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Darwinian Evolution in Express Gyms
By: Al Valente
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Curves may have the dominant brand, but do they have the perfect formula? With so many smart people out there tweaking with the secret sauce, it's certain that new variants of Gary and Diane's original formula will emerge victorious. It will be survival of the fittest.
It's interesting to watch the express gym industry grow up. The early success of curves attracted a lot of clones and independents attempting to cash in on this new phenomenon.
We'll have to wait and see if this innovation catches on, but an HDTV is certainly something every express gym owner can afford. And the idea of quality programming without the paid staff member is appealing, plus it doesn't call in sick or miss snow days.
What's different about Express Gyms?
Well, in a nutshell, it's low capital requirement and low operating costs. The gyms are small, less than 3,000 ft², some as small as 1,000 ft², so that means a low investment. The nature of hydraulic circuits is that they can be packed in a tight circle. As opposed to forking over more that a million dollars for a full service health club, a woman can get started usually for under $100,000.
Also the operating costs are low. The clubs are often staffed with only one or two staff members, most of whom have no advanced fitness training. And, most express gyms don't even have cardio machines that draw electricity. Now that's keeping your costs down!
Similarities to the Early Auto Industry
In most rapid growth industries, there is an innovator that first sets the standards for the clones to follow, then there is a period of experimentation with the formula, then there is a fight for dominance via a Darwinian survival of the fittest.
It happened in the PC industry, does anybody remember Osborne? And, it happened in the auto industry, entering the 20th Century there were thousands of automobile manufacturers and today we have 3.
In that case, Henry Ford, set the standard. Customers could have any color they wanted "as long as it was black". Then the competing auto companies started offering features like color choices and other add-ons and GM was able to eclipse Ford.
Curves Set the Original Model
Obviously, today, Gary and Diane Heavin have set the standards for the express gym market, after all they invented the business model. But have they been slow to improve upon the recipe? Are they relying too much on their brand?
With the success of Curves arrived a plethora of clones, some good, some awful. But it's also attracted (a) some big dogs from the legacy health clubs like Mark Mastrov with Butterfly and Ray Wilson with 123Fit, (b) some franchising muscle like Quiznos, and (c) lots of mavericks like Symanthia Harper, of Shapes for Women, are ready to rock this industry.
Anabel Montelbano on one of her machines. Butterfly actually uses weight stack machines for progressive resistance.
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Butterfly Life's New Model
I had an opportunity to check out the local Butterfly Life gym in Groton, Connecticut. The first one to open East of the Mississippi happens to be in the next town over from me.
Anabel Montalbano is a delightful woman and a true entrepreneur. With a former successful career in the casino business, sometime after her 40th birthday, she decided to make a total career shift, tap into her previous personal training skills and open a woman only club. Seeking the security of a franchise, she found that Butterfly suited her profile.
The keys to her decision on what format to go with was, "woman-only and 30-minute". In her words, "Everyone knows 30-minute workouts is what women need. They need to get in there, do some progressive weight resistance,
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throw in some cardio, combine the two, and just get in and get out. Women are just too busy, they're multi-tasking, doing everything, the kids, the career, the home. "
"Everyone knows 30-minute workouts is what women need."
As a sharp marketer from the casino business, Anabel was careful in her site selection. Although she lives in Westerly Rhode Island, she opened her club in Groton Connecticut to be in a better population density and a shopping center right on Rt. 1. The anchor is T.J. Maxx which garners a lot of female traffic.
A Big Believer in Marketing
Anabel is a big believer in marketing. She did a radio blitz, 3 months prior to opening in February of 2004. Because the brand was unkown she wanted to create a "buzz". "I can I come into an area like New England that doesn't cater to newcomers. I wanted to show them what we were and what our concept was and just throw that, make that a constant." She said. "So, I went with it. And we created a buzz. We went live on the air, you've got to get out there. I did the chamber of commerce, I did events, I gave away almost 1,000 business cards. "
How did the blitz do? "We hit 50 members in 15 days and we hit 100 members in 30 days," She said.
Butterfly's Interesting Package
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Butterfly's lynchpin differentiator appears to be it's Life Vision multimedia group fitness area.
The whole thing that really grabbed Anabel was the Life Vision. Highly polished classes are delivered through a 65" HDTV. "What they were able to do, to make it economically feasible, for an owner to have classes, is to do it in this way. They hire the best in the country, they shot all their classes in a
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The "Life Vision" is a HDTV that plays continuous 30-min. or 15-min. DVDs. Filmed in a studio by professionals on various topics, it precludes the need of live group instructors.
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professional studio, those DVDs are distributed to all the franchises, so we're able to offer these incredible classes to our members." Said Anabel.
I'm again reminded of Henry Ford's painful lesson. Is this the better idea? Again, keeping consistent with low investment, not hiring live group instructors, but using technology to deliver inspiring classes for women to dance and have fun and drop the weight.
In addition to yoga, step, dance, kickboxing, Pilates, body sculpting, she even offer classroom talks on psychology, nutrition, and fashion makeovers. About 90% of Anabel's women participate the Life Vision classes.
We'll have to wait and see if this innovation catches on, but an HDTV is certainly something every express gym owner can afford. And the idea of quality programming without the paid staff member is appealing, plus it doesn't call in sick or miss snow days.
About Al Valente
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