Cited as the fastest-growing fitness centre franchisee in North America, Planet Fitness has come a long way since its inception in 1992. The Planet Fitness app has become one of the best free fitness apps.
With a gargantuan revenue of $587 million in 2021, PF is one of the most successful endeavours in the health and wellness market.
According to Statista, the health and wellness industry was worth $4.3 trillion in 2020, which is expected to hit $7 trillion by 2025.
Like other mushrooming businesses, organisations around the globe are looking up to PF to gain the cues on becoming a successful fitness and wellness service, especially by developing a fitness app or Planet Fitness like app.
Consequently, in this blog post, we will discuss the Planet Fitness app, PF business model, and more that could help you to build an app like Planet Fitness. So let’s start with the basics.
Planet Fitness is a franchisor and operator of fitness centres based in America. It came into existence to give a run for money to established budget-friendly gym chains like 24 Hour Fitness. Here are some fundamentals of the fitness club services provider:
Founders – Michael Grondahl, Marc Grondahl
Founded in – 1992
Headquarters – Hampton, New Hampshire, U.S.
Net Revenue (2021) – $587 million
No. of Employees (2020) – 1,387
Total No. of Stores (September 2022) – 2,353
Total Members (September 2022) – 16.6 million+
Planet Fitness has been doing business since 1992. It was making continuous improvements but all of them were small compared to what the organisation achieved during the coronavirus pandemic.
When other businesses were finding it difficult to come out triumphant in the wake of COVID-19, PF managed to up its game by focusing on creating a safe environment for its members and marketing its services around it. The results were amazing. The features that made PF enhance its appeal were the following:
On 15th February 2023, Planet Fitness made it to the Forbes list of America’s Best Employers 2023 in the Midsize Employers Travel & Leisure category. Competing among 3500 entrants, the American franchisor is listed among the top 500.
Planet Fitness targets customers looking for cost-effective fitness services. It owns and operates a line of more than 2.3k fitness clubs across North America. In addition to America, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Panama, PF offers services in Australia.
PF started franchising in 2003. The net worth and liquid cash requirements for a Planet Fitness franchise are $3 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
The initial franchise fee is $20k, the area development fee is $10k, and the royalty fee is 7% of the total gross monthly/annual membership fees. By March 2022, the member count crossed 16 million.
A typical PF fitness store is 20,000 square feet of bright and clean space populated with PF-branded cardio, circuit-, and weight-training equipment and staff trainers.
The Planet Fitness trainers provide free fitness instruction to members in small groups via the PE@PF program. For its standard membership, PF provides this at only $10 a month. This value appeals to a broader population above 14 in the US and Canada, especially those who find traditional fitness clubs expensive.
Compared to other fitness services, Planet Fitness also focuses on non-fitness industries. According to its 2021 annual report, PF has about 250 million users and made system-wide sales of $3.4 billion.
That’s because apart from the conventional health club market, PF offers services in entertainment, leisure, sports, and other non-fitness activities.
Instead of being only a full-fledged front for selling fitness services and introducing newcomers to PF, the Planet Fitness workout app serves the purpose of an excellent marketing tool. Some of the top reasons that make the Planet Fitness app such a huge success include:
The fitness app works excellently in tracking workouts for users. It also provides a good range of features to Planet Fitness members, including a tracker to tell the users when it is a good time to work out in the gym.
The tracker (Crowd Meter) not only helps the business to operate optimally but also increases user retention and facilitates the delivery of personalised services.
Its app combined with a continuous barrage of partnerships and sponsorships allowed PF to become one of the most recognized names in the fitness and wellness industry.
Planet Fitness sticks to a Franchise business model for developing new stores. This allows them to leverage distinct local market expertise. While considering a potential franchisee, PF evaluates:
As we can see, PF follows a stringent selection process when it comes to adding new stores. This helps the fitness service to ensure quality delivery to its members while expanding its reach simultaneously.
Planet Fitness enjoys a wide diversity of ways to generate revenue, contributing to making it one of the leading gym and fitness service providers in North America.
Although there are numerous revenue sources available to PF, most of these can be categorised into one of these three main sources of generating revenue:
1.
Franchise-basedFranchise segment revenue refers to the services that Planet Fitness provides to its franchises. It is the major source of revenue for PF. Franchise-based revenue includes:
Out of the $587 million that Planet Fitness earned in 2021, Franchise-based revenue accounted for $290 million, which is almost 50% of the entire revenue.
2.
Corporate-owned StoresIn addition to catering affordable fitness services to individuals, Planet Fitness offers organisations a way to operate their fitness centres to provide fitness services to their employees.
Such stores are called corporate-owned stores, and these stores generate revenue for PF in the following forms:
This revenue stream accounted for more than 29% or approximately $171 million of the entire revenue generated by Planet Fitness in 2021.
3.
Equipment-basedPF necessitates franchisee-owned stores to replace their exercising equipment every 5 to 7 years. The equipment-based revenue includes:
Planet Fitness earned $129 million in equipment-based revenue in 2021.
We have helped organisations to sell their services effectively by building mobile apps that complement their business operations. Our experts have a wide-ranging experience in fitness app development and are comfortable working with all leading technologies.
Check out the following live demo to know how we help our clients with building an app like MyFitnessPal:
Apptunix has developed dozens of health & wellness and fitness apps for businesses across the globe. We leverage the latest mobile app development practices to ensure you get a uber modern fitness app. Building your own fitness app with us gets you:
The exact cost of building a fitness app will depend on the types of features you offer. Therefore, you need to factor in the features that you want in your fitness app while creating your budget. If you don’t want to do it, then Apptunix can help you with that too.
PF is a multi-million business that has been going strong for the past 3 decades. The Planet Fitness app is a shining example for businesses looking forward to developing and profiting from a health and wellness app while marketing itself at the same time.
In addition to the standard exercise programs and trackers – activity, calorie, and so on – your app must be able to deliver personalised experiences to the users and cater to their exact requirements.
Adding new features and improving your existing ones regularly will help your business to survive and thrive and make the most out of the evolving fitness trends. Godspeed!
Q 1. What is Planet Fitness app?
The Planet Fitness app is a wellness and fitness app offered by Planet Fitness. It is available for both Android and iOS platforms.
Q 2. What is a fitness app?
A fitness app is a mobile application that offers guidance to users on exercises. It also comes with a fitness tracker, calorie tracker, and weight tracker. It might also have a virtual coach and pre-recorded exercises for cardio, strength training, and so on.
Q 3. Who are the competitors of Planet Fitness?
24 Hour Fitness, ClassPass, Drop Fitness, LA Fitness, Naardic Training, and RiteAid are the major competitors to Planet Fitness.
(1 ratings, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Get the weekly updates on the newest brand stories, business models and technology right in your inbox.
Akhil has been writing content since 2014. Although he has written content across various niches, his forte is technology writing. Throughout his tenure he has worked in various capacities. He is presently working as the Marketing Manager for Apptunix.
Suite #304, 11200 Manchaca, Austin, Texas, US, 78748
#2011, Floor 20, Burjuman Business Tower, Dubai.
If you want our experts to help you with software or app development, just book a call!