“The fitness industry has undervalued what we do for years” - David Minton 🤯
A real pleasure attending Leisure DB event on behalf of PerformX Live, where industry legends David Stalker & David Minton amongst others shared invaluable insights to celebrate the launch of the report (link in comments)
🚀 TOPLINE: The industry is setting records 🚀 in memberships, market value (£5.9bn), and penetration (15.9%, 19.9% in London)
Two key trends for me from this report, backed up by recent US news from Mohammed Iqbal, Matthew Januszek and Anthony Vennare:
💰 1) PREMIUMISATION IS HERE 🏋️️
🤝 The shift to remote work has transformed gyms into "third spaces". This, plus increased awareness and demand for recovery, means expectations on what gyms should deliver is far higher
📈 Colin Waggett (Third Space CEO) reports a 15% rise in visitor frequency post-pandemic thanks to listening closely to these changing needs and catering to recovery, sound baths, and hot desking too
❗ BUT “the UK sector risks falling behind other continents and needs to invest in facilities, people and systems in order to innovate, modernise and disrupt” observes Justin Musgrove following his return from the Middle East
🇺🇸 This aligns with trends over in the US where Planet Fitness have caused a stir, increasing their prices from $10 for the first time ever, whilst improving their offering to reflect evolving consumer demands 🇺🇸
🏥 2) BECOMING A HEALTH SOLUTION 🩺
🌱 Our sector is finally being recognised as a “health solution”. Gyms need to inject this into their DNA and gather the data to prove results in order to successfully influence political leaders (David Stalker)
🗣️ A “fitness” offering doesn’t appeal to the gen pop, BUT the benefits we are already delivering as an industry very much DO appeal (making people mobile, stronger, and breathing more - the keys to longevity) - Oliver Patrick
🔊 This means “we need to rebrand from fitness to instead embrace the health and wellness agenda” (Sarah Watts, Alliance Leisure). We should be shouting far more about the things we are ALREADY doing (rather than just aesthetics and painful workouts - ultimately only speaking to those customers already bought into fitness)
🇺🇸 This aligns with the US, where the industry is working hard to pass a bill where doctors are no longer required to allocate pre-tax dollars to be spent on fitness. Dr. B and Beachbody have partnered to provide $15 online consultations, making fitness far more accessible 🇺🇸
Great to see so many faces for a packed event Dawn Tuckwell Gemma Bonnett-Kolakowska Toby Littlewood Simon Wilkinson Hannah Lewin
Well done Heidi Blackburn and Kate Corfield 👏