Consumers turning to fitness gadgets to fight the fat at home

Consumers are tracking down the latest fitness products online to achieve their New Year’s Resolutions at home rather than the gym, according to price-comparison site Idealo.co.uk.

The VAT increase has prompted many gym companies to increase membership costs, with LA Fitness increasing its monthly membership fees by 14 per cent for many of its customers and Fitness First’s top deal increasing by 10 per cent, from £59.95 to £65.95.

These price hikes, combined with family commitments and bad weather, have resulted in a surge of interest in fitness gadgets, with Zumba fitness and Wii Fit Plus featuring in Idealo.co.uk’s 10 most searched for products of its entire site this month.

This month Idealo.co.uk has seen year-on-year search volumes for home gym equipment increase by almost 300 per cent, highlighting that some consumers are struggling to justify the annual cost of joining a gym.

Interest in bikes increased by 295 per cent, whilst treadmills and rowing machines also proved popular, with traffic rising by 254 per cent and 278 per cent for those products respectively.

Idealo.co.uk believes the increasing interest it has seen in video games is being driven by demand for sports and fitness titles such as EA Sports Active, Zumba Fitness and the Wii Fit.

The comparison site, which serves 1.5 million UK consumers per month, has compiled a list of the five most popular fitness products searched for:

• Zumba Fitness (Wii Sports game) – £26.10 (RRP: £39.99)

• Wii Fit Plus and Balance Board – £49.99 (RRP: £89.99)

• Dance Central (Xbox 360 game) – £28.60 (RRP: £39.99)

• Kinect Sports (Xbox 360 game) – £29.61 (RRP: £49.99)

• Asics GT-2150 running trainers – £49.95 (RRP: £99.00)

“Our data shows that consumers are experimenting and shopping around more in order to keep their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get fit.” said David McLoughlin at Idealo.co.uk.

“The gym isn’t right for everyone and with the recent increase in membership costs, we’ve seen a real surge in demand for the latest fitness games, such as Kinect Sports and Zumba Fitness. This shows that consumers are thinking twice about renewing expensive memberships instead choosing to get physically active in the comfort of their own homes.”