Is the sports franchise sector one to be considered?
YES, it is! The sport and recreation sector has seen a huge rise in interest from all ages and levels of sporting ability. To put this into context, one in every seven people within the UK are now members of some type of gym. The evidence is here for all to see, the British public are far more incline to splash the cash and invest their valuable spare time into sporting activities to either maintain the healthy lifestyle, lose weight or gain fitness. This is only further enhanced with the fact that around 10 million adults are investing into this type of activity, that’s some commitment. It’s not just gyms that are benefiting from the desire for us to be healthier, more brits are seeking activity trips within the UK. This could involve swimming, badminton, tennis and even Golf that’s seen a positive impact on memberships. Getting fit is now a desirable business with many Personal Trainers earning a good income and experiencing the work life balance they’ve always desired.
The Sports sector within the UK is estimated to be worth over £24 billion, creating a huge opportunity for would be franchisees to take some of that pie. This upturn has been a result of people placing more emphasis on personal leisure time and activities to counterbalance the long working hours they’re experiencing. Sports and exercise can be contributed to reducing stress levels within the work place, opening a huge market for potential franchisees within the sports franchise sector. Franchising in the sports sector can put you in partnership with big success stories, that have already proven themselves. More and more children are opting against playing outside over the park as they’re ‘addicted’ to their online game console, so a sport session once a week is the perfect excuse for parents to get their gamer child out of the house. This is coupled with the fact that parents are growing increasingly concerned with the high obesity levels that children are now becoming accustomed to. So, teaching children the importance of a healthy lifestyle and how it can drastically improve the level of lifestyle experienced is vitally important. On offer through franchising will be great industry contacts, business management expertise, and discounted supply chains. Sports and recreation franchises benefit from ongoing loyal customer bases that use the services, the franchisors branding, and name will only enhance your reputation that will aid in expanding your franchise customer base.
Post Olympics or commonwealth games naturally see a huge uptake with the public investing time and money into activities such as cycling, rowing and running as they’re seen as being fashionable. Not only will people sign up to gyms to help with the training but there’s also a huge market for sports retail attire that by itself opens a completely different franchising avenue. Participation in sport across the UK has been increasing, and Sport England have actually reported that just under 16 million adults play some sort of sport weekly – that’s some potential right there.
What’s on offer?
The Sports and Recreation franchise sector is huge, and it comes as no surprise that there is such a diverse range of franchise opportunities available, there’s something to cater for every one’s requirements. As an example, there are gyms that target children such as The Little Gym, Fit Kids and Tumble Tots, there’s then sports franchises such as rugby tots, Active Soccer, Premier Sport and Progressive Sport that focus on grass roots. These franchises provide coaches that will go around local communities, schools or teams and coach them the fundamentals on a chosen sport. Higher Investment opportunities are available to those seeking full-size adult gyms such as Anytime Fitness, Energie fitness clubs, Snap 24/7 and The Fitness Space to name just a few Gym based franchise opportunities. Further to this, there are opportunities to teach children and babies how to swim, this sector has witnessed a huge upturn in popularity over the past 10 years, it’s not only seen as a necessity to teach your young ones the basics of swimming, but it’s also become somewhat of fad for parents to take them to these social events. Swimming franchises for children include brands such as Water Babies, Aqua Babies and Puddle Ducks to name just a few.
What’s next?
Ensure you conduct thorough research within the franchise sports sector and look at brands that have a tried and tested opportunity that has been replicated already throughout the UK. Talk to existing franchisees and gauge how they’ve experienced the sports franchise sector first hand, is the work-life balance what they anticipated? Are they earning the income they were informed they would hit by their Franchisor? If not, then why not and if they’re exceeding how have they achieved this? Are the support services from the franchisor on point? The UK market place for sports-based franchise opportunities is at an all time high and makes it an attractive proposition when considering investing in a franchise.
Please click here to view all of the franchise opportunities available within the UK