h e alt h & fi t n e s s fr an c hi s ing fe at u r e
EXPERT ADVICE: Chris Conner | Founder | Franchise Marketing Systems
Health and Fitness will grow Exponentially in 2022 It’s always easy to be an armchair quarterback, throwing out assumptions and big ideas on what will happen in the future. But this time I think I’m on to something. The health and fitness markets have been hit hard during COVID, for obvious reasons….it’s been difficult to get customers to do anything indoors, especially get sweaty together. According to Club Industry News, the Pandemic took out 22% of all of the gyms in the U.S. and over 1.5 million people lost jobs in the fitness industry. Major bummer stats and in dollars, that equated to almost $30 billion in lost revenue due to COVID. So part of this story is the comeback element, there kind of is nowhere to go but up from here, but there is also a bigger picture growth curve that has been on an upwards trajectory for the last fifty years, COVID was just a short term setback for the fitness space. Year over year growth for fitness has 40 Franchising MAGAZINE USA
Chris Conner has worked in the franchise development industry for almost 20 years and helped over 600 brands franchise their brand and develop franchise distribution channels. He founded Franchise Marketing Systems in 2009, which now includes a team of 27 franchise consultants based in and Canada and supports brands around the world to grow and scale through franchise expansion. Visit www.fmsfranchise.com for more information
generally been about 3% per year and if
you follow the old saying of buy low and sell high, now is the time to get into the
fitness segment to realize what could be
a big jump in industry growth to recoup
the downtrend in 2020 and 2021. People
want to work out and understand the value of exercise. You combine this sentiment
with a big part of the population that has
been stuck at home for a long time, gained
weight, gotten unhealthy and really want to get back into shape, I can already hear the gym membership register ringing! Look for a big 2022 and most likely an even
bigger 2023 in the fitness space as people run back into fitness and health.
What are the fitness models to watch for? There are a variety of different versions of fitness franchise models, all of which are viable business models and really just depend your personal preference and what flavor of fitness you are drawn to as an investor. Here is how I would break down the categories: The Big Box Model – think Planet Fitness or two brands that I like are New York Fitness Clubs and EPIC Health and Fitness, these are larger facilities with a range of equipment and experiences and offer great value to a wide range of consumer preferences for fitness.
