The Hindu Business Line : Fitness One forays into equipment retailing

Chennai, Sept. 26 Chennai-based Fitness One, a health club that offers programmes ranging from gym, aerobics, yoga and meditation to dancercise and weight management packages, is all set to foray into fitness equipment retailing.

To start with, the company will sell equipment from Precor of the US and its in-house brand ‘Propel Fitness’. The company will outsource the manufacturing of Propel Fitness equipment to Taiwan and Korea, said Mr Vivek Anand, Managing Director of Fitness One. “Outlets in Chennai and Bangalore will open in a week’s time.”

That apart, the company has recently ventured into the ‘home gym’ segment. Elaborating on this, Mr Anand said the concept is all about delivering fitness at one’s doorstep. “If one cannot come to the gym for his daily exercise, Fitness One will go to his home. We install and maintain fitness equipment at home and will also depute a trainer on a daily basis.” The ‘home gym’ may cost anywhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh, depending on one’s requirements.

Captive gyms

Besides, the company is also setting up and running captive gyms for corporates. It recently set up one for Saint-Gobain Glass at Sriperumbudur. Earlier, it opened a captive gym for Cognizant Technology at Taramani in Chennai. The 7,000-sq ft gym is being run by Fitness One on a turnkey basis. According to Mr Anand, Cognizant is planning a few more such facilities for its other campuses.

Fitness One at present has nine company owned outlets — 4 each in Chennai and Bangalore, one in Coimbatore. The company, through the franchisee route will open another five outlets — Tirupur, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad – in the next two months.

“With all these business models kicking in, we are targeting to surpass the Rs 40-crore revenue mark this fiscal,” said Mr Arun Kathiresan, Chief Financial Officer of the company. “We are also planning to rope in a celebrity to endorse the brand.”

According to him, Fitness One is now valued at Rs 80 crore ($20 million), and Mauritius-based India Equity Growth Fund, part of Reliance Asset Management Co, Mauritius, has taken 4.5 per cent stake in the company.

Corporate Challenger

To promote the concept of fitness among corporate employees, Fitness One, along with Excel Adventure and Entertainment, has announced Inter-Corporate Mini Olympics. It is expected that at least 30 companies will participate with 1,000 contestants.

Globally, Mini Olympics has been found to be very effective in pumping up team dynamics and will instil the spirit of competition in a friendly manner and improve integration of individuals with the company, points out Mr Anand.

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