1. Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, Vol. 5, No. 4, 2009 417
The industry of wellness: the improvement
of well-being
António Sacavém*
Solinca Health & Fitness Clubs – SONAE
Rua Viriato, nº13 – 1º
1069–315 Lisbon, Portugal
E-mail: antonio.sacavem@solinca.pt
*Corresponding author
Abel Correia
Faculty of Human Movements
Technical University of Lisbon
Estrada da Costa – Cruz Quebrada
1495–688 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal
Fax: (+351) 214 144 712
E-mail: acorreia@fmh.utl.pt
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyse the dynamics of the
well-being market. We also intend to describe the main tendencies of this
industry and the need to develop a healthy lifestyle, in order to inspire all those
who are interested in turning a good opportunity into an excellent business. In
this context, health plagues such as sedentary habits, obesity and tobacco
smoke will be referred to as well.
Keywords: industry of wellness; fitness; lifestyle; health and fitness club.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sacavém, A. and
Correia, A. (2009) ‘The industry of wellness: the improvement of well-being’,
Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.417–425.
Biographical notes: António Sacavém completed his Masters in
Organisational Behaviour at the Superior Institute of Applied Psychology
(ISPA), Lisbon, and has a degree in Sport Sciences from the Human Kinetics
Faculty of the Technical University of Lisbon (FMH-UTL). Recently,
he finished the International Executive Education – IHRSA University
Programme, at the IESE Business School, the University of Navarra,
Barcelona. As Business Director of Solinca, a large chain of health clubs
(Iberia), he directs the operation in Portugal and Spain. He is also a member
of the social organs of the Portuguese Health Club Association (AGAP).
Nowadays, he is attending an Executive MBA in ISCTE Business
Scholl, Lisbon.
Abel Correia has a PhD in Human Kinetics and is specialising in Sport
Sciences at the Human Kinetics Faculty of the Technical University of Lisbon
(FMH-UTL), Portugal. As an Associate Professor working in the Sport
Sciences Department, he teaches Sports Organisation and Sports Marketing
in the FMH-UTL’s degree course in Sports Management. His interests
include sports organisational strategy and sports marketing management.
He has published in the European Sports Management Quarterly and in the
International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing.
Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2. 418 A. Sacavém and A. Correia
1 Introduction
The wellness market consists of delivering services or selling products in a proactive way
to healthy people (without any diagnosed pathology), which would encourage the
reduction of the ageing effect, prevent the occurrence of diseases and add to the
improvement of one’s self-esteem and body image.
The wellness desire has started to influence the buying decisions of most
well-informed consumers. For this very reason, supermarket shelves tend to have more
and more space to receive the so-called light products. Some of the biggest ones
(superstores) even have genuine shops containing health products within their own
facilities. Besides this, the spreading of health and fitness clubs is also a meaningful sign
of the emergence of certain worries concerning health, which are intimately related to the
perspective of a strong and powerful body and mind.
Despite the appearance and increase of these concerns, we can infer, for instance, that
the burden of the obesity plague on the public expenditure of the European Union (EU)
has assumed worrying proportions, which can be translatable into economic problems,
measured in euros. There is plenty to do in order to give people the wellness they are
entitled to.
In this context, the article is divided into a set of parts. First, we will debate the
plagues of sedentary habits, obesity and tobacco smoke, discussing also their economic
impact. We will give elements about the dynamics of this market, giving leads that we
consider to be real business opportunities. Finally, we will approach the main tendencies
of the wellness market.
2 Lifestyles and the importance of wellness
In November 2006, health ministers and other high dignitaries of the health department of
48 European countries studied the increase of the obesity problem in the continent, at a
conference of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Istanbul. According to WHO,
in Europe, one in two adults and one in five children suffered from overweight. The
information presented in Istanbul about the advance of the disease alarmed the European
authorities. “In the countries where studies took place, the predominance of overweight
cases goes from 32 per cent to 79 per cent, among the male population, and from 28 per
cent to 78 per cent in what concerns the female population”, according to the synthesis
prepared for this meeting.
The most obese are the inhabitants of Tirana (Albany), followed by those of Bosnia
and Scotland. The thinnest Europeans are the Norwegians.
