By the end of 2019, about 29% of Chinese consumers (400 million) were taking part in various types of physical exercises regularly, with 4.9% (68 million) going to gyms and health clubs. The fitness population is expected to increase its pace of growth since the majority of consumers put “exercising to enhance health and fitness” as a higher priority since the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to physical health, mental wellbeing (eg stress and confidence management) has also become important.

Consumers will invest more time and money in fitness activities. They are interested in participating in a wide variety of fitness activities while at the same time taking a holistic approach - trying out products and services (eg sports nutrition, healthcare services and fitness consulting) to help them more effectively achieve their fitness goals.

With the rise of the digital economy, the development of smart fitness devices and online training programmes for personal usage has speeded up – particularly after the outbreak of COVID-19 when the market saw a surge in number of in-home exercisers – increasing from 39% (pre-outbreak) to 74% (post-outbreak) amongst out of all fitness consumers. The in-home fitness sector is expected to further gain popularity thanks to it being safe, convenient and good value for money. The market will see a rapid rise in new in-home fitness gadgets and services (eg home exercise routines developed for different occasions such as for mornings, parent-kid yoga, etc) tapping into this rising area of opportunity.

• The profile picture of different types of fitness consumers such as the trendy gym-goers, outdoor runners, hikers, e-fitness users (eg live-streaming, fitness apps)

• Which types of emotional stimuli can best motivate people to do fitness activities

• Besides fitness activities, the lifestyle approaches people take to help them achieve fitness goals

• Impact of COVID-19 on the frequency and methods of sports/fitness participation

• The areas for improvement when it comes to in-home fitness services

This Report investigates consumers’ attitudes and behaviours towards participating in sports and fitness activities. The definition of fitness activities is broad, covering a wide variety of outdoor, gym and in-home exercise activities.

For the purposes of this Report, when discussing market opportunities and threats, the Report focuses on the “fitness industry” which mainly covers the various types of gyms and health clubs offering one or several of the following services:

• Space and equipment for exercising (eg treadmills, dumbbell etc)

• Group training classes

• Personal training classes

Mintel divides consumers into three groups based on their MHI (Monthly Household Income).

Definition of low/mid/high MHI groups, by monthly household income and city tier: