Fit For Commerce: Exercise Products and Salesforce Commerce Cloud

One of the severest sectors of the economy to be hit by coronavirus, which in turn is likely to make it one of the last to emerge from lockdown restrictions, is the health and fitness sector.

From gyms and yoga studios to spin rooms and fitness centers, the doors have remained closed for months, prompting the growth of exercise ecommerce as tech provides a replacement to keep the pounds off and stay fit.

Sales of home exercise equipment as well as online exercise sessions have been at the forefront of alternative, socially-distanced fitness regimes. And the numbers are pretty eye-catching.

Sales of dumbbells rocketed 1,980% in June compared to last year. Weight plates also wielded an increase of 1,355%. And sales of kettlebells soared 1,000%.

Likewise with sales of exercise videos and online classes that are either live or recorded. Gymcatch, a software management company for fitness businesses, has seen a 2,000% increase in online bookings.

A fixed trend?

Of course, the incredible growth of exercise ecommerce is not going to be unsustainable looking forward. As a sharp reaction to social restrictions and lockdown measures, the period of enormous growth is going to slow. But where is it going to settle? 

There are multiple factors in predicting whether online workouts and home gyms are really going to compete with face-to-face classes and hitting the weights with other gym-goers.

Firstly, like many businesses across the country and across all sectors, there are going to be many doors of gyms and fitness studios that are never going to reopen. Those whose local gyms will never reopen, they may consider setting up their own home gym or buy exercise machines as an alternative.

And secondly — and more of a short-term consequence — is that during periods of reopening, many gym-goers are going to be wary of returning to gyms and fitness centers so soon. Alternatively, they’re going to keep with more socially-distanced methods of exercise until they feel safe enough to workout with other people around them.

If you’re a fitness company looking to digitize your physical-heavy services, then working with an experienced Salesforce Commerce Cloud dev shop can transfer your services online if you are able to provide your customers with online exercise sessions. 

And especially if you intend on double-quick launch times, you can have your online bootcamp up and running within 4 weeks with the United Virtualities’ SFCC BootUP.

PS: UV is one of the world’s leading Demandware (now SFCC) specialists. Contact us to see how we can work together.