DELHI NCR, India—May 29, 2020—Devashish Singh, a Fitness Business Consultant has announced the release of Fitness—“The Insight from Indian Customer”, an elaborate study of Indian Customers who are Members of Fitness Clubs in India.
The survey was done with the objective to understand changes in members’ perspectives towards using club services before the pandemic and after the lockdown is relaxed. 1037 entries were considered for the study.
The pandemic has jolted the world. Against all the odds—the humans are expert and agile in adaptation or fight back to improvise and survive. It takes 21 days to make or break a habit. With the lockdown of 60 days, the method of operating has changed for all businesses and every business will have to get through the litmus test.
Like every other business, fitness businesses are driven by customers (members). Given the current scenario, it is very important to understand what members feel and how they rate their perspective.
The survey gives a detailed insight from 1037 people who have been exercising. The survey compares the change in Exercising Members Behavior and about their Adaptation–Before COVID-19 and After Relaxed Lockdown (ARL). The insight comes from 83% of people who have been exercising for 4 months and more. The members are from Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and other cities in India.
Survey: Systematic gathering of data was done from the targeted audience to gain insight into various activities while using a fitness club/gym/fitness center. The questionnaire was designed to understand—exercise history, access pattern, the impact of the pandemic on members for exercising, likelihood to use online support, exercise at home, buying equipment for home, will the members exercise in the same club, etc.
Survey Demographics: Total participation 711, (69% male and 326 (31%) female. 46.2% were from the 25-34 age category.
Exercise History: 74% of the males and 70% of the females had been exercising over 8 months. 69% of the had been exercising for more than 19 days in a month.
The Survey report shows that member’s perspective towards exercising in a club has changed. While enthusiasm to exercise in the club After Relaxed Lockdown is high, only 34% of the surveyed members may continue to exercise in the same club.
Social Distancing: There is -49% change in members’ perspective towards social distancing. With the highest average of 9.1, members are highly likely to be more vigilant about social distancing in a club. The age group of 45-54 show the highest change of -81%.
Group Exercise (GX): The comfort towards doing GX classes has changed by -28%. 25% of the respondents rated “1-Highly Unlikely” and 12% of the respondents have rated “10 – Highly Likely” to continue using GX classes.
Personal Training (PT): PT is the least affected segment with a change of -10% before the pandemic and after relaxed lockdown. Members with an access history of 1-5 days show the highest decline of -21%.
Free Weight Area: Comfort to use the free weight area and strength area has -12% change. Female members show a higher variance of -17%. 4.2% of the total surveyed members have rated “1 – Highly Unlikely” to use the free weight area.
Changing Area and Shower Facility: Comfort level to use changing area and shower facility dropped by -27%. Member with exercising history of 4-8 Months and members who accessed 1-5 days in a month show -32% and -43% respectively.
Exercising at Home: There is a positive shift of 22%. Female members and members in the 45-54 age group show 29% and 48% change and they are likely to continue exercising at home after the relaxed lockdown.
Conclusion: The survey report clearly suggests that the clubs will have to re-launch themselves with an award-winning strategy. With the possibility of up to 34% of the members leaving the club – it will be a critical mission to retain members, it can decide the fortune of a club. The approach to reopen must be personalized for every section of members. It will be important for the clubs to show the changes in the facility which are visible and permanent. Online support to the members has become a part of New Normal.
Here is the link to the Executive Summary of the report. The full report is available to download from the Executive Summary.
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About the Author and Team
Devashish Singh is a Fitness Business Consultant. As an expert with over 12 Years of experience in the Fitness Industry, his professional expertise aligns with Business Consulting, Planning Innovative Solutions and Crisis Management. The team consists of Shwetank Bansal (Business Consultant and Operations Analyst), Anirudh Sharma (Business Finance Partner – Performance and Analytics), and Jose Paul (Project Specialist)