紐時賞析／疫情還沒完 健身產業已大轉型

The Transformation of the Fitness Industry

疫情還沒完 健身產業已大轉型

Like restaurants, retailers and other businesses normally conducted in crowded locations open to the public, the health and fitness industry in Europe is scrambling to recover and get its business back on track — as soon as it figures out what its business will look like.

就像餐廳、零售商等通常在人潮聚集處營業並對大眾開放的產業一樣，歐洲健康與健身產業努力想從新冠疫情造成的重創復原，讓生意恢復舊觀——只要健身業能找出疫情後的經營模式。

The orders by public health authorities to close health and fitness clubs several times have had a profound effect on the industry. The consulting firm Deloitte estimates that clubs in Europe lost 15.4% of their members, or more than 10 million people, even when closures were relatively brief. Industry revenue fell twice as much, by almost 33%, as clients froze their accounts or requested refunds.

公共衛生當局在疫情期間幾度下令健身俱樂部停業，對這個產業影響深遠。顧問公司Deloitte估計，雖然歐洲健身俱樂部每次停業都相當短暫，卻共失去15.4%、1000多萬名會員；營收減少幅度則是會員數的兩倍，也就是近33%，因為會員要求凍結會籍或退費。

While the pandemic drags on, club executives are trying to fully understand how fundamentally COVID-19 has transformed their industry, which generated $96.7 billion in global revenue in 2019.

疫情還在拖延，健身俱樂部負責人想徹底了解，疫情如何完全改變自己的產業。2019年全球健身業營收達967億美元。

“For a long time now, I believe that too many health club leaders around the world assume they have the full and undivided attention of the exercising consumer,” said Ray Algar, a global fitness industry business adviser and analyst with Oxygen Consulting in Brighton, England. “That the gym sits at the top of some exercise industry hierarchy.”

英國英格蘭布萊頓鎮「氧氣顧問公司」全球健身產業商業顧問暨分析師艾爾加說：「我認為長久以來，全球各地有太多健身俱樂部負責人以為，他們能獲得想運動的消費者全心全意的關注。他們以為健身俱樂部處在運動產業階層頂端」。

“The gym may have once had this temporary monopoly, but this is over, and the pandemic has demonstrated that consumers can capably locate and enjoy many different gym substitutes,” he said. “What the pandemic has done has made these gym substitutes more visible.”

艾爾加說：「健身俱樂部也許曾享有一時的壟斷地位，但這已經結束了，而且疫情期間的經驗顯示，消費者能找到並享受不同於健身俱樂部的許多替代選項。疫情讓健身房的替代選項變得更明顯。」

Stefan Ludwig, a Deloitte partner and leader of the Sports Business Group, said that the lockdowns had indeed had a “significant impact on both consumer behavior and operator offerings.”

德勤會計師事務所合夥人暨體育事業部主管路德維格說，防疫封鎖的確「對消費者行為和經營模式有重大影響」。

A report by ClubIntel, a marketing research and consulting firm, found that closed clubs led many people to lose the habit of exercising regularly and caused others to try alternatives, such as biking, joining a walking club, signing up for video classes (dance and boxing are popular options) or buying an interactive device like a Peloton or Mirror.

市場研究和諮詢公司ClubIntel發布報告顯示，健身俱樂部停業讓許多人放棄定期運動習慣，並促使一些人嘗試替代方案，如騎單車、加入健行社團、訂閱視訊課程（舞蹈和拳擊都是熱門選項）或買互動裝置，如派樂騰連網固定式自行車和跑步機或Mirror健身鏡等。

Many customers, the report found, have chosen remote options offered by providers other than a fitness club. To retain or recoup pre-pandemic clientele, clubs need to increase those kinds of options and build a business model with diverse offerings like on-demand and streaming video. Many have already begun.

報告指出，許多消費者選擇遠距課程，而且不是由健身俱樂部提供。為了留住客戶或讓客戶數恢復到疫情前的水準，俱樂部必須增加這些遠距選項，並建立提供多元選擇的商業模式，如隨選和串流視訊等。許多俱樂部已開始這麼做。

文／Mark A. Stein 譯／李京倫