By: Jessica West
Industry Overview
The fitness and wellness market is massively growing. The total valuation as of 2018 according to the Global Wellness Institute of the health and wellness industry is $4.2 trillion of that $600 billion is spent on fitness and wellness. According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, there are 183 million gym members globally, and 62 million gym members in the US. The US fitness Center and Health club industry membership revenue was $11.6 billion in 2000 and has not grown 7.8% to $32.3 in 2018.
According to the Global Wellness Institute, the online fitness market is a $1.5 trillion industry. Harrison Company Proprietary Research states that $10 billion of annual consumer spending is expected to leave the gym sector as customers shift to at-home options. According to an LEK Consulting Study, the post-COVID digital fitness spend has surged by 30%-40%.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of personal training jobs in the US is set to grow by about 10% until 2026. Currently, 80% of Personal Trainers work on a Freelance basis.
According to International Coaching, the average income for a coach is $62,500 The estimated total global revenue from coaching in 2019 was $2.849 Billion, which represents a 21% increase from 2015.
The revenue a coach receives is linked to a variety of factors, years of experience being the most important, however others are attributes of the coach practitioner and the range of services offered.
IBISWORLD USA states, that the most important factors to being a successful personal trainer in the USA are the ability to effectively communicate and negotiate, the ability to gather word-of-mouth recommendations and easy access for clients.
In-person is the most common way at this juncture for coaches to reach their clients. 24% of coaches only interact with their clients in person. While 48% use a mix of technology and in-person meetings. The use of audio-visual platforms has doubled in the last four years, from 24% in 2015 to 48% in 2019.
The top 5 reasons people become a personal trainer according to Statista are a passion for fitness (70%), wanting to help other people (44%), wanting to work for themselves (27%) wanting to work with people (26%) and having the opportunity to work flexibly (22%).
The global health club industry has generated $ 94 billion in the last 12 months, with a global growth rate of 8.7%.
There are more than 400,000 fitness professionals in the US. The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) predicts that the number of fitness trainers and instructors will grow by 13% from 2018 to 2028.
In 2019 in Orlando the total annual expenditure on recreational lessons was $7,916,186, there were 127,322 households at the time. This equates to $62 per family. In the same year $60,269,915 was spent on personal care services. That equates to $473 per month. This is a total of $535 monthly available to spend on coaching and connected fitness.
Connected Fitness Overview
Connected Fitness refers to a new breed of at-home exercise equipment that is connected to the internet and a computer. It monitors a user’s workout and makes the data available for a coach or an AI to analyze and motivate the user to continue to work out more. Currently, there are only a handful of devices that fit into this niche. It also allows the user to take part in a live class, virtually, with other users. Peloton, really was the founder of this idea, when they delivered their first bike in 2014. “Connected Fitness is about bringing your body and your screen life together” according to Bruce Smith CEO of Hydrow.
The spread of the COVID pandemic resulted in nationwide lockdowns which has led to a transition to virtual fitness. Growing awareness regarding health and wellness is also driving the market. The (DUA), Daily Active Users increased by 24% from quarter 1 to quarter 2 of 2020 according to the World Economic Forum in Sept 2020. Due to COVID-19 people are opting for virtual fitness lessons, and trends such as virtual trainers, live workouts, AI personalized diet & workout plans, movement recognition & machine learning technologies, daily progress tracking, and sharing on social media are gaining traction. Coach practitioners prefer to engage with their clients in person. The use of audio-video platforms has doubled in the past four years from 24% in 2015 to 48% in 2019.
Consumer behavior is the driving force behind change, and technology-centered solutions are on the rise. While some brands have already begun the process of offering digital and in-person services, the pandemic has forced the fitness industry to speed up. It is easy to think that digital solutions could edge out in studio experiences, but the truth is digital solutions, like live streams and on-demand fitness help brands win online audiences and build brand awareness.
The global fitness app market size was valued at 4.4 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 21.6% from 2021 to 2028. Through a combination of at-home gym equipment, fitness apps, and online digital streaming, the at-home workout revolution is here to stay. Over 50% of mobile phone users in the US have downloaded at least one fitness app. It is estimated that there are more than 8,000 apps devoted to health and fitness. Fitbit is the most popular. The fitness app market grew 53.2% from 2019 to 2020. In 2021 the market will witness a slight decline of 9.8% before resuming its growth trajectory in 2022.
