If you’re in Australia then of course you can visit the gym at 3am….

One of my favourite countries is Australia. I’ve got some good friends there who are lucky enough to be able to enjoy the sunshine, outdoor life and great food that is present in Australia. They are also a very sporty nation being strong in sports such as rugby, cricket and not to forget surfing!

They were visiting London recently and I was chatting to them (in a coffee shop whilst it was raining outside…) and they were talking about a new chain of gyms that has opened in Australia called Jetts Gym. What was unusual about the gym was that it was open 24 hours a day and was focused on providing great exercise equipment but eliminated the “fancier” parts of a health club such as saunas, Jacuzzis and spas.

They kept the quality of the gyms high but managed to reduce costs by using techniques such as:

• Locating the gyms in residential areas to encourage people to shower and change at home (save costs by not having large changing facilities).
• Using full time video surveillance and only using staff during the peak times (save on staff costs).
• Removing expensive items such as Jacuzzis.

There were clear benefits to the customer in having 24 hour access and the cost of membership was approximately half of the price of the average gym membership in Australia.

Using Bowman’s strategy clock model where does Jetts fit?

I would argue that it’s a low price with a medium to high perceived benefit. Are we looking at a Hybrid on the clock?

Either way, I’m not convinced I’d be using a gym at 3 in the morning!