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.