Many individuals struggle to maintain individual, or what is known as intrapersonal, levels of things like motivation, self-control, confidence, and self-efficacy. According to Stephen Intille, an Associate Professor at Northeastern University specializing in health technology, “You’ve got a human who’s trying to motivate you using humor and empathy, and being motivated by a human versus a computer like Fitbit which can give you prompts but not an experience that is as rich, makes you feel like you are part of a group.” Working out with a guided instructor, virtual or otherwise also combats the fact that exercise can be boring. Community is also a large part of keeping connected fitness engaging. All companies in this market offer Facebook groups for users to discuss their workouts and find people with similar goals or stats to digitally workout with. Live leaderboards, that rank users against each other also engage people and entice them to challenge themselves more. The downside of this type of fitness is that the devices are all dependent on the goals that people set for themselves. Some of these goals are not realistic, and they do require that the data be input into the system for it to give you a proper result.
Currently, Peloton has a bike and a treadmill, and they now have a connected fitness app in which you can participate in a run or a yoga session.
The next competitor in this market is Tonal, which offers an interactive LED screen, with a fold-out bench with weighted cables. They are offering an AI personal trainer in the equipment, this product was released in 2015.
Mirror, which was released in 2016, is very similar to tonal. The biggest difference is they do not have an AI trainer, but instead are looking to outsiders to produce apps for their devices. Coaches-United hopes to be on this device in the future. Mirror CEO Byrnn Putnam says “The home will always be the most convenient place to work out.” The comfort of exercising in your own home whenever you want is exactly why connected fitness companies hope their products will become the next must-have gadget, despite the big initial price tag.
Another treadmill and bike will be offered by Equinox, and Beachbody also has a treadmill and bike, I do not intend to compete with these, but they are worth noting.
Echelon Fit offers a smart bike and steaming classes, they have also now created a “Mirror” like device as well. They were launched in 2018.
FightCamp is a punching bag and mitts that have sensors that can track your speed, and intensity, as well as count your punches. This was released in 2016. CEO Khalil Zahar FighCamp CEO says “We saw community engagement jump by 239% after releasing our leaderboard feature in March”.
Tempo founded in 2018, creates a 3D model of each user, which captures form. This gives the computer to correct form and track progress with fewer inputs by the user. It also tracks each user’s goals, as well as counts reps. Expert trainers are hired and offer pre-recorded video, as well as live classes. Appears to be using a similar technology to Xbox 360 Kinect.
Nordictrack, has a treadmill, bike, rower, and reflective strength training system in its new ICON line. The reflective product comes with traditional free weights, resistance bands, and foam rollers. The IFit app, which comes with the equipment is free for the first year and then offers an individual membership as well as a family membership. The IFit app works with gym equipment and provides a routine created based on information you inputted. It also allows you to schedule all workouts planned for the week into the calendar integrated with the site. The trainers are on location, and the user gets the feel of being on location because the equipment adjusts to work with it.
To simulate rowing in the water, Ergatta was released in 2019 and is more of a game than an exercise.
Zwift, enables a user to hook their personal existing bike up to a sensor, and then a coach can monitor their performance metrics such as power and exertion. Zwift has users participate in races and group rides, in a way that is similar to a game.
The cost of using connected fitness is higher ($100-$250 per month) than traditional gyms ($60 average). These costs do not factor in the additional accessories, like clip-in cycling shoes, heart rate monitors, and floor mats, which can all add another couple hundred dollars to the total package.
Coaches-United fits into the Connected Fitness genre. The app will be organized by the type of workout being offered. For example, if the coach is at home on their non-connected bike offering a traditional spin class, a user can also be on their non-connected bike. They would be in the same spin class live, and the app would be tracking both of their heart rates, giving the coach a decent idea of the level of exertion. This could be repeated if the coach was using free weights, barbels, or even large equipment such as a home gym.
The idea here is that it opens up the connection to being a personal connection between the trainer and the goal-getter, but they can use a non-connected inexpensive bosu ball if they both have one. It also offers the training they offer to be personalized and specific.
Target Market
According to the ICF, they state that most of the coaches’ clients are managers (27%), and executives (25%), the combined total is 52%, which was identical from 2019 to 2015. Another number that didn’t change was the number of clients receiving personal one-on-one services (19%). A typical coaching client is between 25-44 years old, (37%), the 45-54 market (30%), and (24%) make up the under 35 group.
