It was a paradoxical year for the fitness industry. The lockdowns caused by the pandemic disrupted the operation of fitness centers across India, but on the other hand, COVID-19 was a wake-up call for people to keep up their wellbeing.
“Digital fitness” and “holistic wellbeing” are two important growth areas this year Fitternity’s Co-Founder and COO, Jayam Vora and Co-Founder and CEO of HRX, Afsar More – while they discuss this digital change and the increased awareness of fitness.
The downloads of fitness apps have massively gained momentum since the beginning of 2020. According to the World Economic Forum, there was a 46 percent Health and fitness app downloads increased globally in Q1 and Q2 worldwide. India saw the highest increase in app downloads with a colossal value 156 percent.
Fitternity, a fitness aggregator platform, was able to expand its brand reach to Tier I and Tier II cities due to increasing digital usage. Jayam Vora said their ability to have online trainers helped them reach people in cities where fitness centers weren’t as accessible.
In the fitness apparel segment, owned by Hrik Roshan, HRX has seen tremendous growth and is targeting sales of at least. on Rs 600 crore in FY22. Afsar notes that there has been a special focus on fitness since the pandemic and that customers have adapted to the digital form of shopping. The brand’s clothing, shoes and sports equipment sectors have grown over the past year and are planning to expand to include new products.
The brand’s business model calls for more partnerships to increase its presence.
“We work with partners who are specialists in their field,” says Afsar about the orientation of HRX-Myntra. They won’t consider outside funding, he added.
“There are touchpoints around us that force us to become fitter,” says Afsar, explaining the sudden fitness awareness that he perceives at work and at home.
This heightened fitness awareness was also seen by Fitternity, where their One pass Subscription model helped them obtain. The uncertainty of the bans has made people think twice about paying for gym memberships and subscriptions. It can be expected to have a customer-friendly model that includes studios and gyms.
“People are now looking at fitness holistically. It has become a package of training, proper nutrition and mental health, ”says Jayam Vora.
He plans to make Fitternity more interactive for its digital trainers, and says people will keep going to the gym and using digital-first tools too. There will now be a third user who will use both.
Fitternity’s immediate goal is to return to the pre-COVID-19 numbers and build from there, with the expectation that more people will flock to the gyms now.
The expected fitness trends for the coming years are expected to be: Online fitness training, wearable technology, home gyms, mindful training, and productive workouts.
