Japan-based ChocoZAP Advancing Taipei’s “Sports City” Vision

Market Trends in Taipei’s Fitness Industry

1. Market Size, Competitive Landscape, and Geographic Distribution Patterns

As the core market of Taiwan’s sports industry, Taipei’s fitness sector continues to grow on the back of rising health awareness and post-pandemic recovery. While aggregate market size figures fluctuate year to year, service models and spatial layouts reflect highly urbanized living patterns. Market research indicates that “distance and transport convenience” is the single most important factor in consumers’ selection of a gym. This finding is critical: it shows that fitness has become a localized necessity within a high time-cost urban lifestyle, rather than merely a leisure activity. Consequently, successful distribution—especially micro-siting along Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) corridors and in high-density residential areas—functions as essential infrastructure for the city’s “sports in daily life” policy.

2. Consumer Behavior Models and Choice Drivers: From Equipment to Professionalization

Beyond geographic convenience, the second most important factor influencing consumers’ choice of fitness clubs is the “breadth and diversity of equipment.” This compels operators to make ongoing capital investments to refresh equipment, introduce new technologies, and offer differentiated training environments. As market competition intensifies, merely providing space is no longer sufficient; the depth and quality of services have become critical to customer retention, and demand for professional instruction is rising markedly.

Global industry trends identify the employment of Qualified Exercise Professionals as a key direction, indicating that Taipei residents’ expectations for fitness services have shifted from basic physical training to professional, safe, and outcome-oriented health guidance. This trend aligns with the emergence of “Exercise is Medicine” and “Lifestyle Medicine.” The role of the coach is evolving from a conventional physique trainer to a specialist capable of delivering personalized health and fitness guidance. In doing so, coaches can create natural data and service interfaces that support Taipei City’s policy objective of integrating exercise and health information.

3. Supply-Side Trends: Digitalization and Refined Service Models

In an increasingly competitive market, small and medium-sized fitness brands must adopt flexible strategies and establish positioning through refined, differentiated services. In recent years, the industry’s digital transformation has accelerated, particularly in the application of sports technologies. Wearable devices have remained a major trend since 2016, while the proliferation of mobile fitness applications continues to shape individual training behaviors. These technologies deliver data-driven training methods and more personalized user experiences.

This private-sector pursuit of data and intelligent solutions aligns closely with Taipei City Government’s strategies to “optimize the citizen sports experience” and “build smart venue infrastructure,” creating strong potential for public–private collaboration. Workout data generated by wearables and apps represents the most objective and large-scale source for measuring growth in the “regularly active population” and improvements in national fitness. Accordingly, the government should not only enhance public facilities but also develop standardized, secure mechanisms to aggregate such commercial data in order to build a city-level health and vitality information platform. Public and private stakeholders should remain aligned on a unified digitalization pathway to ensure that data can be effectively utilized for policy evaluation.

ChocoZAP, from the RIZAP Group.

ChocoZAP is part of Japan’s largest fitness and wellness group, RIZAP. Its brand promise—“結果にコミットする” (“Commit to results”)—is widely recognized, underpinned by the core belief that “人は変われる” (“People can change”). The name “RIZAP,” combining “Rise” and “Up,” symbolizes leaping from adversity and continuous growth. Founded in 2003 (originally as Health Corporation) by Ken Seto with a focus on weight-management and health foods, the company was renamed RIZAP Group, Inc. in 2016, expanding into multiple domains. Today, RIZAP’s three pillars are: (i) Health & Beauty (including the premium personal-training brand RIZAP, functional foods, and the widely discussed “convenience gym” ChocoZAP); (ii) Lifestyle (home goods, apparel, sports accessories, and the well-known home appliance brand BRUNO); and (iii) Platform Support (shared services across HR, IT, logistics, and publishing to support group operations).

Lowering barriers, digitally friendly, and integrated into daily life—ChocoZAP makes exercise routine.

ChocoZAP embodies RIZAP’s core philosophy in an everyday, low-barrier format. If RIZAP’s flagship gyms are the realm of strength training and personal coaching, ChocoZAP is the lifestyle-fitness proposition that brings movement into daily routines. With month-to-month pricing, 24/7 access, and compact sites woven into neighborhoods and transit hubs, members can work out—without changing clothes or advance preparation—before/after work or while running errands. Beyond low-impact machines and cardio equipment, ChocoZAP offers approachable amenities such as massage chairs and beauty devices, and in some locations even combines laundry and co-working spaces to increase member value—giving everyone a reason to stop by daily. As a technology-enabled, staff-light facility, the user journey is fully digital: scan in with the mobile app and follow in-app instructional videos to begin. We are also progressively deploying AI-based monitoring to enhance member safety. Although the ChocoZAP experience is simple and convenient, it is far from rudimentary; backed by the RIZAP Group’s deep resources—nutritionists, IT, and marketing—ChocoZAP is confident in serving as the “bridge between everyday life and health” for every resident.

ChocoZAP supports Taipei’s vision of becoming a “City of Sports.”

Achieving the “City of Sports” vision requires coordinated policy and industry effort to embed movement into the urban fabric. As a leading innovator in the fitness sector, ChocoZAP has entered the Taipei market to help advance this vision. We will continue to respond to consumer needs by lowering barriers and making exercise more engaging—so that Taipei residents can move together, every day.

Conclusion.

This paper has outlined market dynamics in Taipei’s commercial gym industry and identified the sector as a key enabler of the city’s sports vision. Commercial gyms possess location advantages that public facilities cannot easily match. The top factor in gym selection—“distance and transport convenience”—confirms that dense, localized private networks are the most effective market mechanism for increasing regular exercise participation. Relying solely on public sports centers or community venues is insufficient to meet residents’ high expectations for convenient access.

In the face of rapid population aging, global fitness trends prioritize “older-adult health & fitness programs.” With certified coaches and diversified facilities, professional commercial gyms can deliver specialized, data-driven senior fitness services urgently needed by Taipei’s health ecosystem. Consequently, the fitness industry’s role extends beyond market activity to become an integral link in the city’s health-service value chain—positioning it as a strong partner for Taipei City Government in addressing demographic transformation.