82% of Americans according to OnePoll, find it easier to maintain an at-home fitness routine now compared to last year. The main reason people prefer to work out at home is to multi-task with their children. 78% of households that exercise have children. Another reason people work out at home is that 65% of men and 55% of women feel intimidated when working out at a traditional gym.
Personal training is directly related to disposable income. According to Beachbody, 44% of their users have a household income of over 100,00, and 37% are in the 50k-100k range. According to Gale Statistics, in Orlando, 60% of households fall into that category. Currently, 75% of Americans would rather exercise at home rather than go back to the gym. According to the ICF, the average annual income for a coach in the United States is $62,500.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic fitness has become a bigger priority to families, 70% of those surveyed have invested an average of $96 in their home gyms in the past 3 months.
Millennials use fitness apps more than other age group, with women using them twice as much as men. The Millennial generation is more committed to exercising and eating right than any other generation. This generation has many time constraints, and due to this, they have a high demand for at-home workouts. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 63% of Millennials meet the federal guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity. According to Gale's research Millennials make up 26.6% of the current Orlando population which is 87,931,017 people.
Self-improvement was the number one app theme last year, with hashtag #selfcare soaring from 5 million to 17 million posts on Instagram.
There are currently more IOS users (52.6%), than Android (22.7%). 21% of adult Americans say they wear a smartwatch or heart monitor daily. In 2018, fitness wearables increased by 77% 2018.
Competition Info
Beachbody
Beach Body founded in 1998 is a multilevel marketing company that has independent Beachbody coaches who serve as sales consultants. It has 340,000 independent "coaches". The premise behind Beachbody is you lose weight by doing the at-home workout and drinking the shakes. Use your story to sell products and recruit new customers and coaches. Repeat.
The app for clients includes thousands of workouts categorized by genre and trainer, but also sortable by duration and type. You can connect with your coach in-app, as well as your local team or group. You can track your progress, as well as your food. It also has a feed that shows how many people are working out right now.
Beachbody achieved 1 billion in revenue in 2017, at which point it had 28 million users. Rule #1, everybody who signs up with Beachbody is invited to join an accountability group, where participants follow a workout plan and log their exercise and Shakeology into the app. The coaches earn a 25% commission on Beachbody merchandise sold such as shakes, programs, and food supplements. Rule# 2 for Beachbody is to gain a following and invite people to join Beachbody. From day one users are pushed toward the network marketing opportunity. Beachbody gets people hooked immediately.
In 2016 the average Beachbody coach's paycheck was $3,233, with half of the coaches making no money at all. To get started coaches pay $40 to sign up, then a $16 monthly fee which provides a personalized e-commerce page. This gives them the right to make a 25% commission on sales of workout videos, Shakeology drinks, and supplements to retail customers. As this is network marketing the most profit is earned by bringing on new coaches. Each coach earns a piece of every product their network sells coaches' earnings depend on those below them in the pyramid.
If a coach has a medical issue or family emergency, and they should need to put Beachbody aside for a time, they risk losing their status and having to restart their entire business from scratch. In 2015, Beachbody switched the business model from coaches having an entire library to sell with a $7,000 value, to an online streaming service, for only $99 per year. The new model has coaches selling more nutritional products. Coaches felt that now that people weren't ordering the DVD their Shakeology sales declined as well, and this caused many coaches to quit. Beachbody is selling a healthier lifestyle and self-confidence. Shakeology now at $130 per month brings in 2/3 of the company's revenue.
In 2017 Beachbody was sued and reached a $3.6 million settlement in which It agreed to stop making extreme claims about how healthy Shakeology is. The government also forced the company to fix its auto-renewal program, which wasn't properly alerting customers when their credit card accounts were being charged. Starting in 2018 Beachbody was forced to gain separate consent for auto-renewals and give ample notice before charges are incurred.
Beachbody currently charges $100 annually for their on-demand membership.
Coaches-United is like Beachbody in many ways. Each coach will have an accountability group on Facebook, this will help spread the word of mouth, as well as give our users a place where they can come together as a community. Each coach will invite new members to join, they will do so by showing off what they have accomplished in real life with our program. This will encourage other users to join. They will also have a QR code which will navigate a user directly to their landing page. Each coach will earn a commission on the platform from the students that they work with. They will also have an opportunity to sell the student's merchandise and keep a commission on the products.
