Design Thinking Case Study
Gymeqs; pay as you go!
Imagine yourself walking out of the gym downheartedly because you just learnt the gym fee is more than what’s in your wallet. Well, the first way out is to make more/enough money for you to be able to afford it or, if you could just invert it — the next way out is to reduce the gym fee.
That’s how the idea for Gymeqs popped up.
Gymeqs wants to offer pricing based on usage than monthly subscriptions (which is one reason why gym seems expensive).That is, it is a gym that lets you pay per the equipment you use. You can walk in, workout and you’re then charged a fee for how long you use the machine. Gymeqs is a solution for people who are lazy to waste less money, and also a great way to attract different customer groups. This would help in pinpointing the machine with the highest demand and get more of them. Other gyms can take advantage of this feature and even advertise that they have that particular machine which is in demand.
The Process
Design Thinking tools like 5Why, How Might We, Persona, The Stakeholder map, The Business Model Canvas, Innovation Framework and Perceptual Maps were used to take the idea forward. Let’s take a look at the business model canvas;
Gymeqs mainly target youth from 18–25 year of age although it is not restricted to the youth, anyone interested in fitness can come in for sure. The gym will be set up at a community free space provided by the society and second hand equipment will be bought from anyone who wants to sell out their equipment/from old gyms/OLX.
Two ways to make profit other than equipment usage payment are:
- Sports equipment renting facility for local matches happening around.
- A juice center inside the gym where the person could sell at better rates and we can take a commission for letting him/her use the space and take advantage of the tired people.
As per the cost structure the initial investment sums up to 2 lakh 80,000 rupees. Assuming that at least 40 people consistently come to the gym and we’ll be able to rent out sports equipment for at least 12 matches a month, and also by taking 20% commission from the juice center owner, the total will add up to around 4 lakh 32,000 rupees. So in that case, we will have a profit of 1, 52,000 by the end of one year.
The future plan is to sell Gymeqs business model & open franchises in the residential areas nearby. Introducing merch and supplements is also something we are looking forward to. Later in future, if the company hits a jackpot, Gymeqs app can be introduced. An app that could scan the barcode on the equipment and will calculate the money according to the time you spent on that machine and will let you pay through itself.
For sure, there are other gyms, fitness centers and apps that turn out to be our competitors but, with so many gyms competing, alternatives to monthly subscriptions itself could be a strong distinguisher. Customer surveys suggest that “The most dreadful thing about gyms are the subscriptions”. The image below shows why Gymeqs stands out and what it offers.
I believe that Gymeqs caters the most basic needs like affordability and accessibility which the traditional gyms haven’t been able to address yet. This would increase our chance of penetration in the market and help in the retention of customers!
This was a student project done at NIFT UG Program by 3rd Year Students for the subject of Design Methods for Innovation. Faculty and Design Thinking Coach : Francis Xavier
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