The wholesale Fitness Clothing Market
Before we delve into the sales channel options for Fitness Apparel, let’s take a look at the global fitness apparel market size and the leading importers of fitness apparel. At the root, being one of the fastest-growing industries in the world is also why it is worth investing in.
And the global fitness clothing market is projected to remarkable growth in the upcoming years. It’s attributed to the increasing awareness about health and fitness among individuals. While the gym clothing or sub-segment and discount stores sections are estimated to dominate, other segments will grow. However, this rate of growth will not be as faster as the two sub-segments mentioned above. The year 2020 global fitness apparel market amounted to $354 million, with a projected increase of 25% by 2026. These figures consider the factors of the present situation and the future scope of the global industry.
The European gym apparel has seen a drastic change in the dynamics of clothing manufacturing and importation of fitness clothing. Many countries in Europe now prefer to outsource their production to cheaper locations across the world. So, countries including China, Turkey, Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia remain the leading fitness clothing suppliers in Europe. Germany’s market constituted the highest market in Europe with over 63.16 billion U.S dollars in 2020.
Over the last half-decade, the fitness workout market has experienced an improvement in its growth. The fitness apparel market in 2020 and 2021 includes $105.1 billion and $113.4 billion, respectively. Based on projection, the fitness apparel market in the U.S. is expected to grow to $69.2 billion only in 2022. This value accounts for about 36% of athletic apparel sales worldwide as varieties of brands troop into the fitness apparel space in the U.S.
Despite the effect of Covid-19 on the global market of workout apparel, the 2021 figures rose higher than the previous year. This increase can be attributed to a rise in the level of enlightenment on fitness during the era towards purchasing fitness clothing. The meaning of this is that the fitness apparel market is lucrative, and it’s one of the leading industries you can invest in. Regarding our professionalism and several decades of experience in this fitness apparel space, there are a wide variety of Sales channels. We have rounded up these sales channels with pros and cons for you to digest.
Offline Brick-and-Mortar Sportswear Stores
Pros of Offline Brick-and-Mortar Stores
1.You’ll Achieve a Personal Relationship with your customer.
When running your fitness apparel business using the traditional outlet, you will need a good client-customer relationship with your customer. But, for the online form of business where most of the communication is online, it won’t allow you to connect with the customer as expected. It is why consideration for expansion into brick-and-mortar retail is valuable.
Having a storefront where customers can visit will also help you assist your customers in person. You will get to know them more and show them how your fitness apparel product can make their lives easier. In turn, they may likely become a loyal customer for repeated purchases.
2.You’ll achieve More Sales.
With your brick-and-mortar store, you’ll provide your customers with another way of purchasing gym apparel to generate more sales. This statement is true by gaining more customers who may have heard of your business but are not keen on online shopping. Your idea of setting this channel up will allow you to have access to two different options of selling your products. Besides, you can consider offering certain fitness clothing exclusive to your storefront to create interest amongst in-store shoppers.
3.Customer’s Access to Stock In-person.
While online shopping features varieties of benefits, including convenience, in-person shopping also comes with considerable perks. A wide variety of shoppers may prefer seeing items in person before making payment. It is more reason you should advertise that your business has expanded into a brick-and-mortar retail. Consequently, uncertain clients or customers can visit your store in person.
Cons of Offline Brick-and-Mortar Stores
1.The need to hire an in-store Assistant.
Once you set up your brick-and-mortar store, you’ll need more hands to assist your customers in managing inventory and overseeing store activities. While you may already have in-house staff who assist online, you do not want to decrease the efforts. You’ll need more employees that offer different skills sets as it requires other abilities.
2.More Bills to Pay.
While the extra sale is beneficial to your business, setting up a brick-and-mortar store will increase your monthly bills. As a result, it’ll cause more financial responsibilities. These costs include rent, electricity, inventory, payroll, property tax, among other expenses. Hence, ensure that your business can sustain itself while paying these bills before setting up a physical sale outlet.
3.Gym And Community Fission Marketing.
This sale channel involves the use of the gym and the community fission as a marketing strategy. The way to go here is to visit your local gym and find the most handsome, aesthetically built guys and girls that fit the look of a fitness apparel brand. Invite them to be a brand ambassador for your gym clothing to collaborate with you in exchange for impressive pictures and free gym clothing.