Unlike Beachbody, the coaches will earn a decent living from this site. They will not earn any money on those that came in below them, however they may get referral credits towards merchandise, or free classes. Should a coach have a family emergency, the pre-recorded classes will allow the coach to have a continued residual income even if they were to become inactive on the platform. Another major difference is the trainers available. Beachbody is offering certified, even famous trainers. These are pre-recorded videos that offer no feedback. Coaches-United by contrast does not require anyone to be certified or famous. All coaches gain traction on the platform by their own merit and the rankings they receive from the goal-getters they train. These trainers are encouraged to give personal feedback to every person who takes part in their class. They are also able to provide the goal-getter with an award or achievement for doing well in the class or making progress toward their goals. The trainers on Coaches-United will be aware of each goal-getter's unique goal for being involved in the program, as well as their beginning, continuing, and ending metrics so that they can properly offer advice. The final differentiator is that these coaches can have live classes, pre-recorded classes, audio-only classes, or even in-person classes.
Peloton
Peloton currently has 2.6 million members and was launched in 2014. The Peloton app currently offers 10,000 classes. It organizes them by category, it allows each user to be aware of the community involved in their individual class. It allows a user to sort classes by length, class type, instructor, and difficulty. It gives a description of the class with a photo as well as a user rating for that class. It gives an equipment list and a lesson plan. When a class is running a user can see their own heart rate as well as a list that shows the profile picture and username of the others in the class, with a running count as to how many are attending now. This feed can be expanded to show awards won by individual members, and the ability to wave to others. The workout screen also displays the duration of time remaining in a session. At the end the client is prompted with a rating questionnaire, did you enjoy this class, how difficult was it? It will then display the user’s workout metrics retrieved from their wearable. Heart rate, zones, calories, duration, distance, etc. It allows users to search for programs based on "classes, programs, collections, and schedules". The schedule model chooses today's date and time and shows the client live classes coming up now, and into the future in a list style. It uses an algorithm to recommend classes based on a user’s previous selection. It offers for the user to take an outdoor class, with audio only. There is an awards, competition, and challenges, section. Finally, a user profile, which shows how many a client is following and how many followers they have. It also shows the total number of sessions completed by genre and allows each user to join teams.
Originally, as a smart exercise bike, and later in 2018 as a smart treadmill. They released Peloton Digital for $12.99 per month. They aim to continually add value to the subscription by increasing the library of classes and adding new fitness verticals, as well as updating the features and functionality of the platform.
According to Peloton, they have been keeping track of the average monthly workouts per user. They found that in 2017, the average user did 6.1 workouts per month, in 2020, the average user did 17.7 workouts per month. They began in 2017 with 108,000 connected fitness subscribers, and by 2020 had grown to 1,045,000 subscribers.
Peloton currently charges The Peloton Digital Membership costs $12.99 per month plus tax.
The main difference between the Peloton trainer app and Coaches-United is Peloton is using certified trainers in a studio. Coaches-United is using a crowd-sourcing model to source self-identified coaches and give them the ability to rise up based on their performance as a coach.
Apple Fitness +
This is also a similar concept in that a user can workout with a trainer on demand. Apple Fitness allows a client to choose a workout based on category. They can also sort by trainer, duration, and music. Once a workout is selected the workout will sink up with the watch, and display the apple rings, as well as the duration left within the interval, the duration left within the workout, the user's heart rate the user's calorie burn as well and a bar that shows their heart rate on a line graph in comparison to the others doing the workout at this time. At the end of the class, it gives you a breakdown of your calories, time in class, your average heart rate, and a larger version of the burn bar, which is your heart rate compared to others. It then recommends a mediation or cool down for a user to do next.
Some of the similarities to Coaches-United are it will link with a user's wearable technology, and they can be in a group setting. Apple does not allow the user to communicate with others in the group
Apple currently charges 9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. They are giving it away free with a new watch purchase, and are offering a 1 month free trial.
Find-coach.com
A platform that is funded by the students. With this site, the coach is an independent contractor, and the student pays the coach using PayPal which seems to be integrated with the program. The teacher can withdraw their earnings at any time. The app features include choosing a course, browsing by subject category, chat, live chat session, audio & video conferencing, and grades.
The main difference between Coaches-United and Find-Coach is that the coach will be able to give their lesson live on the platform. They will also have their pre-recorded classes available on the platform. Making this platform a place where they can run the entirety of their coaching business.