Portugal and Malta are the two EU countries with the highest rate of obesity among
children less than 11 years old, which anticipates the increase, in the medium term, of the
global numbers of people with obesity; this will turn the disease into one of the most
serious public health problems in the country.
The importance of the obesity plague on EU public expenditure has taken on large
proportions. In 2002, the annual total costs (directly and indirectly connected to the
obesity issue in the EU-15) exceeded 32,8 thousand million euros each year. In 2005, the
costs related to the obesity were estimated in 0,3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
of the EU-15. If we extend these numbers to the 25 EU countries, the direct and indirect

3. The industry of wellness: the improvement of well-being 419
costs related to obesity can be estimated in 40,5 thousand million euros and the combined
costs (obesity/overweight) can reach the sum of 81 thousand million euros (Livro Branco
da Comissão ao Parlamento Europeu e ao Conselho, 2007).
In Portugal, according to the ADEXO, the obese population and the number of
overweight people continue to rise. The numbers are enlightening: 58% of the Portuguese
population suffer from overweight; 15% are obese; 3,5% have morbid obesity; 31,6% of
Portuguese children are obese. In fact, we are witnessing the rising of the first generation
of children who might actually die before their own parents. For a better understanding of
the extent of this problem, in Portugal, the direct and indirect costs associated with the
plague of obesity will exceed 570 million euros (ADEXO, 2007).
So, we can clearly distinguish two socioeconomic groups: those who are anxious
to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle, and all the others who have decided to follow a
life of sedentary habits, ruled by defective and poorly nourishing food (example: junk
food). Besides, the junk food industry is ruled by what specialists on this type of
business have named the ‘chips marketing equation’, which means that 90% of the sales
of this type of product are produced by 10% of its consumers. In the USA, consumers
belonging to these 10% are usually obese people of low social class. The target
population of obese people is especially profitable, since each of these individuals eat, on
average, two times more than a person considered to have an ordinary weight. We fear
that in Europe and in Portugal the situation will follow the same path, considering the
already mentioned statistics.
According to Pilzer (2007), a vast majority of junk food producers are studying the
target population, the same way mice are studied in laboratories. Consumer studies reveal
their tastes, hopes, dreams, desires, etc. Obese individuals are invited to take part in focus
groups, where they are asked to try new products, to analyse marketing messages and to
give suggestions. If this segment of the population shows a particular interest in a certain
celebrity, that person, eventually, will show up on the radio or on TV, encouraging
consumption of the new junk food product that is about to be released.
A defective nutrition and sedentary habits are responsible for the increase of the
obese population and for the increase of overweight people. Obesity is considered to be,
among others, a factor of risk, namely concerning the development of cardiovascular
diseases, according to the Portuguese Cardiology Foundation.
However, obesity is not the only risk factor. In fact, every year, more than half
a million people die in the EU, as a direct or indirect result of tobacco smoke. The
impact of passive tobacco smoke on the health of nonsmoker Europeans has increased. It
has been estimated that 25% of the total deaths caused by cancer and 15% of all the
deaths in the EU are caused by tobacco smoke (Special Eurobarometer Report, 2007).
Smoking also constitutes an important risk factor for arterial vascular diseases. It is
known that 20% of the mortality from coronary diseases has its cause in tobacco smoke
(according to the Portuguese Cardiology Foundation).
It has been estimated that 32% of the EU-25 are smokers and that 21% have stopped
smoking. Based upon a study that took place country by country, the results showed that
Portugal has the best performance among the member states, considering that 64% of the
population never smoked. Portugal is followed by Slovakia (with 59% nonsmokers) and
Malta (with 57% nonsmokers). On the other hand, Denmark shows the smallest
percentage regarding nonsmokers in all of the EU (with 39% of nonsmokers), followed
by the Netherlands (with 40% of nonsmokers) and by Greece (with 41% of nonsmokers)
(Special Eurobarometer Report, 2007).

4. 420 A. Sacavém and A. Correia
Attempting to face the tobacco plague, the EU started over two years ago a campaign
against smoking called ‘HELP: for a life without tobacco’, addressed to young
nonsmokers, to passive smokers and to those who smoked but intended to leave the habit
behind. The EU nowadays is fully encouraging a policy of nonsmoking among the
member states, through publicity on the media, on TV and on the internet (Special
Eurobarometer Report, 2007).
