Peloton Strategy

Peloton is great. Do I own a bike? No. Treadmill? Nope. Do I even use the app to get pickleball workout coaching? No. Peloton is great as an example of a business strategy. Peloton doesn’t offer discounts and Peloton makes it easy are two quick observations. Let’s add two more.

“At Peloton we are very inspired by behavior that already exists and then making that easier. It’s like all human technology that finds a human need or something already happening and making it easier to do. With stacking there were already people doing it, even calling it stacking, so when we launched the feature not only did it make the lives easier for the people doing it, but the people who hadn’t thought about it said, ‘might as well tack on a ten minute stretch’.” – David Packles, The Science of Change October 2021

A Peloton Stack is a workout playlist: run then add a stretch, core then add some yoga. Like Instagram, Peloton noticed their users doing something else to get a JTBD done. And one way to serve customers better is to make the hacks part of the product.

A second portion of Peloton’s success is their CAC attack. “Once you have a Peloton,” Packles said, “you are using it for years, it’s the most engaged fitness product of all time.” Part of a good customer acquisitions strategy is “going for the no”. It’s good to rule out customers so not to allocate extra resources to unproductive efforts.

Peloton has high engagement because they get ‘no’. Engagement, and lack of churn and cheap customers and all-the-other-interconnected-parts is an interconnected solution. Peloton uses the fresh start, social influence, and more.

Nice work Packles and all of Peloton. It’s a treat to observe businesses that offer a slew of of tactics that form a thoughtful strategy.

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Thanks for reading.