We’re excited to be featured as Franchise Buyer 10 biggest players shaping the gym industry!

The article takes a deep dive into the fitness scene, unpacking how these powerhouse brands have levelled up to keep pace with Australia’s ever-evolving fitness goals. 

It’s exciting to see such incredible growth in the industry and to be part of a community that keeps motivating Australians to crush their wellness game!

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The gym franchise niche is one that is characterised by intense competition. Equally, finding the differentiation amongst the gym franchise brand offerings out there, also proves challenging.

Yet, having your own gym franchise has still certainly been an attractive niche for a while. Interestingly, functional fitness centres and the like, have arguably grown more attractive for some time now as an alternative, with a generally lower cost entry into the fitness industry for would-be franchise owners.

The 10 biggest fitness franchises in Australia list will also follow shortly. We created this list to help make your research and decision making process easier. We'll update as the market changes, and as we get more information for you.

Gym franchise brand movements up and down the list for 2023!

The gym and broader fitness industry by most accounts appears to have emerged reasonably well out of a very challenging period during the 2020-2022. While some changes and challenges are significant amongst certain brands, I had suspected that the status of the industry could have been even worse than seen in unit number changes, given the trading difficulties it faced.

The industry was often directly impacted with closures during lock down and associated restriction periods, with industry leaders advocating regularly to plead for a more common sense approach to restrictions with the gym / fitness industry.

However, in looking at outlet numbers, it can be a little deceiving at face value in some cases. We’ve noted a prevalence to include unopened / pending locations in amongst ‘locations’ on websites. These can get captured in a ‘total’ unit number result for the unaware.

An overwhelm of brands and consumer options?

The industry is an interesting one, along with the associated fitness brands list that we cover in another related list. Even in observing the market from the outside, at times it can feel like an overwhelm of brands and choices for the consumer. It almost feels like a never ending emergence of new brands with a new twist on fitness and the way you go about it.

It makes it a dynamic market for sure with a leaning towards innovation and new experiences. But it also makes some brands within it, susceptible to being hot in the moment and the trend (and member numbers) passing when the next ‘thing’ comes along.

Providing a strong value proposition, investing in building a member community and innovation appears crucial. This becomes even more so an issue in an environment of 2023 with climbing interest rates and inflation and consequently a reduction in discretionary spending. 

Do we drop Netflix / Paramount and Disney+, or drop the gym membership fee and maintain fitness in other ways? 

One person's discretionary spending can be another person's essential service however.

It is clear that investment in health and wellness is a top priority for many, with anecdotal claims that the pandemic period has caused people to focus on their health and well being more and more - that’s true I feel.