Sedentary habits or physical inactivity, typical of an unhealthy lifestyle, has proved to
be another risk element that can cause several diseases. Sedentary habits are associated
with a low quality of life, with high risk of hospitalisation and with the increase of
obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, fractures, colon cancer, breast
cancer, prostate gland cancer and psychiatric diseases, according to Varo et al. (2003).
Also based on the same authors, the rate of sedentary lifestyle in Europe fluctuates
between 43.3% (in Sweden) and 87.8% (in Portugal). Countries such as the Scandinavian
ones, when compared to the ones in the Mediterranean, have a low rate of sedentary
lifestyle. The senior population, the obese, the smokers, the divorced, the widow/widower
and the less educated strata of society present higher rates of sedentary habits in Europe.
Portugal has an inactivity rate of 87.8%; only 4,8% of the Portuguese work out in health
and fitness clubs (IHRSA, 2005).
The extent of the challenges reported above justifies the need for the development of
the wellness industry. The services delivered by the wellness industry, as well as the
products, are an evident solution to preventing the problems we have just referred to.
Services provided by health and fitness clubs, the selling of natural supplements,
cosmetic and plastic surgery services, preventive medicine and health nutrition products
will be the main resources of this industry for the coming years. In the next section, we
are going to analyse the dynamics of the wellness market.
3 The dynamics of the wellness industry
The wellness industry, generally speaking, is progressing. In the USA, in 2002, this
industry was worth 200 billion US dollars and now, five years later, is estimated to be
worth more than 500 billion US dollars. Renowned economists, such as Pilzer (2007)
– author of the book New Wellness Revolution – estimate that the wellness industry in the
USA, in 2012, might be worth 1 trillion US dollars (an amount that rises above the UK
gross domestic product). The niches related to health nutrition, natural supplements and
fitness workouts in health and fitness clubs present themselves as the main devices to
obtain the estimated increase.
In Europe, the health and fitness industry (health and fitness clubs) is worth nearly
13 billion euros and it presents a potential increase (comparative to the European medium
penetration rate – 5,5%) of 1,7 billion euros (IHRSA, 2005).
In Portugal, the prediction is 288 million euros (penetration rate of 4,8%) as to what
the fitness industry might be worth; the Portuguese market presents a potential increase
estimated at 42 million euros. The Portuguese fitness market is expected to increase
strongly, considering that the penetration rate is below the European average (–0,7%)
(IHRSA, 2005).
Following there is a comparative study (USA, Europe and Portugal) of the main
contents to be considered is this business.

5. The industry of wellness: the improvement of well-being 421
More recent elements, still under study, suggest that among the European countries,
the Netherlands is the leader when we talk about the fitness penetration rate (17%),
followed by Spain (with 15,3%) and then Sweden (with 14,3%). On the other side,
countries like Slovenia (0,4% penetration rate), Slovakia (0,4% penetration rate) and
Lithuania (0,6% penetration rate) present the lowest levels of fitness penetration. In
Portugal we figure that the penetration rate has increased by 0,5% between 2005 and
2007, which means it increased from 4,8% to 5,3%. The same source shows us that in the
EU-25, the business amount is 18 billion euros, with the UK and Germany being the
leaders of this race, with 4,2 billion and 3,5 billion, respectively. Portugal shows an
amount of business roughly estimated at 288 millions (The IHRSA Global Report, 2007).
When we focus upon the people who are not overweight, we can notice that an
increasing number of individuals are adopting a healthier lifestyle everyday, especially
through balanced diets and workouts.
This group of people who have decided to invest in their wellness includes opinion
makers and celebrities, such as famous athletes and artists whose professional lives
literally depend on their wellness level and on their looks. This group of people
have embraced, quietly, a new way of being, centred on a healthy diet, physical
exercise, natural supplements, prophylactic medicine and the evolution of their
emotional intelligence.
In ancient Greece, physical force, health and beauty were just as important elements
to obtain excellence as creative talents, the intellect or moral character. Indeed, the outer
beauty was seen as a reflection of the inner beauty. In a certain way, history repeats itself
and the growing group of people who invest in their own wellness have three main goals:
to improve their looks/image and their energy levels, to retard the ageing process and to
prevent the occurrence of diseases.
