Velocity MR Announced the results of their pan India study to Understand Health and Fitness Trends among Indians

by Shrutee K/DNS

Velocity MR a leading market research and analysis company announced the results of their pan India study to understand health and fitness trends among Indians. The study covering a sample size of 3000 and was conducted across Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

The study found that over 80% of people have started to track their fitness regime through various modes. People are using Fitbit, Myyogaonline, Smart Watches, Mobile Applications and other Fitness Bands to track their fitness regime. Apart from hygiene factors like accuracy and user-friendliness, people are also enjoying the apps/tools features in allowing users to compare, sync and share their data with others. People like the recommendations that the apps make concerning work out schedules and even diet to be followed. Networking with other likeminded fitness enthusiasts through these apps is another hot favourite.

Adds Jasal Shah Managing Director & CEO of Velocity MR, “The fitness industry in India is largely an unorganized and fragmented. However, the fitness space is evolving at a rapid pace mirrored by the fact that while ten years ago if at a popular running event you found a 1000 people, today you will find 14,000-15,000 people enthusiastically participating in such events now. Extrapolate this with the GDP growth and rising affluence, and you can conclude why the fitness sector is growing at a fast pace.”

Adds Consultant Vivek Mahadevan who is also a fitness enthusiast, “Awareness around the overarching importance of fitness in people’s lives has gathered steam in the last decade. This can be attributed to factors such as advances in consumer technology like apps, access to information at one’s fingertips through the internet and increase in average household incomes. We can today observe that, like there is heightened awareness levels among patients about various illnesses so is it about the importance of fitness and maintaining a healthy lifestyle today in India.”  

Other Highlights:

Need for Fitness

Over 97% people believe that it is necessary to maintain fitness and the common objectives for fitness are to have a healthy heart, sleep better and be happy.

Frequency of Doing Exercise

It is observed that increase in age is directly proportional to the frequency of exercising. Among the people with monthly household income >=INR 45K, ~85% do exercise at least three times in a week which is only ~70% for those with monthly household income <INR 45K. Interestingly 90% people in Delhi do exercise at least thrice in a week, out of which 80% people exercise Daily. Delhi has the least people (0%) who don’t have a fixed routine, which is significantly lesser than Kolkata (14%), Hyderabad (9%) and Mumbai (6%).

Exercises Done for Maintaining Fitness

It was observed that males follow different methods as opposed to females for maintaining their fitness. It was fund largely that males tend to do Cycling, Training in Gym and Martial Arts while Females engage in Skipping Rope, Dancing and Aerobics.

The younger age groups perform Yoga the least, as compared to the elder age groups but they instead engage in running, cycling and sports activities more than the elder age groups. People with higher monthly household income and SEC follow more diverse methods for maintaining fitness.

Whom Do People Consult for Fitness Guidance?

People with a higher Monthly Household Income (MHI) (>=INR 45K) consult online virtual market Places like Fitness Apps significantly more than the people with less MHI. People with MHI >= INR 75K consult a Personal Trainer significantly more than people with lesser MHI.

Pain Points of Users

On monitoring the pain points faced by people or what was stopping them from regular exercise, it was found that they were majorly related to the availability of time. 3 out of 10 people don’t have a membership in a fitness centre because it was expensive.

It was found that DailyBurn and MapMyRun have significantly higher awareness among Females. People with higher MHI have a higher awareness of different fitness tools, and they use Fitbit, DailyBurn, Apple/Samsung Proprietary Apps and Nike Training Club. While people with lower MHI use Mobile Applications.

It is interesting to note that even though internet apps are borderless, there are city wise preferences for such apps like physical brands/products. People in Delhi use MyYogaOnline the most while people in Mumbai use DailyBurn the most.

Benefits Received from Fitness Gadgets

Females have been able to achieve their exercise goals more as compared to Males.

While people of elder age group have been able to decrease their weight.

Summary

• 80% use mobile apps and gadgets to monitor their health and fitness

• Most people believe that it is necessary to maintain fitness.

• The motivation for maintaining fitness is not about the style/trend, but people want to be healthy, energetic and want to take care of their body.

• It is seen that 7 out of 10 people who exercise are doing it daily, it is also observed that frequency of doing exercise is higher in elder people as compared to the younger ones.

•Traditional exercises like Walking, Jogging and Yoga are done more than the Fitness activities like Zumba, Power walking etc.; the reason could be a shortage of time as well as money because of which ~50% people do not have a membership at a fitness centre.

• Maximum people exercise either at home or near-by gardens.

•For taking any fitness related decisions, people consult fitness trainers and friends/family members the most; while there are also >30% people who have faith in the virtual mode of consulting, and hence they consult either Google or Fitness Apps the most.

About Velocity

Velocity is a tech-savvy insights provider with a Global Presence, providing Proprietary Panels, Real web-based CATI, a Strong Field Force, Responsive Client Servicing capabilities and is armed with Unparalleled Research Capabilities. Velocity is today one of the youngest and highly tech-oriented Research Company globally. In a world where unstructured data is flowing in all directions, understanding distinctive consumer behavior towards brands is getting tougher and tougher. The company supported by Cross Marketing Inc. Tokyo has some of the finest brains in the industry along with the best available technology platforms to deliver world-class research solutions to clients. The integration of technology coupled with high-quality data imparts speed, hence providing a ‘Quick turnaround time’ in collating, analyzing and interpreting research data. www.velocitymr.com