In an effort to increase its customer base and regain the trust of investors as sales growth slows from historic highs and its stock price falls, Peloton has partnered with Amazon. Peloton will begin selling a variety of its connected fitness products and accessories on Amazon’s website in the United States on Wednesday. This will be the company’s first venture outside of its primary direct-to-consumer business.
- This will mark Peloton’s first partnership with another retailer to sell its merchandise. Until now, the company relied on its website and physical showrooms.
- Peloton Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils said the company will look to other retailers for similar deals to extend its reach.
- Peloton has struck a partnership with Amazon in a bid to broaden its customer base and sell more products in the United States.
That will include its original Bike, which retails for $1,445. It will also be selling its strength product known as Peloton Guide, which costs $295. Excluded from the tie-up are its more expensive Bike+ and Tread treadmill machine. Peloton’s stock rallied more than 18% in early trading. Peloton’s Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils said there are already about half a million searches on Amazon each month for Peloton’s products, despite its lack of presence on the site before Wednesday.
Peloton embarked on an $800 million restructuring plan when the company’s founder, John Foley, stepped down from the CEO role in February as costs spiraled out of control and losses mounted. It has since been testing a subscription model for its equipment, as another way to drum up sales. Peloton also exited all of its in-house manufacturing to simplify its supply chain. Earlier this month, the company announced additional cost-cutting measures, including more layoffs, store closures, about-face price hikes and exiting the last-mile delivery business.
Peloton’s share price is down about 70% year to date, as of Tuesday’s market close. Its market cap has fallen to around $3.7 billion, from as high as $50 billion in early 2021.The move onto Amazon signals McCarthy, formerly of Netflix and Spotify, is not afraid of taking risks to get the business back on stronger footing. McCarthy has also said that Peloton’s goal is to one day count 100 million members, a goal that Foley laid out in 2020. Peloton ended its latest quarter with about 7 millions members.
In addition to the Bike and Guide, Peloton will sell on Amazon a selection of accessories, including its branded cycling shoes, bike mat, weights, yoga blocks, water bottle and heart rate armband. Shoppers will also see an assortment of its branded apparel, including sports bras, leggings, shorts, tank tops, hats and jogger pants.
