Peloton: sales surge by 172% amid home workouts boom

Peloton is celebrating a 172% year-on-year hike in sales following a surge in demand for exercise equipment and workout subscriptions during Covid-19 lockdowns.

The New York-based fitness technology company, “which won an early celebrity fanbase for its exercise bikes and remote workout classes”, has seen its total global membership base hit 3.1 million as of the end of June - more than double a year earlier, says the BBC. And connected fitness subscriptions grew by 113% to 1.09 million, while paid digital subscriptions grew by 210% to 316,800, according to newly published quarterly results.

With revenues totalling $607m (£474m), Peloton recorded its first quarterly profit ever, banking $89m (£69.3m). That compares with a loss of $47.4m (£36.9m) last year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In a letter to shareholders, the company said that 2020 had been “a transformative year for Peloton. We made great progress in scaling our business, from manufacturing and logistics, to member support and field operations. We launched operations in Germany, our first foreign language market, and continued to grow our footprint in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.”

New products - but also delays

Peloton this week added two products to its line-up and also reduced the price of its original bike.

Available for UK order now, the new Peloton Bike+ costs £2,295, while the original Peloton Bike now has a lower price tag of £1,750, down from £2,000.

The new Peloton Tread will be available in the UK from 26 December and will cost £2,295, with the original that launched in the US to be renamed the Tread+ but to remain priced at $4,295 (£3,345).

But fitness fans keen to try out the new kit may face a bit of a wait. As Business Insider reports, the company has warned of delays for orders as overwhelming demand “rattles” the supply chain.

Peloton CEO John Foley said: “While we had expected demand to moderate, the unexpected resurgence of Covid-19 cases in many states has perpetuated the imbalance of supply and demand in many geographies, causing continued elongated order-to-delivery windows for our customers. While we reduced wait times since May, there remains much work to be done.”

Construction resumes on HQ and studios

Boss Foley has also been talking about the company’s plans for global expansion.

Following coronavirus-related delays, Peloton has resumed construction of new headquarters in New York City and a new London premises at 11 Floral Street Studio in Covent Garden. Both are expected to be completed by spring next year.

The Floral Street Studio will have three production studios, “allowing us to significantly increase production of floor content as well as foreign language classes for our growing community of members in Europe,” the letter to shareholders explains.

A new manufacturing plant located in Shin Ji in Taiwan is also expected to be completed by the end of 2020. The additional factory will help the fitness tech firm “scale over the next few years”.

Peloton’s total revenue forecast for its next financial year is at least $3.5bn (£2.72bn) - a 96% growth at midpoint.