Gym and Community Fission Marketing Channel
Pros of Gym and Community Fission Marketing Channel
1.It helps you create a Community.
Humans are fond of the community as it reinforces a sense of belonging and establishes an emotional connection with the brand. Through these ambassadors, you can access social groups based on a shared exclusive membership. This group is another way for making the sales of our fitness apparel you’ve ever wanted. While the initial investment may be relatively small, you will be able to build a market for our brand from scratch to the desired level.
2.You’ll Drive Publicity.
You need to target customers, and they need to know about your brand and your products in the fitness space. Without publicity, this brand may not grow and succeed in the way you have designed it. You may likely have the answers to space travel, but you may not get the right customers if you fail to tell the right people. Your brand ambassadors in the gym and the community will help you collate those in love with your brand, bring them together, and fuel the content-creating engine to drive visibility.
3.You’ll Generate a Symbiotic Relationship.
Brand ambassadorship is not a one-way thing; it helps to cultivate a symbiotic relationship. Parties in this deal are winners, and dependencies are relatively equal. Your brand needs the ambassadors for publicity, engagement, and feedback to drive sales to improve your fitness apparel business. On the other hand, the ambassadors enjoy the free stash, perks of the community, and exclusive on-brand offers.
Cons of Gym and Community Fission Marketing Channel
1.Initial Slow Conversion.
Initially, there may be slow conversion due to the effort required to achieve the requirement. It may seem somehow difficult. Yet, we believe that it is achievable.
2.Require Time and Patience.
One thing you should note with this channel is that you will need a bit of patience to set this channel up. It won’t work without that, so keep up the good work by investing your time and patience.
Independent stations, Online Social Media, & eCommerce
It involves using independent stations, online social media, and eCommerce such as Amazon, Wish, eBay, Facebook, and others to your advantage. We do not doubt that online sales will make your fitness apparel business viable and profitable. Yet, like all business models, eCommerce business comes with its advantages and disadvantages. According to our experience for years, we have rounded up the advantages and disadvantages of using eCommerce as a sale channel for your business. They will help you make informed decisions at your strategic planning stage.
Pros of Independent Stations and Online Social Media
1.Access to a Larger Market.
The use of E-Commerce allows you to reach a larger market all over your base country and around the world. It means that your customers can purchase everywhere and anytime as many people are shopping on their mobile devices.
2.Lower Cost of Running your Business.
With the advancement in eCommerce platform technologies, it’s now very easy to set up an independent station and online social media. You need not spend much on a large budget n billboard or TV ads, nor worry about the expense for much employee and rent.
3.You’ll easily Scale Up with unlimited Shelf Space.
In the fitness apparel business space, the growth of your business is not limited by the availability of physical store space. However, logistics can arise as your business grows, but it is less of a challenge than those running a brick-and-mortar store. Subscribing to the eCommerce sales channel will help you scale up or down your operation easily and quickly. As a result, you’ll take advantage of unlimited shelf space as a response to consumer demands and market trends.
4.Access to consumer insights via tracking and analytics.
5.Swift response to market demands and Consumer Trends.
6.More opportunities to sell.
7.Improved sales with Instant Gratification.
8.Personalized Content and Product.
Cons of Independent Stations and Online Social Media
1.Online eCommerce Lacks Personal Touch.
Some of your target customers may value the personal touch they can obtain in a physical gym clothing store. Such feel of your brand products Is particularly important for businesses especially, fitness apparel products. It is not only to buy the product but to have a great experience during the product.
2.Fierce Competition & Price Comparison.
With the use of online sales channels, you can encounter fierce competition. It results from various merchants who use eCommerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, Wish, and many more. It allows consumers to compare the prices of different fitness apparel products. As a result of their ability to compare prices, they tend to go for the lowest price. Due to this, it drives a high rate of price competition and reduces profit margin.
3.Capital Intensive.
At the early stage, it is capital intensive. You’ll need funds to set up an e-commerce website. Also, market research, consumer group research, advertisement requires funds. All these factors make it capital intensive.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, setting up your wholesale fitness clothing line can be pretty challenging. However, this degree of difficulty will be reduced if you follow the sales channels we have summarized above and choose the right one for you by combining their preferred pointsFitness apparel offers a broad market prospect worth entering for all start-ups and investors. So, it is worth your investment based on the market figures mentioned above.
