Find an excerpt of Mountassir Bouhadba’s TV intervention on BFM Business 📺
The CEO of the EMS Group and the GIGAFIT brand returned to the fitness market and presented the group’s results within an increasingly segmented market, its ambitions and its future prospects with the development of Home Fitness 💪
Discover now the whole exchange
You’re here because things are going well for you with 15 new clubs in 4 months. What works about the GIGAFIT formula?
“What works in the GIGAFIT formula is the intelligent adaptation of the concept to local catchment areas and consumer habits.
GIGAFIT has four club formats:
– the XL format, large volumes from 1000m² to 6000m².
– the DESIGN format, which is found on the outskirts of the city with a surface area of between 600m² and 800m².
– the EXPRESS format, the proximity concept
– and the Flash concept, the micro-clubs.”
You have deployed the brand in several types of catchment areas. What is the public that comes to you today and that you are targeting?
“GIGAFIT’s customer base remains very varied in terms of the concept, the city and the services we offer in the club.
What does GIGAFIT ultimately aim to bring to this ultra-competitive market? There are more and more players on the low end and the high end. How do you see it?
“With GIGAFIT, we brought budget-costs. Budget-cost is opposed to low-cost because we maintain a high level of services while offering very affordable rates.
The subscription can start at 13€95/month for the weekend packages and go up to 69€95/month if you take all the premium activities into account.
In GIGAFIT clubs, in addition to fitness as the main activity, you can find Premium Services such as 5-a-side soccer fields, squash courts, padel, swimming pools or lounge restaurants.”
With a bias to make gyms with an accessible rate and offer premium services, how do we manage to solve the equation because making premium service, it costs money finally?
“At GIGAFIT, you pay for what you use.
The whole equation is based on the Premium Services that we add to the card. Each member starts with a subscription of 29€95/month and if you want to add the personalized follow-up of our sports coaches and the premium services of the club, then you pay these services to the card.”
It seems today that everyone wants to do premium in this market?
“No, not at all. On the contrary, the market expansion is based on the development of low-cost clubs.
The premium can be defined on several criteria: it comes from the concept that you are going to set up, the decoration, the coaches, the group classes! It is important to remember that the majority of clubs that open today do not offer group classes with certified sports coaches, they will only be virtual classes on video.
Do you have the impression that you are witnessing a recomposition of the market? The low-end players (Neoness, Basic Fit) have strongly developed their number of gyms and there is also the high-end (Episod). How do you see this market?
“First of all, I would like to specify that I started working in fitness centers at the age of 16. So I have been in the fitness business for 13 years and I have been able to observe the evolution of the market. I can tell you that today, the fitness market is segmenting.
We have niche markets such as Boutiques Gym (small spaces dedicated to the practice of a sport in small group training) which are developing rapidly in the Nordic countries. In fact, we are working on opening our first Boutique Gym in England.
This was just one example. Today the market is becoming increasingly segmented and there are market shares to be conquered. Compared to low-cost offers, we must impose a strong concept, differentiate ourselves and provide more and more services to our members.
For you, segmentation is the key today? There is a women’s concept that is being developed by you…
“Indeed, we have set up a 100% Lady concept, with wellness areas, a spa and a real beauty institute in addition to fitness activities. The goal, once again, is to provide a maximum of services. We even have a daycare center for children so that our members can train and relax in peace.
We are looking for niche markets.
There is a lot of marketing and communication in your concept. Isn’t that finally the problem of the gym today. Do you find it difficult to get rid of this testosterone image, a little bit drunk of the gym ? How do you look at it ?
“Marketing is the foundation of every business. It’s our ability to show our product to people who don’t know it.
Gyms have had this image of big muscles and testosterone as you say, but at GIGAFIT we have set up a concept store to break that image.”
The retail layout is different?
“Each space defines a specific activity on which the member can train independently or come and complete this work with a sports coach. We can also find spaces that are completely outside the framework of sport and well-being with restaurants, relaxation areas, and lounge areas.
The goal was to get away from the image of a gym!
A word also about the increasing competition with outdoor activities, with climbing for example and indoor climbing gyms too. How do you manage to position yourself in relation to these new sports that are taking market share from you?
“GIGAFIT is part of the EMS GROUP that I founded in 2013 with an ecosystem thought around sports.
To compete with this outdoor part, we are currently working on a digital platform for home fitness in order to attract customers who cannot go to a gym because of lack of time or offer. We are in the process of implementing this digitalization strategy for the group.”
A word also about the ecosystem you have created around it. You’ve created a group with a whole bunch of related activities. What is the ambition?
“Today, GIGAFIT is the group’s growth driver. Within the EMS GROUP, we will find :
– GF One: textiles and food supplements
– GIGAFIT ACADEMY, training of sports coaches
– and GYM MARKET, our digital marketing agency specialized in traffic creation
The goal is to have a 360° strategy in the field of wellness and sports!”
Precisely, on this question of well-being and sport. How do you see these new consumer trends today, these new demands from the public who are asking for more healthy, more organic food, more sport, more well-being?
“The market is evolving thanks to several factors. For example, we will find the advertising carried every day by the government with these slogans “eat well”, “5 fruits and vegetables a day”. There are also social networks that convey an image of well-being.
Finally, the market is also driven by the whole prevention part. We are in an increasingly sedentary world and we are going to focus on prevention through sports rather than cure.
Precisely, on this question of well-being and sport. How do you see today these new consumer trends, these new demands of the public who ask for more healthy, more organic food, more sport, more well-being?
“Yes, exactly. We already have a master-franchise strategy abroad.
Our strategy is also to segment the market and to seek out niche markets by implementing new concepts.
You talk about segmentation and feminine concept, but where can it go in other types of sectors?
“We can also go into the field of Gym Shops, even if France is lagging behind our neighbors with a very low penetration rate.
We’ll have to ride the wave!
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