Sophistication sells

Nearly 1,000 attendees practice yoga in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, on June 11, 2016.[Photo/VCG]

The proficiency level of the instructors is also higher. Apart from exercise itself, high-end yoga facilities offer social attribution and multiple consumption scenarios.

"For instance, they sell light meals, and develop member activities, to target high-end consumers, who are fond of novelty and have time and money to consume. As the fitness market expands, the competition becomes fierce. Therefore, the high-end market has to find ways to grab consumers."

Currently, Pure Yoga's annual membership cards sell for 11,888 yuan each. The company claimed strong growth in sales revenue in recent months. The 15-year-old studio in Hong Kong, its oldest, notches up 8 to 9 percent annual growth rate, which is a satisfying score, the company said.

By August, it owned 23 yoga studios in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Singapore and New York, all of which record 10,000 visits per day.

Despite claiming impressive results, the company said it does not want to expand too fast. "As a premium brand, it is not about quantity. It is about quality. Slow and steady wins the race," Grant said.

According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, China's domestic annual personal consumption scale has surpassed $4 trillion, and the figure will reach $13.7 trillion by 2030.

"It's obvious that people's consumption level is transitioning to a medium-to-high-end sectors. Development-type consumption and enjoyment consumption will experience rapid growth," said Xing Zhihong, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, at a recent news conference.

As noted by Beijing-headquartered think tank iyiou.com, those aged between 20 and 39, who constitute the core consumption group for the traditional sports industry, are the key to a promising future.

Although this group is estimated to shrink by 25 percent in the coming 15 years, the growth rate of annual personal consumption will overweigh the decline. By 2030, Chinese people aged under 40 will surpass 300 million, with a steady growing consumption power.

The EIU report forecast that by 2020, the median of domestic household annual income will reach $11,000, and $29,000 by 2030. As the elderly demographic grows, incomes of the working-age population will rise. As a result, their expenditure on health and fitness will go up.

As people's spare time increases, they pay more attention to high-quality life, and are no more satisfied with traditional public sports. Instead, they turn to high-end sports, which offers them exercise while broadening their horizons, helping them to embrace a more sophisticated life.