How to gain in weight loss business

The weight loss market is segregated into three main segments covering diets (foods, beverages and supplements) services, fitness and surgical equipments. Looking at the shifting market trends and transforming consumers’ consciousness towards having a fit body and mind has massively augmented the rise of weight loss and diet clinics in all over India. Other major reason behind the growth of such organised clinics is the growing health hazards like obesity and overweight among every gender and age, increased consumption of fast food and a lack of physical activity. Besides hitting the gym to lose weight, people now prefer to follow a regulated diet chart.  According to marketresearch.com: “Indian fitness and slimming industry is currently pegged at USD 0.78 billion is stated to grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent to reach USD 2.4 billion by 2015.” Whereas another market report confirms: “Global Weight Loss and Obesity Management market is estimated to be USD 385.1 billion in 2010 and expected to reach USD 650.9 billion in 2015 at a CAGR of 9.4 per cent over the period 2010 to 2015. Weight management services will be the fastest growing segment at 13.4 per cent CAGR during 2010 to 2015. Weight management services segment will be worth USD 205.2 billion in 2015. Weight management industry is expected to touch a USD 650 billion mark by the year 2015.”  

Trends

Franchising in wellness sector

Wellness industry is growing as plethora of brands is opting platform of franchising to expand more rapidly. In this industry, VLCC Wellness, Diet Mantra, Diet Clinic Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Dr Rukadikar’s Speciality Clinic for Weight loss, Lifestyle Modification and Nutrition Therapy, Ritus Diet are offering best bet to the franchisees. Talking about the business opportunity, Vikas Gupta says: “With the obesity epidemic that is currently going on in the world, fitness and weight loss has been growing in popularity. One billion people around the world were considered over ideal weight. In terms of franchises, the two main sectors in the industry are fitness centres and weight loss solutions such as clinics. The fast food culture has reached global proportions and many restaurant chains are found worldwide. The importance of diet has increased manifold and therefore we have come with Diet clinic which believes in “Right diet is the right medicine for our body.” We are offering to the franchisee “centralised and customised diet planning” an opportunity in the field of Health and wellness.”

To be successful in wellness business, the franchisor must team up with right franchise partner. Rajiv Seherawat, Managing Director and Marketing Head, Diet Clinic Healthcare Pvt Ltd, says: “We prefer dieticians, doctors, or people from science background for providing our brand’s franchise as they would be more focused and understand our business better. However, investors may also be considered, if we find them genuinely and equally interested to grow our business.”  On the other side, Vikas Sharma, Director, Cocoon Healthcare Private Limited, says: “We are looking for a franchisee who possesses a strong track record of business development, excellent networking skills and has strong motivation and drive to achieve success. While Ritus Diet has a track record of 100 per cent weight loss result for the last five years and our highly effective marketing methods and well positioned website will deliver you some leads, the majority of opportunity you will source yourself.” On the other side, Dr Rukadikar’s Speciality Clinic for weight loss, lifestyle modification and nutrition therapy prefers to partner with medical doctor, dietitian or investor with broad view and having ideas about how the medical industry works. Franchisee should overlook the entire process skillfully. In fact, women entrepreneurs would be ideal for such type of opportunity.

Expansion ahead

In Mumbai alone, Dr Rukadikar’s has 20 clinics. On expansion front, Ritus Diet is planning to have at least five franchisees in each state. However many factors will be taken into consideration before opening a franchisee in a particular area. The brand will be tapping metros, tier I and selected tier II cities for further expansion. Diet Clinic Healthcare Pvt Ltd plans to open at least 4-6 franchise centres pan-India by next fiscal year in cities like Jaipur, Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Dehradun, Kota, Jalandhar, Mohali, to name a few.

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