Disclosure: collaborative post
There are few industries that rival fitness when it comes to growth. The desire to invest in our health is strong, and in light of the current pandemic, only growing stronger. With around $100 billion spent on fitness globally each year, the business of helping people stay fit and active is clearly a lucrative one. Fitness franchises are an excellent way to capitalise on this.
When it first started out, the fitness industry was a rag-tag group of niche markets that catered to highly enthusiastic participants. If you ever watched an aerobics video from the 1980s you’ll know exactly what we mean. But while the bodybuilding and weightlifting craze of the 80s never quite managed to break into the mainstream, they laid the foundations for something far greater.
Over the last decade or more, our appreciation of fitness and personal health has evolved. Businesses now take a keen interest in the health of their staff and are happy to invest in gym memberships, cycle-to-work schemes, and other fitness-driven plans that can be offered to staff as bonuses.
Healthier staff work harder
Privately people have also woken to the realisation that health and happiness – in terms of both mental health and emotional contentment – are inextricably linked to health.
Fitness is now a big business. Here are three big benefits of fitness franchise business opportunities that should make you consider investing…
The wellness trend is here to stay
With more and more people focusing on ‘wellness’ and creating a healthy balance in their lives, the fitness industry has found itself a new, mainstream niche.
Fitness has always been a key element of achieving a healthy lifestyle, but now, it’s fashionable. Exercise and healthy eating go hand-in-hand, and with the health food industry worth around £580,000 worldwide, fitness is poised to grow to similar extremes.
As the appreciation for various forms of exercise, from cross-training to yoga, Zumba, pilates, and mixed martial arts, the fitness sector now has boundless franchise opportunities. More and more people are turning to the gym, health clubs, and fitness classes (be they in-person or online) to keep in shape, all in the name of wellness.
The social boom
Social media’s role in the fitness industry is huge. With so much pressure to look our best online, many people turn to fitness brands to boost their confidence when sharing those selfies. Add to that the plethora of images and advertising on social platforms showcasing fit, slim, healthy people, and the influence is clear.
Social media is already indirectly supporting the use of fitness franchises. A savvy marketer can take advantage of this fact and use influencers and user-generated content to create a virtual feeding frenzy of new people desperate for your brand.
Exercise has become a lifestyle, and social media has only furthered the promotion of the notion that fitness is fundamentally tied to identity. Sharing photos, research, blogs, and articles relating to fitness trends on social media has become a huge part of our daily lives.
Even if you’re not personally sharing them you will be inundated with friends snapping selfies of themselves trying out the latest fads. Before and after images, exercise routine videos, challenges, food photography, it’s all one giant marketing machine the fitness industry can easily harness.
The success of franchises has also greatly benefited from the ease with which we now communicate on social media. Everyone knows everything about their friends’ lives these days. And social media platforms know even more about their users.
Targeting specific audiences with an interest in what you’re offering has never been easier.
The newly accessible business model
A great fitness business model is a huge opportunity. Time, in the modern world, is at a premium. Long hours, busy lives, delicate work/life balances. A gym that emphasises flexibility and uses intelligent business practices is destined for success.
Once fully set up to accommodate online classes and training sessions, as well as the in-person variety – is a veritable goldmine at a time when there is such uncertainty about being out and about in public.
While the restrictions surrounding lockdown will undoubtedly lift eventually, allowing life to return to normal (whatever that may be), flexibility is still key.
Consider single parents who are desperate to get to a class on an evening while their baby is sleeping, but can’t find a sitter. Or professionals who have to travel all over the country (or world) but still crave the routine and familiarity of a regular spin class.
Gym franchises are becoming more and more adaptable to accommodate the modern lifestyle. Everything from 24-hour opening to fitness regimes that allow people to hit their goals in just one 20-minute workout per week and affordable memberships has made fitness accessible to all.
Keeping up with the technological times – both in terms of remote capabilities and exercise equipment – is key. Having a proven model that already allows for the mod cons and all the quirks of the modern world is highly valuable.
Disclosure: collaborative post
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