Amazon expands wellness biz with Planet Fitness tie-up

Dive Brief:

• Amazon and Planet Fitness have teamed up to offer new Planet Fitness Black Card holders a free Amazon Halo View wellness tracker and year-long membership from Nov. 7 through Nov. 15, according to a press release. Existing members can get 15% off during this period. 
• The tie-up includes a TikTok hashtag challenge encouraging consumers to post a video of themselves doing a fitness-inspired dance with the hashtag #GlowUsYourMoves and tag Planet Fitness for the opportunity to win one of ten $500 Amazon gift cards.
• By partnering with one of the largest fitness franchises in America, Amazon can market its wearable to an engaged audience and maintain its foothold in the wellness industry following a call to shutter its Amazon Care business at the end of the year. 

Dive Insight: 

Amazon’s partnership with Planet Fitness shows the e-commerce behemoth sinking its teeth further into the wellness space, though, perhaps leaning in a different direction as the brand in August opted to shut down its Amazon Care business due to a lack of momentum just one month after acquiring primary care network One Medical for $3.9 billion.

For a limited time, those who sign up for the Planet Fitness Black Card will receive an email with a unique code to use on Amazon and receive a free Halo View fitness tracker, allowing the e-commerce giant to access valuable consumer data and insights into Planet Fitness’ 16.6 million members. Released nearly a year ago, key features of the Halo View wearable include metric tracking for heart rate, activities and sleep, among others. The maker has already partnered with a slew of others to help reach new consumers, including Orangetheory Fitness and Weight Watchers. 

Additionally, the partnership sees heavy Gen Z ties with its accompanying TikTok challenge, offering up a $500 Amazon gift card to ten creators who upload a video of themselves dancing and tag Planet Fitness and its #GlowUsYourMoves hashtag. The move shows that Amazon may be vying for Gen Z insights, as the fitness franchise in its Q3 earnings call pointed to the young demographic as a major opportunity point, with CEO Chris Rondeau in an earnings call pointing out that Gen Z was the smallest segment of its user base pre-pandemic, but is now the second largest group of members. The franchise also saw a successful High School Summer Pass program. 

Joining forces with Amazon could support Planet Fitness in its efforts to drive return visits and consistency — those with wearable fitness trackers are proven to have increased physical activity levels, per evidence cited in the release. The tie-up could also help the franchise maintain its membership momentum with the potential for increased traffic in the lead up to the post-holiday season, a period that typically sees increased traffic as many commit to New Years resolutions.