Dive Brief:
- Following the initial launch last October, Lululemon is introducing more digital workouts from Xponential Fitness, the owner of multiple fitness franchises like YogaSix, Pure Barre and Club Pilates, the company announced Monday in a press release.
- Xponential Fitness will release more workouts from Pure Barre, Rumble, AKT and YogaSix on the Lululemon Studio platform. So far, the Lululemon Studio subscribers can access more than 10,000 classes, but the partnership will allow them to access more content from Xponential Fitness brands’ experienced instructors, per the press release.
- As part of the collaboration, subscribers will also receive discounted rates at the physical Pure Barre, Rumble, AKT and YogaSix locations in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
For now, Lululemon seems to be doubling down on its pursuit of virtual workouts for its customers. With Lululemon’s partnership with Xponential, both companies can bridge “the gap between digital and in-person fitness experiences,” Xponential+ President Garrett Marshall said in a statement.
“Our guests are looking for hybrid fitness options, and this extension of our partnership will enable them to continue to access workouts from Pure Barre, Rumble, AKT, and YogaSix both digitally and through in-person fitness experiences,” Celeste Burgoyne, president of Americas and global guest innovation at Lululemon, said in a statement.
Prior to its deal with Xponential, Lululemon bought the remote fitness company Mirror for $500 million in 2020, a deal that would allow the workout tech company to operate as a stand-alone company within Lululemon.
Last September, Lululemon introduced a $39 per month Lululemon Studio subscription program, which required the user to own a Mirror and provided original Mirror content along with classes from YogaSix, Pure Barre and other fitness franchises. But the retailer in March announced it was pivoting to more app-based content and would roll out a cheaper version of the subscription that does not require users to own a Mirror device.
In its most recent earnings call, Lululemon executives did not mention Mirror, but Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald discussed the recent launch of the Lululemon Studio digital app. The new app subscription, priced at $12.99 per month, will expand access to its online class database without Mirror hardware, McDonald noted.
“We’re excited to introduce that. We think it will expand the [total addressable market] and allow us to offer that offering into the membership program,” McDonald said during the Q1 earnings call.
During the quarter, the company reported $2 billion in revenue, up 24% from Q1 2022. Its net income also spiked 53% to $290 million.
It’s not clear what Lululemon plans to do with the Mirror hardwear itself. Bloomberg reported in April that the activewear brand is considering selling Mirror, citing anonymous sources who were familiar with the matter. However, in response to the news, the company said that it does not “comment on rumors or speculation.”
