RESEARCH ROUND-UP
Survival of the fi ttest MICHAEL OLIVER, SENIOR LEISURE ANALYST, MINTEL
Growth opportunities are there for the health and fitness industry, but only if it taps into consumer needs
W
hile 2010 has been a tough year for many sectors, it seems that the health and fi tness industry has come out relatively unscathed.
Indeed the latest research from Mintel reveals that, of all leisure activities, consumers identify private health and fi tness clubs as the thing they plan to use more in the coming year – and the fi gure has increased from 8 per cent in 2009 to 12 per cent in 2010 (see table, p44). Compare this with just 1 per cent of consumers planning to increase visits to pubs and bars, and 3 and 4 per cent for nightclubs and cinemas respectively, and things certainly look positive for the health and fi tness sector.
DRIVING PARTICIPATION Participation is also moving in the right direction, although there’s still scope for improvement. Mintel’s research on 10-year Sporting Trends reveals that more than 30 million UK adults now take part in sport or exercise at least monthly – a 15 per cent increase compared to 10 years ago – refl ecting an increasing awareness among the population of the need to keep in shape by eating properly and doing exercise. Yet with fewer than a third of these active people exercising at the recommended level of three times a week or more, there remains a signifi cant exercise gap to be bridged.
42 Mintel’s research shows ‘being healthier in general’ as the
prime motivator for taking up a new sport (cited by 42 per cent of respondents), with ‘specifi c medical reasons’ (31 per cent) and ‘losing weight/toning up’ (30 per cent) not far behind. These are the reasons why people know they should exercise. However, they don’t necessarily provide adequate motivation for people to actually get off the sofa and do so. Nevertheless, 31 per cent of adults say they have taken up
a new sport, or would consider doing so, because a friend or family member already does it – a motivation that’s perhaps more carrot than stick, and something the fi tness industry could tap in to. With a trend towards a more fragmented society, exemplifi ed by the long-term rise of one-person households in the UK, many people don’t have family and friends nearby to do sport with, and this is where operators can step in – setting up low-key, informal participation groups in local outdoor spaces, for example, or perhaps creating ‘player pools’ for games of squash or tennis at leisure centres. Subscription-based, interest-led offers could also generate
groups of people with mutual interests. In this way – by shifting the emphasis and portraying sport as a fun, social activity – motivational problems and the intimidation factor of trying something new can be overcome more easily than by merely focusing on the end results in terms of health and fi tness levels.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220