Activesg Quick Booking
Regulo Akers
By staying on top of the latest information, you can use it to underpin business decisions and planning. Understanding the latest gym membership statistics means you can learn what will get members through your door (or booked in online) and how to keep them loyal in the long run.
It makes sense that over this time as the number of health clubs and gyms has risen, so has the number of members. The fitness industry was thriving with year-on-year growth pre-pandemic, and the future looked bright, but 2020 became the year that changed everything.
In our ABC Glofox report, The Impact of COVID-19 on the Fitness Industry, our key findings revealed that boutique gym attendance and class bookings in some world regions bounced back to around 91% of pre-COVID levels toward the end of 2020. The report is based on an analysis of activity across a sample of 2,000 fitness businesses in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.
Amid the pandemic, consumer habits evolved at pace. There is now a greater emphasis on health and well-being. In general, people are investing in various wellness apps, fitness technology, and online fitness services to support their physical and mental health through lockdowns. Over the last few years, with the rise of boutique fitness, many studios have completely transformed the way we think about the traditional gym.
The boutique fitness movement is backed by a generation of members who take a big interest in their health and fitness. Gen Z and Millennials are a group of consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for health-related services. They want connectivity, community, and an innovative approach to wellness.
Xponential Fitness is considered one of the most innovative companies in the world according to Fast Company. The brand owns different boutique fitness businesses including Purebarre, Stretchlab, Yoga Six, and Club Pilates Cyclebar.
Founded in 2017, the company now has approximately 1,700 studios under all of its brands, and despite the pandemic, Xponential Fitness experienced growth in 2020. The company opened new locations in Australia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, with more studios in development in Germany, Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Singapore.
Just a 5% increase in customer retention can increase company revenue by 25-95%. What many might not realize is that your retention strategy starts the moment a new member signs up. There are studies to prove that if your members are correctly onboarded, they are likely to stay loyal for longer. In his landmark study, fitness industry retention and acquisition expert Dr. Paul Bedford found that 87% of members onboarded correctly still remained active after 6 months.
As we know by now, with gyms and fitness studios closed, people were working out from home, causing a surge in sales of home gym equipment. A 2020 report prepared on behalf eBay.com collated data from around the online retail world to help put some numbers to home-gym trend. The report found that between March and April 2020, online sales of fitness equipment increased up to 20 times in some categories compared to the same timeframe in 2019. Comparing March and April numbers from 2019, sales of dumbbells alone had increased by 1980%.
In the long run, it means that members will be equipped to continue working out both at home and in the gym. This reinforces that providing a flexible hybrid offering is essential for gyms and fitness studios if they want to increase their memberships and ensure long-term retention.
There are several reasons why someone may quit the gym. The top reasons often include pricing, members not actually using their memberships, losing motivation, feeling out of place, moving away, and not seeing results quickly enough.
In a study by The Retention People, they found that health club members are more likely to renew their gym membership if they participate in group exercises. During the study, researchers analyzed 10,000 UK health and fitness members and followed up with them over regular intervals to measure their habits and behaviors. They found that 48% went to the gym for one activity, 32% for two, and 20% for three or more activities. The risk of canceling was 56% higher in gym-only members compared to group exercisers.
The key takeaway here is that live online classes are the best tool you have for retaining members in the long run. Everyone who shows up is in it together and is held accountable for showing up, just like they would at an in-person class.
In 2019, more than 62.5 million gym members visited the gym 104 days per year while 9 million non-members hit the gym an average of 24 days a year. About 18% of members actually went to the gym consistently. Out of those who actively used their gym membership, 49.9% got to the gym at least twice a week. Another 24.2% made it to the gym at least once a week.
Removing time constraints with on-demand content gives gym members the flexibility to commit more time to exercise, while live workouts provide the consistency many people need to stay motivated and on track.
Our platform is designed for fitness professionals, by fitness professionals. All of our features are developed in tandem with our customer feedback, creating a product and service that is specifically tailored to your needs and wants.
We may not be in the midst of a pandemic anymore, but the fitness industry has never been static. By using our platform, you can create a predictable, dependable business foundation that allows you to stop focusing on the day-to-day and look ahead to the year-to-year.
2024 ABC Glofox. All rights reserved. ABC Financial is a registered MSP/ISO of Central Bank of St. Louis, Clayton, MO. ABC Financial is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Canadian Branch, Toronto, ON, Canada
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