This morning heading to the warehouse we knew we were in for a busy few days before New Year, but not expecting the number of orders we encountered. New Year resolutions will be about some type of self improvement whether it is losing weight or just becoming fitter in general.
We are a sports logistics distribution company that dabbles in a few other lines, but the core of the business is health related fitness products. Once all the orders were printed out which took a few hours there was a total of 689 orders that needed fulfilling and this is only what online shoppers have purchased since Christmas. We will no doubt receive more orders prior to the 31'st and expect the orders to increase over the first week in 2026. I have been involved with the sports industry for over 20 years and you have to expect the unexpected because you cannot plan for these events. Next week may be far quieter now because of the early rush so we shall have to go with the flow and wait and see. I expect the numbers will increase like they have in previous years so you cannot second guess.
You do wonder why people procrastinate and put off their weight loss or fitness until the New Year. Gym memberships spike and why gym's love New Year resolutions as much as we do. A gym can see as much as 50% growth in memberships all signing a 12 month contract. Within 3 months less than half of those new membership signings are attending the gym 4 times per month and within 6 months the promise to get fitter has faded away until next year.
Most of our sales will come from people who had good intentions in the past and failed to see them through costing them a small fortune in gym membership fees which are anywhere between $750 and $1000 per year depending on the specials which will have small print tying the unexpected into a 12 month contract.
The shoppers buying the treadmills and gym equipment we supply will actually get more use out of this and are more likely to stick to some fitness plan. We have many clients that started out with a basic exercise bike and now have a fully equipped home gym. It is amazing to see how many installations we do seeing homes with multiple pieces of exercise equipment.
Today we had to call on some extra hands via other staff family members who are always keen to work and earn some extra cash. During these peak periods our small team cannot cope just with the volume of orders that need picking and dispatching. The team can cope on their own for 49-50 weeks of the year , but you cannot plan for early orders ahead of time.
I noticed many of the punch bags we had packed and got ready for an order mid January was being diminished and we were fortunate to have these ready. All this means by the end of next week we may have nothing left and will have to start preparing that order again. This is all good news as the punch bags is all profit starting in 3 days time.