{"id":35388,"date":"2025-07-30T22:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T22:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/35388\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T22:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T22:22:14","slug":"planet-fitness-tipped-to-stay-on-top-despite-hvlp-gym-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/35388\/","title":{"rendered":"Planet Fitness Tipped To Stay on Top Despite HVLP Gym Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Analysts at William Blair believe the \u201cJudgement Free\u201d gym brand will continue to dominate the U.S. fitness market, although upstarts like Crunch and EoS could flourish as well <\/p>\n

Planet Fitness is well-positioned to maintain its status as top dog in the American fitness industry over the coming years, fending off competition from a crop of fast-growing high-value, low-price (HVLP) gym brands, analysts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a recent equity research note from investment bank William Blair, analysts predicted that Planet Fitness will continue to lead the HVLP gym segment despite the rise of competitors including Crunch Fitness, EoS Fitness, Vasa Fitness and Chuze Fitness.<\/p>\n

While brands like Crunch and EoS are flush with private equity cash and are opening gyms at a rapid clip<\/a>, the William Blair analysts noted they\u2019re still nowhere near Planet Fitness in terms of size and scale. And the \u201cJudgement Free Zone\u201d gym brand is still in growth mode, looking to roughly double its domestic footprint to 5,000 locations over the next few years. By contrast, Crunch, the second-largest HVLP gym brand, has around 500 locations open worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSheer numbers alone are likely to sustain Planet Fitness\u2019s leadership in the HVLP segment,\u201d the analysts wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If current average membership figures hold, hitting the 5,000 location mark would give Planet Fitness around 37.5 million members, a staggering number representing roughly 11% of the U.S. population, the analysts noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the combination of Planet\u2019s affordable monthly dues and non-intimidating atmosphere \u2026 renders such a target achievable,\u201d they wrote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The HVLP gym segment as a whole is red-hot, with more and more young Americans joining low-price gyms<\/a>, often at the expense of mid-priced clubs, whose future is in peril<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s been some belief among investors that so-called \u201cHVLP 2.0\u201d brands<\/a> like Crunch and EoS could chip away at Planet Fitness\u2019 member base since they offer amenities<\/a>, such as infrared saunas, advanced fitness programming and heated group classes, that aren\u2019t typically found at PF locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the team at William Blair believes a rising tide will lift all boats, including Planet Fitness, as the HVLP segment continues to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See Also<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile adding complexity, we believe the additional amenities offered by the newer crop of HVLP brands \u2026 will likely broaden the appeal of the segment even further by potentially bringing in more seasoned fitness club members,\u201d they wrote. \u201cAs a result, we remain constructive on the opportunities for other brands to further accelerate growth of the HVLP segment, albeit not necessarily at the expense of Planet Fitness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to increased competition, Planet Fitness has sought to revamp its marketing strategy and invest in more strength training equipment<\/a> under CEO Colleen Keating, seeking to position itself as a place for serious gym buffs alongside newbies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re beginning the shift to communicating the high value of a Planet Fitness membership versus primarily focusing on our low price and using our marketing to demonstrate the breadth of high-quality, top-tier equipment in our club,\u201d Keating explained during an earnings call last fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

William Blair isn\u2019t the only firm that\u2019s bullish on Planet\u2019s prospects under Keating. Late last year, analysts from TD Cowen expressed optimism in the brand\u2019s future<\/a>, pointing to the new marketing and strength training strategy, along with key executive hires. They also believe Planet Fitness\u2019 decision to increase its base-level membership price from $10\/month to $15<\/a> will pay off in the long run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysts at William Blair believe the \u201cJudgement Free\u201d gym brand will continue to dominate the U.S. fitness market,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,407,26504,26505,84,26506,26507,6785],"class_list":{"0":"post-35388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-fitness-franchise","12":"tag-gyms","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-high-value-low-price-gyms-hvlp","15":"tag-planet-fitnes","16":"tag-zzz-b"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}