The Pandemic Pushes the Presence of Long-Term Digital Solutions in the "Wellness" Sector

The Covid-19 pandemic has attacked one thing that some people don't take seriously, namely physical health. Many people are now more concerned with their health and are starting to want to set aside money to maintain fitness. However, the restriction of physical interaction forced them to run workout or exercise at home. This has had quite an impact on several players in the wellness industry in the country, such as Doogether and FITCO.

Summarized from Researchandmarkets research entitled Corporate Wellness - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics, amidst the looming pandemic and economic recession, the global market for corporate wellness estimated to reach $55,5 billion by 2020, growing at a 5,4% annual increase rate (CAGR) over the 2020-2027 analysis period.

Fauzan Gani, Founder and CEO of DOOgether, said, "Covid-19 has raised awareness of the importance of maintaining physical and mental health, especially when it is required to stay at home. This awareness increase is happening globally and is driving the adoption of technology to help and facilitate users in live a healthy lifestyle. Our team is also motivated to think fast and agile with the changes."

Biggest challenge

As is known, gyms and fitness centers are one of the business sectors that have not received permission to operate again until now. The existence of a new protocol also affects existing operational activities. For example, policies to reduce capacity member who practice in the studio gym also affect the number of transactions.

Meanwhile, a lot of sports content is starting to be available on various platforms that can be accessed for free. This is a challenge for business people in the industry wellness 

In response to this, Jeff Budiman, Co-Founder and CEO of FITCO, said, "Everyone's preferences are different. There are people who feel that it is enough to do sports by just following the movements shown on the internet, but there are also those who prioritize comfort and convenience. safety if guided directly by a professional supervisor such as a personal coach."

a insight from a ClassPass representative for APAC shows that paid classes tend to create a stronger commitment and encourage you to put more effort into attending. In other words, it's much easier to stay away from free content on social media because there's no sacrifice in it.

Long term digital solution

In fact, the concept live streaming itself is not the first to happen in Indonesia. Previously, there had been special events broadcasting sports instructors on several television stations. The concept is more or less the same, only with different access.

Doogether tries to answer this challenge by adding two new features, namely the platform video on-demand created by experienced partners and virtual exercise classes "Doolive" that can be ordered through the app.

"Our virtual classes are run by partners who have brand and quality tall one. By giving real value to customer us, we believe we can attract and retain customer we have more," added Fauzan.

In addition, this digital solution is considered to be able to reach a wider target market. There are no more geographical boundaries that hinder the gym-goers to be able to enjoy sports with quality instructors. This activity can be done anywhere, not centered in one place.

"After we launched the initiative during the pandemic, there was an organic increase in the number of users on the DOOgether app in several major cities. This helped our partners get customer awareness from other cities," said Fauzan.

On the other hand, as wellness tech startup which has a holistic wellness ecosystem, FITCO has developed various sub-verticals of their business. Besides 20Fit sebagai core business which temporarily turn into virtual services, they have features Shop who provides home gym equipment to support the convenience of people who want to stay active even though they are at home.

Asked about the business plan for the rest of the year, Jeff said, "For now, we are focused on continuing to improve the quality of virtual services and services home service which we have run. We plan to continue this service when we go to the studio gym and the fitness center has been allowed to operate again. The hope, the whole ecosystem wellness This can make it easier for people who want to increase their body immunity, especially during the pandemic."