With the start of the new year, gyms face the traditional peak of activity in January. Like every New Year’s Eve, many French people have made resolutions for the coming year and, among them, going to the gym regularly. Ten years ago, the IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association), which promotes fitness activities worldwide, estimated that 12% of annual gym memberships were concentrated in the first month of the calendar year, compared to around 8% on average for the other months.
Last year, the head of the KeepCool group indicated in The echoes that registrations normally increased by 60% in January. For the rest of the professionals in the sector, this first month of the year marks the beginning of a peak of activity that lasts throughout the first half of the year until the summer period. “It is a myth to think that January records the record for gym attendance, this month is behind March,” said Mark Daly of the international network Anytime Fitness in an article in the magazine US News and World Report some years ago.
Unique Promotional Offers That Work
Even so, it is around the turn of the year when French gym networks concentrate part of their promotional offers to attract new subscribers. For any registration between January 1 and 22, Fitness Park offers membership fees and the first four weeks. For its part, Easygym did not wait for the new year to launch its offer and offers from December to February 4 a weekly subscription at two euros for eight weeks, including four weeks with all free options.
Within the Basic Fit network, budding athletes who sign up between December 27 and February 1 can be offered six weeks as part of a 58-week annual subscription. Finally, signing up for a subscription to a Keepcool room allows you to benefit from two months free. And these promotional offers often increase attendance even more at the beginning of the year. Last year, the Neoness brand, which had just been purchased by the KeepCool group, allowed it to record an increase of more than 30% in the number of registrations at the beginning of January and a 20% increase in attendance at its rooms.
Equinox bans subscription subscriptions on January 1
But this increase in attendance at sports halls in January hides another phenomenon, also well known by the establishments. A large proportion of these new customers quickly stop coming to exercise after purchasing their subscription. According to a study mentioned by the New York PostAlmost one in two Americans who have recently subscribed to a gym at the beginning of the year cancel their subscription even before the month of February and only 22% of them make it to the month of October.
This difficulty in maintaining the motivation of newcomers has also led the Equinox sports hall chain to reject registrations made on January 1 of last year. On its color box. He’s talking about change. It wants you to start something when you should be right in the middle. He thinks time is on his side. You need a new outfit before you start. Pick up, interrupt, surrender. .”
A way to encourage people who are considering doing sports as a result of the resolutions they made on the night of December 31 to January 1 to carefully measure their level of motivation. This year, the Equinox website reiterated, referring to the symbolism of this first day of the year for any visitor wishing to subscribe: “January 1st is powerless if the desire is already in you. We don’t want any ‘either’https:/ /www.bfmtv.com/”or”. We want “both”https://www.bfmtv.com/”and”. We don’t cross the finish line. We want to go further. No “We want change. We want transformation. We don’t want just today. “We want every day.”
Source: BFM TV
