Gympik aims to become the Zomato of the health and slimming sector
The success of Zomato has changed the face of the aggregator industry. Now, there are many players out there, in various categories. Gympik, an aggregator of health and fitness centres, for both trainers/professionals and consumers, seems to be transforming the fitness industry in a similar manner.
According to a study by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and global consulting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), the fitness and slimming market was estimated at Rs 60,000 crore in 2012.
Gympik aims to offer one-stop solutions to consumers of the fitness industry. From finding you a gym in your city to locating aerobic classes, martial art centres, and dance classes, this aggregator provides information for both trainers/professionals and consumers.
The idea was conceived when Amaresh’s friend required a personal trainer, and it was quite difficult to find one. He realized it was not just personal trainers; finding a good fitness centre is an equally painful job. This gap between demand and supply led to the business idea of starting an aggregator site for fitness centres. So, in August 2013, Ajay and Amaresh Ojha co-founded Gympik.
“We provide complete information about health and fitness centres. HD images, 360 degree panoramic views, membership details, offers, trainer profiles, user reviews and ratings are some of the information we share on our platform. Our core area is technology. All the searches are based on Google maps; users can even view the centers within a certain radius from him,” says Amaresh.
More than 6000 centers and 4000 trainers have been listed on the website. It has a presence in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR, and is planning to get into other cities. The website aims to make a platform like Zomato’s. It claims that the kind of data it provides is a big differentiator. It aims to create the largest marketplace-cum-ecosystem for the fitness and wellness industry in the country.
“Our platform makes it easy to find a gym, yoga classes or trainers and connect to them directly. We get 2000 plus daily unique visitors on the platform and most of them make enquiries to a center or a trainer,” says Amaresh.
The website was bootstrapped for the initial six months. Later, it managed to raise a seed fund of $135, 000. The fund has been used to scale up the technical and business team.
Challenge or boon
The health and fitness industry is highly disorganized. The information about the industry is not aggregated. There’s no way to compare price or facilities provided by different health and fitness centres in the area.
“This is highly unstructured industry. There is no benchmarking of prices, qualifications or facilities. Gympik want to create a platform where people can compare two fitness centers and check out information online,” says Amaresh.
Gympik sees itself as a pioneer in the industry, as it has taken a step to organize this unstructured sector. This challenge may benefit the website in many ways.
The website is going to launch more than five business verticals in a year’s time. This includes a cloud based analytics platform, app based diet counseling, and personal training.
The continuous growth in the wellness sector is going to profit the related sector as well. “We look forward to increasing our reach and becoming a household name in the aggregator industry,” says Amaresh.