Indiantelevision.com Team

(28 June 2007 3:30 pm)

BANGALORE: Cardio Fitness India Pvt Ltd (CFIPL) announced the re-launch of their Bangalore store as their newly refurbished flagship store. CFIPL markets products of Life Fitness, a Brunswick company which has global revenues of $610 million.

Also showcased were the newest range from CFIPL - the Circuit series for group exercises and the Summit Trainer for cardiovascular exercise.

CFIPL has 4 stores in India - one each in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. By the end of this fiscal, CFIPL CMD Deepak Dewan plans to ramp up the number to ten in India. A store is planed in Kolkata shortly and CFIPL is scouting for a suitable location in Hyderabad among other cities to set up stores.

The Bangalore store spread over three floors and 14000 sq. ft is the largest one that LF has anywhere in the world.

Dewan also informed that the circuit series has been well received and that he has already received bookings for 44 sets - each set costing Rs 2 million plus. The Summit Trainer, priced at about Rs 560,000 in India, has been popular in Japan where it was launched in January 2007.

CFIPL has had 100 per cent plus CAG in revenues over the last few years, and Deepak is confident that the end of this fiscal will see a doubling of revenues from Rs 400 million to Rs 800 million.

To this effect CFIPL has earmarked Rs 30-50 million towards promotion spends. Promotion will be through events and road-shows, sponsorships of fitness and related events.

CFIPL is also in talks with an international music FM radio broadcaster among others for program sponsor ship/radio jingles/campaigns, according to Deepak. He also plans to increase visibility by launching new products frequently, maybe as much as one per month to two months.

CFIPL's clients are resorts, luxury hotels, top tier fitness facilities, corporates and individuals. Some of their clients include Infosys, Reliance, Hyatt, Taj, ITC, The Oberoi, etc. Deepak is targeting the upper middle income group and high income group individuals for retail trade.

India is their fastest growing market according to LF VP (international business) Raj Rao who also revealed that the company co-brands their top end products with other brand names like Apple, Nike, Gatorade, etc.

Raj sees the projected growth of hotels and spas' in India as a tremendous opportunity for CFIPL. The CVS pharmacy chain contributes around US$40 million to LF's revenues annually, Raj informed further. He is keen to co-brand LF's products with some reputed brands of wellness and healthcare (including phrama) companies in India.