How are Gym Franchises Coping with COVID-19?

The fitness industry has witnessed major challenges during COVID times. With social distancing a concern, people were reluctant to join back to their fitness regime and enter the gym. But businesses have taken steps ahead and made innovations in their models to suit the customer's requirements. With increasing awareness about immunity and its relationship with fitness, people are getting back to their gym. Several large brands have utilised this opportunity and adapted to the situation getting back their customers and even newer customers.

Investing in a fitness brand is a great opportunity today. The market size of this industry is vast and there is a large scope of development. In India, the market penetration is just 1% as compared to other nations. Therefore, there is a lot of scope for development.

Gaining the importance of fitness during these times has also increased the number of users.  Demand will be higher shortly. What needs to be taken care of is a selection of a good brand that meets the expectation of safety concerns of the customer in these times. One such brand is Anytime Fitness.

What is Anytime Fitness?

Anytime Fitness is a global brand in the fitness industry. It has been present for over 18 years in India and has 84 gyms across 32 cities. Currently, it is serving around 1 lakh customers. It is open 24 hours. In cities where due to safety reasons it cannot keep gyms open for 24 hours, they are open for 19 hours.

It has rightly adapted itself to the current situation and has taken several measures to deal with the safety concerns of the customer. These include:

- Precautions inside the gym are undertaken

- There is a lot of space so social distancing can be maintained

- People have reservations which means they will have to leave after an hour of workout.

- It is easy to trace back the customers who came

- A heavy workout is restricted.

Also, there is a mobile app in development for people who wish to stay fit at home. Senior citizens who don’t want to enter new places can use the online facility and workout with or without a coach and with or without equipment.

There have been a lot of changes in fitness training, but the classic model is always running with the added new forms. Anytime fitness has seen an increase in the number of users after the growing awareness.

Franchising with Anytime Fitness

Earlier the focus in selecting a fitness brand for the customer was based on the power backups, music system, and air conditioners. This has seen a major shift to safety norms now, where people are concerned about the number of registrations, number of people inside the gym, and precautions taken.

Anytime Fitness in India is a master franchise of the global brand. It now has almost 98 franchises in various cities. The geographical coverage that it is looking for is all tier-II cities. But the major focus is on Maharashtra.

Most of its franchises are fitness enthusiasts and that’s the reason they understand the customer needs better. What the franchisees need is a passion for fitness. Anytime Fitness follows a consumer-centric plan. They constantly push the customer to come to the gym and not forget their fitness. There is no mentoring or co-investing program as such, but the brand hosts conferences where all the franchisees together share their knowledge and experiences on how to deal with challenges. 

The culture of the organization flows from top to bottom. Anytime Fitness follows a culture that flows across nations. It has a learning and experience from the US and it replicates the same in India as well. The four P’s are taken care of – People, Purpose, Profits, and Play.

Anytime Fitness provides its customers with global reciprocity where a member can use its membership at any other Anytime Fitness gym. This is the biggest USP for Anytime Fitness and the franchisees understand this. They treat these customers with great hospitality.

The fitness industry will see a higher demand in the times to come. Real estate is also playing a major role since it is less expensive right now. This is the best time to invest in a fitness franchise.

Edited By: Vaishnavi Gupta