Total Fitness Continues Dominance of Mid-Market in Poland

After enjoying incredible success in the polish gym mid-market in recent years,Aleksander Wilewski shared their story and secrets just recently in an interview. Thanks to the IHRSA European Health Club Report, the fitness market in Poland is all set for positive growth and Total Fitness has been leading the line effectively. Based in Warsaw, they now have eight clubs running with another four in the planning stages.

Since the brand launched, there has been a focus on group exercise classes and this has attracted much attention. Above all others, the female market above the age of 25 years seems to be impressed the most.

Wilewski stated “We believe that exceptional design and customer focus can be built into low-cost structure if it is built right from the beginning. The sweet spot in size is 1,500 square meters to get economy of scale without running into high rent costs. Our clubs include club-in-club concepts with areas like functional training, small group training areas, personal training areas, isotonic machines, and cardio. All areas are designed to match different customers with different needs.”

Although the leading figures at Total Fitness brand the company as a mid-market solution, they’ve also stated their pride at keeping costs low. In Poland, this is a fairly common theme with the low and mid markets offering similar price points. In fact, Wilewski believes the difference to be less than 30%.

“This combination is not easy to replicate. We have been able to keep high EBITDA margins due to streamlined processes. Moreover, we keep an eye on our cost structure right from the beginning. That all allows us to outperform the Polish fitness club industry, as far as the financial benchmarks are concerned. Choose appropriate locations, control your cost structure, diversify your revenue streams, satisfy your customers. And don’t retaliate with price slashes if you see other brands entering a price war. Be active and not reactive,” he said.

Despite the growth of Total Fitness, there’s little chance of the market getting dominated by one brand considering no chain has more than a 2% share of all clubs (2,500 in total).