Sales of home exercise equipment have soared as people spend more time at home due to the COVID-19 epidemic, industry sources said on Monday.
The self-training trend is becoming popular as people avoid crowded gyms or fitness classes, creating a business opportunity for the home fitness equipment sector, the sources said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been encouraging people to exercise more, as it helps boost the immune system, which has also helped the trend, they said.
Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba said that sales of home exercise equipment on its online sales platform over the past month rose fourfold from a year earlier, adding that popular search keywords for the equipment included “easy-to-use,” “multifunctional” and “all-in-one.”
Yahoo Kimo Super Mall said that female customers mostly purchased items such as yoga mats, treadmills and spinning bikes.
Thicker yoga mats alleviate pain and pressure in the joints and spine, but they also hinder posture stability, it said, adding that mats that are 6mm, 4mm to 5mm and 3mm thick are recommended for beginner, intermediate and advanced users respectively.
Foldable treadmills and spinning bikes that are easy to put away are favored more by customers, it said.
Online retailer PChome said that male customers mostly purchased simple weightlifting equipment, whose sales rose 30 percent from a year earlier, with two-in-one barbells and dumbbells being top sellers, followed by Blades brand dumbbells.
Sales of post-workout tools that relax and massage the muscles have been increasing as well, it added.
The online gaming industry has also benefited from the outbreak, as the number of players rose in January, said Chiang Shun-cheng (江順城), the general manager of International Games System Co.
For example, the mahjong game Celebrities: Three Missing One (明星三缺一) saw its number of online players soar to 2 million in a single day, he said.
Active daily players of the game rose to 600,000, from 500,000 a year earlier, he added.
Food delivery platforms had also fared well, as delivery orders increased 45 percent last month, food delivery company Deliveroo said, while Foodpanda said that grocery orders in January increased fivefold.
Additional reporting by Chen Ping-hung and Chang Hui-wen
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