A “Game-Changer” Strategy — Fitso’s Growth Journey

Zomato’s recent acquisition and subsequent divestment of stake in Fitso to Curefit piqued my interest in understanding exactly why Fitso seemed like a lucrative business. Despite the offline fitness and sports industry taking a massive hit, Fitso ( a 6-year-old venture) leaped valuation of up to 6 times. This made me delve deeper into the business value proposition, competitive advantage, Service mix, and growth strategy.

Fitso is a fitness-based mobile app that acts as a platform for enthusiasts to book fitness centers and training programs. While the emerging apps of the times (2015) were merely focussing on digitizing conventional fitness programs like Gyming, Zumba, or Yoga, Fitso started by tapping into recreational sports as an avenue for fitness

Let’s have a look at the key takeaways from Fitso’s Strategy

Understanding the Market Gap

In the pre-pandemic era, the idea for fitness for young adults was probably a forgotten subscription at a Zumba class Gym or an occasional game at the nearby sports club. Key Figures include

1. A KPMG report says that in 2015, the market size of Sports clubs, training facilities, and gyms stood at 6.7 Lakh Crores. The Market size of sports events stood at 5.1 Lakh Crores
2. If a correlation is to be drawn, out of every 62% of the population (in the sample set) interested in sports, 1% of them pursued it.
3. The healthcare market which is speculated to be $280 billion at the end of this decade comprises majorly of preventive healthcare ( Fitness + Weight loss)

Understanding the Need Gap

With a major chunk of the target market migrating, paying a hefty membership fee at a club with limited flexibility in terms of access seemed like a loss-making proposition. Long Queues, Member-only elitism, and substandard facilities made matters worse.

The key bottlenecks that created a huge white space and opportunity in the preventive healthcare segments are as follows -

1. The entire process of booking a venue was archaic and tedious. Most aficionados would have had to potentially drop the idea mid-way
2. Lack of space to find fellow enthusiasts which act as an aversive stimulus to pursue sports as an avenue of fitness.
3. Limitations in terms of shared space and the number of franchisees in a particular area.

While gyms and fitness classes used to serve as an avenue to sign up for meeting fitness goals, the entire idea could sometimes seem mundane and we know motivation is Moonish. The biggest hurdle, therefore, lies with the discovery of such opportunities, finding the right community, and Engagement.

Fitso entered into this gap. It entered the market at a time when the unorganized sector of conventional sports needed revival. It positioned itself as an aggregator in recreational fitness which stands at an intersection of fitness- leisure- community building.

The strategy to Capture Value

1. Fitso acts as a Marketplace for fitness enthusiasts to find their choice of coach and fitness centers. It has built a comprehensive training regime along with certifications. They expanded their product offerings to bring in the best nutritionists onboard
2. Gradually it has emerged as a full-stack sports facilities provider. It claims to provide the best-standardized training facilities with unlimited access in exchange for a fee.
3. They made fitness accessible anywhere without the need for a membership fee or an elaborate gym setup.
4. The app ensures user retention by providing features like — Setting customized fitness goals, tracking progress and events of interest, etc
5. Their revenue stream started by selling their online training courses at a weekly fee of Rs 185. Gradually they acted as a platform to book sports events.

Lastly, in my opinion, the biggest value proposition came from creating an avenue to build a community around fitness. When chasing fitness goals becomes a “one-man Task”, the motivation is more likely to wane. By creating a social networking platform, Fitso targeted the single biggest user pain point- Fitness Vanity. Social Media is greatly changing how we work out — especially when we see ourselves through the lens of our followers and seek gratification through vanity. Mutual challenges, progress sharing, Highlighting milestones are some of the few in the long list of perks on the app.

Published Originally on my personal blog — inkandshelf.com