January is the month when all gym memberships are steeply discounted. Even so, surprising to see that eg in Amsterdam you can get a monthly-by-month “unlimited” gym membership for the price of ~two streaming services per month (around €25/month at a place like Basic Fit)
How do they turn a profit?
How do they turn a profit?
Comments
There are lots of people paying and not going -> instant profit
This way people will hit just buy button and use membership just once / twice.
Bigger and easier profit.
Jokes apart, maybe the annual membership price is too steep for those who won’t commit themselves to go to the gym.
Even if they cancel after 2 or 3 months, it’s still 2 or 3 months of basically pure profit for the gym
I wouldn’t be surprised if they remain subscribed for quite a long time on average
Sometimes, the illusion of freedom lead to very counterintuitive results!
It could only take 6 or 8 months of being subscribed to a higher priced monthly membership to generate the same profit as a one-year membership
“Ultimate” at my gym goes up to £28 after first month, standard stays at £21.99 every month.
Probably not just banking on members turning up, smells like it could also be money-laundering fronts.
People making New Year's resolutions that will likely fail to follow through are a perfect target market.
It's free money.
Now imagine all those who stop going to gym will have to pay the fee 2 years long.
Pure profit.
What is surprising to me is how this surpassingly cheap price is NOT for an annual contract, paid monthly. It’s a month-to-month one you can cancel anytime!
https://bsky.app/profile/o.simardcasanova.net/post/3leye6l4hts2t
And there is the psychological lock-in of "if I cancel and then rejoin, I have lost this deal, maybe I will use it in the summer"
"At a gym, emptiness equals success... gyms want to be a product that everyone buys, but no one actually uses."