However, only in the last few years have we seen the emergence of efficient wellness
products and services available to the general population. Before that, only the wealthy
were able to have access to wellness services and products.
Nowadays it is possible to practise a physical activity at health and fitness clubs for
a reasonable price and we can find healthy food as well as natural supplements in
the ordinary supermarkets, available to all consumers. A rising number of daring people
are investing in the wellness industry and by doing so, they are creating a solution for
what is mainly an economic and social problem (please consult the above costs of obesity
in Portugal).
Baby boomers, people whose ages now are situated between 43 and 61 years old, will
be the socioeconomic group that will invest more, when we talk about the developed
countries in what concerns wellness services and products. Actually, this target has
started to be more and more attractive to the health and fitness clubs. There are at least
two considerable reasons for the main health and fitness operators to consider this target
so desirable:
1 economic power
2 fidelity to the brands.
About the first item, we have to emphasise that, in the USA, baby boomers represent 28%
of the population and 50% of the gross domestic product. In other words, boomers
represent 7 trillion US dollars, looking at an economy that is worth 14 trillion (Pilzer,
2007). Referring to the second topic, it is important to start by mentioning the fact that

6. 422 A. Sacavém and A. Correia
the health and fitness industry suffers from what is called Churn Rate, commonly named
in this market Attrition Rate, around 40% (McCarthy, 2004). The decrease of the churn
rate or, in other words, the rise of the retention rate, will be the main challenge for this
industry in the years to come. This being the case, it is crucial to win a certain target that
by nature shows better numbers in matters of fidelity.
4 Main tendencies within the wellness market
4.1 Customer relationship management
When referring to the retention of clients, it is important to mention that one of the main
tendencies of the health and fitness industry is the development and the massive
implementation of advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems – with
a strong focus on technological novelty.
Using sophisticated hardware and software, health and fitness clubs will be able to
know, in detail, the preferences of their members and that will also allow them to develop
creative relationship marketing actions (Peppers and Rogers, 2004).
Once we are referring to a market which is getting more and more competitive, the
focus on the CRM is of extreme importance for the health and fitness organisations, if
they want to reach the desirable profitability levels, as well as long-term success. Even
more, the leaders of these corporations will realise, in the medium term, the importance
of relationship marketing in order to build profitable relationships with each client and to
increase the global value of operators of this market.
Investing in relationship marketing will promote, on the one hand, the decrease of the
churn rate and, on the other hand, the increase of the medium gain per member, these
being achieved by stimulating the added-value consumer services (such as personal
training, day SPA, special programmes, outdoor activities, etc.). For instance, members
who would participate more often in body/mind/spirit activities would receive a special
card of the yoga club and discount offers for massage sessions. Moreover, regular clients
at cycling classes would be invited to join the BTT club, which would promote bicycle
walks during weekends.
Health and fitness clubs will know which clients are better consumers of extra
services and will be able to predict future investment. Probably there will be
micro-targets (Loveman, 2003) – for example, the gold clients (who would wait less in
the queue), the platinum clients (who would not wait too much) and the diamond clients
(who would never have to wait) – and incentive systems will be developed to reward
those members who would make extra investments at the club (for example, offering the
locker for a period of time, giving them some privileges regarding the acquisition of
tickets for the most wanted classes, clearing up sessions for the VIP clients).
Finally, the impact from the implementation of the CRM system is, apparently,
unlimited and could produce a remarkable outcome.
4.2 Global wellness services
In the 1980s, people went to the butcher to buy meat, to the supermarket to buy
vegetables and fish, to the ready-made store to buy clothes, to the bank to manage
their account and to the travel agency to book their holidays. All these products/services

7. The industry of wellness: the improvement of well-being 423
were bought in different places, which required a considerable waste of time. Today,
consumers go to a shopping centre and find all these products/services together at
the same place; most of the time, they pay less than they used to and they do it in a
faster way.
It is predictable that the same will happen at the health and fitness clubs. Clients will
tend to desire to take care of their wellness as a whole, without leaving the facilities of
their own favourite club. So, it is of importance that operators make a strong bet on
providing global wellness services.
