceTime, Zoom or Facebook Live to continue working with clients and teaching group fitness classes. Aimee Nicotera, an ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor based in Massachusetts, was placed on furlough and ultimately terminated by a national health spa company. The allowance of Social media on health and exercise professionals to plug on to the buyer

Another disruptive force that’s changing the way that health and exercise professionals connect with clients is that the use of social media. The normal model of a fitness business involves working with clients during a physical location, like a health spa or travelling to figure with clients directly in their homes. Before COVID-19, that model was already beginning to change and now even more health and exercise professionals are adapting to the utilization of social media to draw in new clients. Personal trainers can design and produce workout programs for a spread of outcomes, from weight loss to muscle growth. Between streaming platforms and social media channels, health, and exercise professionals have a spread of the way to interact with and deliver solutions to clients. However, many individuals marketing fitness services via social media are relying totally on physical appearance or creative content to market their services.

During this ongoing pandemic, when we are all bound to live a restricted life under the constant fear of infection risks, people have been more prone toanxiety. The continuous flow of negative news, the inadequacy of daily resources, everything is adding to this growing anxiety and depression. Being confined at home for such long periods of time can be mentally challenging for us. When our mind is flooded with the uncertainty of the future, we often experience sleepless nights causing fatigue. Many of us are unable to relax our mind during this time thereby increasing the stress on our minds. 

Conclusion

In the post-pandemic world, services that relied heavily or entirely on customer mobility have been the worst-hit. Transportation services like Uber, fitness centres, and the tourism industry, for instance, have taken heavy losses and – in many cases – have permanently closed operations. Other businesses have been compelled to reduce their workforce, give up their physical office addresses and restrict client interactions to digital conversations.

As a business evaluates its plans for delivering services optimally in a post-pandemic world, it needs to find the answers to questions about whether the markets and geographies it has been serving remain profitable, which core technology and business practices need to be modified and how the team can be best enabled to keep delivering in the new normal.

The COVID-19 lockdown was a situation no one could have predicted. Now, more than ever, it is time for businesses to be at their most agile and to adapt intelligently and optimally to a mostly-online way of working. This requires the active support of the team and an extensive understanding of how markets are likely to work now and in the foreseeable future.