Fitness Brands and the Global Supply Chain Crisis

The rush of New Year's resolutions boosts Fitness and Wellness brands to these categories. 91% of resolutions relate in some way to health and wellness. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new year will coincide with one of the worst supply chain crises in recent decades. Shortages are radiating out to all industries.

How It Affects the Fitness Equipment Industry and Other Wellness Brands

One of the companies struggling the most is the home exercise brand Peloton. Last year, Peloton spent $1 billion to improve its supply chain, including investing more heavily in air freight and other services that might circumvent ongoing port delays.

But it isn't just Peloton: 

• In 2020, the coronavirus lockdown led to a rush of people buying at-home gym equipment like treadmills, ellipticals, and dumbbells. Kettlebells, in particular, disappeared entirely from store shelves.
• At the end of 2021, recent lockdowns in Vietnam meant that Nike had manufactured as many as 160 million fewer pairs of shoes than expected.
• The gummies brand Olly Nutrition, at its worst moment, had about 80% of its products run out of stock.
• Bikes prices have shot up, and many are running out of stock. The French high-end bike brand Look Cycle recently said that some of the manufacturing facilities for bike parts are seeing 12-to-18 month delays.

Supply Chain Management Tips for The New Year

So how can brands navigate a supply chain crunch—and the lingering risks that their products will run out of stock—during the new year?

Warn Customers of Supply Chain Disruptions Ahead of Time

Sportswear brand Puma is actively telling their customers to shop early. "If you want to buy Christmas presents, you should buy now," the company's CEO told customers this fall.

Exercise equipment manufacturers should regularly update customers regarding their deliveries, given the typical lead times for large and heavy gear shipping.   

Space Out Ad Spending Accordingly

There's a direct relationship between digital ad spending and e-commerce sales. Brands that have limited stock—or are at risk of running out of stock altogether—should be mindful of when to ramp up or pull back on their ad spending.

For example, they could spend more on ads for new products they're launching during the holidays. However, for less recent ones, they could hang back. 

Create Easy Returns & Back-In-Stock Notifications

When a product has fully depleted its stock, brands should create some notification system for customers.

This will surely help small businesses and modest retailers, especially those who find it challenging to keep up with surges in demand.

Olly Nutrition, for instance, built a form in which their customers would enter their emails and receive an alert when a product goes back into stock.

Brands can deploy tools like Chatdesk Shift, which integrates with order status and return software to decrease the cost of inbound calls coming to your company about order status, returns, and exchanges. Chatdesk lowers the price of a call by up to 80% on average.

Pro Tip: Incorporate automation into your notification systems. Steering through future shortages and spikes in demand will be easier.

Have a Partner to Refer Customers To

As important as it is to capture customers' email addresses, those customers will probably buy a rival product in crowded markets like fitness or wellness.

Brands can benefit by referring their customers to partner providers in their industry and potentially earn a commission on those referrals.

Invest in Customer Service

Some products will inevitably go out of stock this year, and some shipments will inescapably see delays. 

When that happens, brands have to be ready with an active customer service team like Chatdesk Teams that can communicate when a product will return to digital shelves or explain why their shipments may arrive a day behind schedule.

Want to see how Chatdesk Teams can help you manage your supply chain concerns? You can schedule a demo here!

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