With Home Gym Equipment Sales Up, Will Gyms Suffer More?
Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed some sad news in the fitness community where gyms have been announcing closures (for good). One such gym chain that seems to be taking the pandemic the worst is Gold’s Gym who has come out and said they will be closing more than 30 locations due to the President and Governors saying gyms must close during these times. Yet, one area that has exploded over the last month is home gym equipment.
Good Luck Finding Home Gym Equipment in Stock Online
Data from Adobe Analytics has shown exponential growth of the home gym equipment category and with a quick search online, you’ll see this is accurate if you’re looking for your own equipment and find everyone is sold out. Adobe Analytics has published information showing that e-commerce sales of home gym equipment increased 55% in a five-day period during the pandemic. Even more staggering is that they also have shown that comparing sales to last year (which grew 70% from February to March 2019), this year during the same timeframe the sales have grown 535%.
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It doesn’t matter what brand of home gym equipment you’re looking for, everyone seems to be sold out or have extremely low inventory. While no one has been price-gouging, the demand has skyrocketed as more people are looking for ways to stay healthy while staying at home. Even used gym equipment businesses are selling through their inventory quickly and have needed to ramp up their staff to make all of the extra deliveries.
Consumers are buying ellipticals, bikes, treadmills, kettlebells, resistance bands, dumbbells, squat racks, universal gyms, barbells, weight plates — whatever they can get their hands on. Even eBay, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace are wiped out of equipment being sold by private sellers.
Then you have all of the home fitness brands that have interactive software that is helping exercisers stay fit through videos and interactive platforms. You can think along the lines of Peloton, NordicTrack, and many others that provide subscription-based software to help users get motivated, stay on track, and get the results they desire while making the software fun and entertaining.
With the hockey stick growth we have seen in the home gym equipment market, how will this affect gyms and gym memberships?
The Death of Gyms Has Only Begun
I’m a gym rat — I love being in gyms. I love working out on new pieces of equipment and trying new things. However, I also have my own home gym that I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars building. That being said, it saddens me to say this or even think about it, but I feel that there will be many gyms that’ll never recover following this shutdown. And not necessarily due to the shutdown itself and having to still pay for their overhead and expenses during the pandemic. Rather, I see people seeing that they can actually get in a great workout from the privacy of their own home without the need to get in their car and drive to the gym. This will lead to many people forgoing the gym and canceling their membership.
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As mentioned earlier, Gold’s Gym is closing some of its locations. Gold’s is a HUGE gym chain and has been around forever. If they are hurting, imagine what is happening with the smaller mom and pop gyms you find on the corner of smaller cities. While most gyms are turning off their memberships and not charging members, some are still collecting monthly dues which is frustrating members and causing them to cancel their gym memberships. What are they doing after they cancel? Going online and buying home gym equipment.
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