Noomii.com
Founded in 2007, Noomii is a free online service that helps you find your ideal life coach, career coach, or business coach. Noomii’s large and comprehensive directory of professional coaches includes hundreds of independent coaches across the United States, Canada, and over 30 more countries. The matching system quickly and effectively matches clients with their ideal coach based on their unique goals, personality, and background. All coaches in this network are independent businesses; they do not work for Noomii. The ultimate goal of Noomii is to increase global well-being. They want you to thrive and live a meaningful, engaging, and joyful life with life coaching being the best tool to make that happen.
To search for a coach in Noomii, you must select a category Business, Life, Health, Fitness, Relationship, once you do this it breaks down into subcategories. Each subcategory has a number next to it which shows you how many coaches are available for that subcategory. It can also be filtered by location and then city, but this search feature did not recognize metro areas that were close together.
Each coach profile has a picture, an about me section, reviews, articles, and a place to request a consultation. It also displays all their certifications and degrees next to their name.
The platform takes a percentage of the fee for hiring the coach.
Coaches-United is the only platform where you can engage with your coach in a live group setting. This app does offer one-on-one sessions.
Bark.com
Launched in January 2015, by May 2016 had 100,000 students, and by February it had 100,000 coaches. In April of 2017, they launched in the US. Currently, bark has 5 million customers in 8 countries. The vision of the platform is to make finding pros to get any job done easier.
This platform is funded by the coaches, it uses a token system in which the coach purchases the right to bid on a request for coaching made by the student. The student logs into the platform and chooses between coaching categories. The student creates a work coaching request. The student then receives multiple quotes in their personal email and compares them. The student then writes a review on the services they received.
Findacoach.com
A platform that is funded by the coaches. This platform offers a landing page that is customizable to each coach and offers them leads. For a client, they offer to match to a coach who meets their specific criteria. This service uses an SEO-optimized directory which allows clients to search for coaches based on specialty, and location. They appear to be offering advertising services as their prices are based on where you appear in the search results, and how many categories your profile will be available in.
This site is very inexpensive where the Premium membership is only $150 per year, and a basic listing is free.
Lifecoachhub.com
A platform that is funded by the coaches. This platform offers a web hosting page for each coach and offers them leads. It also offers coaching tools such as a welcome package, plan notes, contracts, assessments, goals tracking, to-do lists, surveys, and a place for each coach to have their own personal shop. Some coaches are using this shopping cart to offer additional online live services. It also had a page full of free resources such as how to open a coaching business, how to be a life coach, how to find coaching clients, how to run a coaching business, how to keep clients longer, etc.
This site ranges in price from a free membership which only allows 1-2 clients to a Master Coach at $57/month.
Pushfar.com
This is an open mentoring platform with 50,000 members, where anyone can sign up free to find a mentor, volunteer to mentor others, network, connect and develop their career, and find career progression tools and techniques.
This is a mentoring software that helps organizations and businesses to set up, scale, and manage mentoring schemes in a really effective, simple, and valuable way. Things like mentor matching and mentor management used to be resource-heavy and manual tasks for HR directors. It offers an easy-to-set-up mentoring program in minutes, with your own customizable questions, reporting, and branding. PushFar helps you to log your goals and stay on top of them with helpful reminders when they are due. As a mentor, you can set goals for your mentee and work together to help achieve them, set mentor meeting agendas. PushFar also collates together more than 15,000 professional events and 180,000 job opportunities for you.
Note How much PushFar is charging?
Coachcircle.life
CoachCircle.life was founded in 2020 between Brussels and Tel Aviv on the belief that coaching should be affordable and accessible - not a privilege. Each coach on this site had a very boxy listing, when it was opened there was a short bio and a small picture.
This platform has the user buy a number of coaching sessions at a fixed price. The sessions go down in price the more you purchase. However, the first session is only $30, and a Single Session purchase being the highest price is $69.
Thumbtack.com
A marketplace that launched in 2008, that allows individual self-employed service workers to market their services to other individuals looking for that service. This does have an option to search for coaches or personal trainers, and it is paid in a transaction fee on the platform. Each coach has a photo and a star rating. Then have a price and a calendar for booking service. The overview section displays the area they service, how many times they have been hired via the platform, how many years they have been in business, and if their credentials are verified. It has their social media, and webpage links as well as the payment methods that the provider accepts. It has a typical response time and then a section of reviews and star ratings from others who have worked with him. Depending on your initial search will depend on what drop-down filters are available at each level of the platform.
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