The pandemic taught Fitternity CEO Neha Motwani to go back to the basics

Neha Motwani, co-founder, Fitternity, believes the pandemic has sped up the pace at which the industry is evolving. “Earlier, the kind of advancements that would happen in the fitness industry over a span of 10 years, is now happening at a much faster pace and hence being made available for the consumer in a span of just a few years,” she told ET Panache.

“The shift to expand our services on the virtual domain was already in motion, in order to cater to customers in cities that we were not present in. However, we mainly operated on the physical presence of brick and mortar fitness centres. With the nationwide lockdown, the transformation was expedited further and we had to rethink our primary business model during the complete halt of services. What worked for us is our agility. Having a start-up mindset has enabled us to innovate and rethink on our feet. We found there were avenues we could come up with which we didn't think was possible so early in time,” she said.

During the first month of the lockdown, the company developed interactive online sessions, 30-day fitness challenges, nutrition and mental wellness consultation sessions. They also presented a tech-enabled platform to gyms/studios to continue their services to the consumers virtually.


The future of gyms
Despite these advancements in digital, Motwani believes physical fitness centres are not going anywhere. “We believe the future of the business lies in building a hybrid business model. However, it is imperative to note that physical fitness will command a larger share of this model in the post-pandemic world. Digital will exist to increase convenience, accessibility and provide uninterrupted services owing to our average target consumer who usually without the pandemic, is on-the-go. So it would be safe to say digital fitness services are not a mere trend and physical fitness centres are not going anywhere.”