Thus, in the future, health and fitness clubs will be adapted management centres
concerning wellness and the personal look, where clients will find a wide offering of
wellness products and services. For example, it is usual that a weight control programme
will come to include the following products and services:
• personal training or group personal training sessions
• cellulites treatment sessions
• external nutrition products (skin treatment)
• natural supplement products
• nutritional counselling sessions
• time management sessions and wellness coaching
• personal development sessions
• activity and ancestral massage sessions of body/mind/heart/spirit, within the context
of the day spa
• personal finance management sessions
• personal image management sessions.
The wide offering of products and services will allow the clients to enjoy an
unforgettable experience of complete wellness. Consequently, health and fitness
operators will have the chance to increase the medium profit per member and of reducing
the churn rate.
4.3 Focus on the extremes: ‘no frills’ versus ‘high end’
Markets situated at the extremes of a continuum seem to have the best increase potential
for the coming years.
According to this, we predict that success will be obtained by those who will decide
to choose the ‘no frills’ market (low cost, simplicity, style) and the ‘high-end’ market
(quality, fineness, distinction).
In Portugal there is plenty of room for the health and fitness operators to invest under
the ‘no frills’ concept. To reach this market segment, it is predictable that brands come to
make the access to the health and fitness clubs easier, namely by decreasing the prices of
the basic services (monthly fees) and by removing the entrance fees (or by charging a
mere symbolic value).

8. 424 A. Sacavém and A. Correia
There will appear more flat organisational structures and the services offered together
with the monthly fee will be restricted. There will be only services which consumers
consider to be indispensable (simplifying).
Operators should keep in mind that, when reducing unnecessary expenses, they
should do it without putting at risk the reputation of a style image.
4.4 Franchising small dimension places for the female population
Over the past few years we have seen the emergence of a quiet and significant number of
neighbourhood health and fitness clubs, not too big, exclusively created for the female
public. Under the concept of mantra – a complete workout in scarcely 30 min – these
health and fitness clubs have managed to conquer a critical mass of the population who
was not identified with the idea of fitness at large spaces or even at the traditional
neighbourhood health and fitness clubs.
They are addressed to a target that has not been exploited yet by the big fitness
industry companies, meaning overweight women, unhappy with their bodies and who
usually do not work out.
This kind of health and fitness club is the answer, in a simple way, for one of the
goals of those women: to lose weight through a fast workout programme, at a welcoming
environment where they can feel fully integrated. The fact that usually such facilities are
not far from home or from work and the specificness of the workout are the strongest
points attached to the concept.
One of the most well-known brands in this segment exists in 50 countries, serves four
million women and makes an invoice of roughly 725 million euros every year. Their aim
is to go from 10 000 units to 30 000, in only ten years. This goal shows exactly the
increasing potential of the concept, which predictably will represent a considerable share
of the business volume of the fitness area in Europe during the next few years.
5 Conclusion
Most obese people do not possess the indispensable energy levels to make the best of
their own lives, their work and their family in a complete kind of way. They lose a
significant part of their lives by needing medical care. When they seek answers, what
they often hear is that all they have are ‘the signs of the times’, until one of these persons
makes the happy decision to invest in his/her own wellness. What starts them off are
three main goals: to improve their image and their energy levels; to retard the ageing
process and to prevent the appearance of diseases.
More than half a million people die in the USA as a direct or nondirect consequence
of tobacco smoke. The impact of passive tobacco smoke on the health of nonsmoker
Europeans has increased. It has been estimated that 25% of the total deaths caused by
cancer and 15% of all the deaths taking place in the EU are caused by tobacco smoke.
Furthermore, the rate of sedentary lifestyle in Europe fluctuates between 43.3% (in
Sweden) and 87.8% (in Portugal).
The extent of the challenges reported above justifies the need for the development of
the wellness industry. The services delivered by the wellness industry, as well as the
products, are an evident solution to preventing the problems we have just referred to.

9. The industry of wellness: the improvement of well-being 425
Services provided by health and fitness clubs, the selling of natural supplements,
cosmetic and plastic surgery services, preventive medicine and health nutrition products
will be the main resources of this industry for the coming years.
Given this scenario, the more adventurous have found the right moment to turn a big
opportunity into an excellent business. As far as the wellness business will progress,
something very significant will happen to the general society: people will start to live
their lives in a healthier way. Stronger will become the idea of an absolute wellness:
physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual.
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