Fitness and Wellness industry comprises businesses that support physical and mental well-being. The scope of the industry has consistently been widening. Traditionally, fitness and wellness were supported by the healthcare sector. However, now this has moved beyond and may include businesses that are into the area of – holistic well-being, sports for fitness, yoga, meditation, beauty, general fitness, alternative therapy, diet and nutrition, weight loss, personal care, beauty, etc. The boundaries are blurring as any service that helps you stay healthy, feel better to handle the work pressure and chaos presented by present day lifestyle may fall in the bucket.
The factors driving the growth are – rising middle class population, rising disposable income, urbanization, and a huge young population base. Also, the fact that people are getting more conscious of their looks and are more aware of the need for fitness and general well-being.
New business models, serious funding and career opportunities
The sector is witnessing growth at a very fast pace, leading to new and emerging businesses and job opportunities in the sector. The opportunities are not in the form of traditional gym instructors, or beauty and spa attendants but also as software developers and tech professionals considering the coming up of tech ventures to support the industry. Emerging companies like Curefit, HealthifyMe and FitMeIn have seen serious funding and growth in the sector, and this is just the beginning.
Healthifyme has raised a total of about $ 25 million ( by Mid 2019) – and one of its core offering is the AI powered nutritionist – Ria. The company employs almost 90-100 engineers – machine learning, and data science experts, to work on its AI platform.
Curefit has received a total funding of about $290 million (as on June 2019). The company supports holistic health experience driven by its verticals – Cult.fit – exercise and physical well-being, Eat.fit – healthy and nutritious food, Mind.fit – mental well-being, and Care.fit – healthcare. The company employs over a 1000 employees, and all this has been built in just about three years.
Top jobs and skills
In ‘Workforce Report – H2 2018’ released by LinkedIn, India, Health and Wellness has been ranked at No. 2, after Finance as a fastest growing Industry. As per the report, the top jobs hired for in the industry are – Software Engineer, Distributor, and Business Development Manager. The top three skills for the industry have been identified as Management, Team Management, and Leadership. The report has been based on LinkedIn’s database of over 55 million Indian professionals, the company pages, job postings and related data hosted on the platform. The LinkedIn report considers alternative medicine, and health, wellness and fitness employers as listed on the platform as comprising the sector.
As per the FICCI, EY Report ‘Wellness & Beauty 2019 – An ecosystem in making’ the industry can be grouped in the following three key segments – nutraceuticals, alternative therapies and fitness and slimming. Nutraceuticals can be simply defined as functional products, which provide additional health benefits. A level deeper, they can be classified into three sub-categories – functional food, functional beverages and health supplements. Alternative therapies are the healing methodologies, which differ from the usual line or conventional medical practice (Allopathy). The physical fitness and slimming may involve areas like physical activity, diet and nutrition, spa, salons, etc.
Estimations of size and value of the market.
- Nutraceuticals – The nutraceuticals sector was estimated at US$4b in 2017. It is predicted to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 20.2% and reach US$10.01b by 2022.
- Alternate therapies – The AYUSH industry is estimated to have an annual turnover of around US$1.7b. The products market is worth US$0.6b with over-the-counter products such as digestives, health food and pain balms constituting almost 75% of the segment.
- Fitness and slimming – The overall fitness market was estimated around US$14b in 2017.
- Salon industry – The salon industry in India was estimated to be around US$3.8b in 2017—18, growing at a CAGR of 27%—30% in the past two years. It is roughly 30% of the overall wellness and beauty market.
- Spa – According to the Spa Association of India, spa industry in India was valued at US$1.7b in 2017.
- Aesthetic dermatology – In 2017, the Indian cosmetic treatment market (comprising of skin care and hair care treatments) was valued at around US$0.5b. Of this, skin care occupied the maximum share (60%).
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