Why Are Chinese White Collars Obsessed with SuperMonkey Gyms?
SuperMonkey is a fitness gym founded in 2014 in Shenzhen. At the moment, it has covered top-tier cities including Beijing, Shanghai and its birthplace.
Business Model
SuperMonkey’s business model appeals to many white collars. You don’t have to buy an annual card nor a seasonal one to have the training, instead, you pay each time whenever you feel like visiting. In some way, this helps people save money, as most of them pay a large amount of money but only visiting the gym once or twice. On the flipped side, for consumers who have unlimited passion to work out, it is a big number if they pay each single time.
Prices of SuperMonkey range from 89 RMB to 109 RMB. It used to be less, which was 69 RMB, SAD. As a newcomer, you can get a discount of 30 RMB and that makes it 59 RMB to join. If you share the mini program, you will also have further bonuses of 10-25 RMB as discounts. But still, I think this is a bit expensive.
Automatic Check In
What also makes SuperMonkey different from other gyms is the fact that no staff is required to be there. This is because everything is robotic. Once you make the payment successfully, you will receive a WeChat notification with a password. The password is used to open the entrance door to the gym, and the door to the training room that you’ve booked. There are many activities that consumers can choose from. For example, Body Combat, Zumba, Body Step, Body Jam etc. After the training, people will take a selfie picture together in front of the mirror. Later, the image will be embedded in another notification message to your WeChat. People like to save these images and post them online to show off that they went to a SuperMonkey class.
I am getting fond of this business model, though I have to pay every time. But actually, because of it, I pay and I work out, it feels like the money is totally worth it, and the sense of accomplishment is growing! What are other interesting facts about SuperMonkey? Check out our video to find out more about one of China’s most popular fitness companies.
Video footage source: 我调查了北京最帅的超级教练
