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What are the main customer segments / profiles in the treadmill market regarding rationale for usage (rehab, general fitness, organized professional or college athletics, etc), and how do those segments break down by spend, % of market share, lifetime value, products used, etc.?
While there is no pre-existing information to fully answer your question, we have used available data to pull together the following key findings: (a) the USD 1.08-billion United States treadmill market can be segmented into the following end-user types: homes, health clubs, and other commercial users, (b) other commercial users include hotels, corporate offices, hospitals and medical centers, and public institutions such as schools and universities, (c) home users account for 44% of the United States fitness equipment market, while commercial users account for 56%, and (d) depending on whether the treadmill is manual or motorized and whether the treadmill is for home or commercial use, the price of a treadmill could be as low as USD 300 or as high as over USD 10,000.
Below you will find an outline of our research methodology to better understand why some information you have requested is publicly unavailable, as well as a deep dive into our findings.
METHODOLOGY
To answer your question, we first searched for reports and articles on the global, North American, and United States treadmill markets. While there are several market reports, all of them are behind paywalls and the quantitative information provided in the descriptions of these reports is not enough to triangulate the answer. We typically use materials published in the past two years, but given the limited information that we found, we expanded our search to include older sources.
Other approaches we tried include looking for reports and articles on the fitness equipment market and searching within the sites of organizations that are considered authorities on the subject.
Despite all the approaches we tried, we were unable to find data that would enable us to estimate all of your desired information. Some information you requested could only be found behind paywalls, and it appears no previous study has been done yet to determine the lifetime value of the different types of treadmill users.
Below you will find all the relevant insights we were able to gather.
MARKET SEGMENTATION
While reports on the United States and North American treadmill markets show that the treadmill market is segmented by application into home use and commercial use, reports on the fitness equipment market indicate that a more detailed breakdown is possible. Esticast Research & Consulting broke down the United States fitness equipment market into the following end-user segments: homes, health clubs, and other commercial users. Then it split the 'other commercial' segment further into the following sub-segments: hotels, corporate offices, hospitals and medical centers, and public institutions such as schools and universities. Since the treadmill is a popular fitness equipment, we can safely assume that the United States treadmill market can be segmented in a similar manner.
1. Homes
2. Health clubs or gyms
3. Other commercial users
3.a. Hotels
3.b. Corporate offices
3.c. Hospitals and medical centers
3.d. Public institutions such as schools and universities
We understand that you are interested in how the market is segmented by usage, but, unfortunately, we were unable to find any segmentation that matches the examples you provided. We, however, could assume that most users at homes, health clubs, hotels, and corporate offices use the treadmill for general fitness purposes, most users at hospitals and medical centers use it for rehabilitation or stress testing, and most users at schools and universities use it for either general fitness or athletics.
The amount spent and the market share of each end user segment are not readily available as well, but we were able to gather the following insights, which you may find helpful.
1. According to Esticast Research & Consulting, approximately half of the cardiovascular fitness equipment market in the United States will be accounted for by treadmills. Given that cardiovascular equipment accounts for around 60% of the USD 3.6-billion fitness equipment market in the United States, we can estimate that the size of the United States treadmill market is around USD 1.08 billion.
USD 3.6 billion x 60% x 50% = USD 1.08 billion
This amount, however, does not tally with the figure indicated in Esticast's chart. As can be estimated from Esticast's chart, the United States treadmill market was a USD 2.8-billion market in 2016.
Nevertheless, it appears the USD 1.08-billion estimate is the more accurate one since the treadmill market in the United States is a USD 1.4-billion industry according to an article published by The Washington Post in 2017. Treadmill World also reported that sales of treadmills in the country in 2016 totaled to around USD 1 billion. About the same amount was generated in 2015.
2. Home users had a 44% share of the United States fitness equipment market in 2016, based on figures provided by Esticast Research & Consulting. Of the USD 3.6-billion fitness equipment market in the United States, home users accounted for USD 1.6 billion. This means commercial users accounted for USD 2.6 billion or 56% of the United States fitness equipment market.
During the forecast period 2016-2024, it is expected that home users will remain the biggest end-user segment while health clubs will be the second biggest end-user segment.
If we assume a similar breakdown for the United States treadmill market, we can estimate the following spend and market share figures for the home and commercial user segments.
United States treadmill market — USD 1.4 billion
Home users — USD 616 million or 44% of USD 1.4 billion
Commercial users — USD 784 million or 56% of USD 1.4 billion
LIFETIME VALUE
Given that there is no source that directly provides the lifetime value of each customer or end-user, we checked if the lifetime value can be triangulated. We found that the customer lifetime value is the product of the average order value, the purchase frequency, and the average customer lifespan.
With respect to these three factors, all we were able to find were the following information:
1. The price of a treadmill in North America ranges from around USD 300 for home use to over USD 10,000 for commercial use.
Considering that the price of a treadmill for home use is generally cheaper than that of a treadmill for commercial use and it is likely that commercial users will purchase treadmills more frequently than home users, we can assume that the lifetime value of a home user is smaller than that of a commercial user.
PRODUCTS USED and USER DEMOGRAPHICS
By product type, the United States treadmill market can be segmented into manual treadmills and motorized treadmills, according to Global Information Research. Given that motorized treadmills are more expensive than manual treadmills, we can expect that the treadmills for commercial use are mostly motorized treadmills and that those for home use are a mix of manual treadmills and motorized treadmills.
Based on data provided by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, between 2007 and 2016, there had been no significant change in the number of Americans who use a treadmill at least once a year. In 2007, the number was 50.1 million, while, in 2016, the number was slightly over 50 million. In 2016, it was found that millennials and those belonging to Generation Z would prefer running outside rather than running on a treadmill, so it is possible that most treadmill users are older people.
In 2007, of 50.1 million Americans who use a treadmill at least once a year, 29.8 million were over age 35 while 20.3 million were under age 35. Also, 11.1 million were over age 55 while 10.8 million were under age 25. Over half (56%) were female, and 58% were core participants (i.e., people who use the treadmill at least 50 days in a year). Frequent users, those who use the treadmill at least 100 days in a year, totaled 18.5 million.
conclusion
Despite limited information on the market, we found that the United States treadmill market can be segmented into homes, health clubs, and other commercial users such as hotels, corporate offices, hospitals and medical centers, and public institutions. It is likely that, of the USD 1.08-billion treadmill market in the United States, 44% is accounted for by home users while 56% is accounted for by commercial users. Treadmills could be manual or motorized with prices ranging from USD 300 to more than USD 10,000.