Loren Holland, Co-Founder of GymNation argues that pricing and flexibility are the keys to success.
In these unusual global times, UAE-based fitness brand GymNation is not only sustaining operations amidst Covid-19, but they are also pursuing growth. This is all at a time when several gyms have had no choice other than to shut down.
The company has invested AED1.5M on a brand-new concept called Blitz – a boutique high-intensity training (HIIT) studio – and have made it available to members on re-opening its Al Quoz facility.
Currently, GymNation operates a 40,000sq ft site in Al Quoz that opened in June 2018 with over 7,000 members that quickly surpassed the 10,000-mark. Soon two more branches opened in Bur Dubai spanning 30,000sq ft and at Manar Mall in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) spread across 25,000sq ft.
Going forward, GymNation has announced the opening of five more facilities during 2020, including Downtown Dubai, Motor City, Mirdif, Silicon Oasis as well as in Abu Dhabi. That’s not all; GymNation has also absorbed members from other fitness concepts that didn’t survive the pandemic.
“It has been a challenging time for all businesses, including gyms,” says Holland. “What has worked in our favour – pre-and-post-Covid-19 – is a disruptive, no-frills business model. We launched GymNation to fill a gap in the local market for affordable gyms with membership fees starting from AED99 going up to AED199 with no-hidden costs. That’s quite an unrivalled proposition, as we charge a fraction of what most traditional gyms do. We have created an affordable path to fitness in the UAE, which happens to be the second most expensive market globally for a gym membership – a Deutsche Bank study indicates.”
