Discovery‚ big gyms muscling out smaller competitors‚ tribunal told
HEALTH insurer Discovery’s Vitality scheme and gym chains Virgin Active and Planet Fitness are in an exclusive club which is stifling the profits of smaller gyms‚ leaving some with no choice but to shut their doors.This is the allegation independent gym group Fit SA made before the Competition Tribunal on Wednesday‚ in a David-and-Goliath showdown with the three companies.Fit SA wants to make amendments in its case against Discovery and the big gym chains‚ which Planet Fitness and Virgin Active oppose.Discovery’s Vitality scheme subsidises the gym contracts of its members‚ but only if they join with Virgin Active or Planet Fitness.Fit SA says that the large subsidies‚ of up to 60%‚ are hurting the businesses of smaller gyms and believes that uncompetitive practices underpin the deals Discovery has with the two gyms.According to Fit SA‚ the operating costs of its member gyms alone cannot compete with the heavily subsidised Virgin Active and Planet Fitness premiums.For the independent...
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