All products have been priced competitively, using Amazon as a benchmark, to ensure the shop can thrive in a competitive market

You’ve been getting into ecommerce – tell us more
Everyone Active has launched the Everyone Member Shop, an online store stocking fitness equipment, apparel and accessories from brands including Reebok, Under Armour and Gympro.

We’ve always had strong retail sales, so ecommerce was the natural next step. While we support the rest of the industry in the fight for gyms to be re-categorised as essential services, we can at least keep our members stocked with the equipment they need to continue their preferred forms of training.

How does the shop fit into the wider business?
The Everyone Member Shop complements Everyone on Demand (EOD), our 2,500-strong on-demand workout product, as it includes a section which helps EOD users to find the products they need to enhance their favourite at-home sessions.

How is it being delivered?
The store is being managed and fulfilled by D2F Fitness, a long-term partner of Everyone Active – also the exclusive fitness equipment provider for the online offering.

The two companies worked together during the first national lockdown launching a basic shop, which showed strong sales throughout spring 2020. The success of the test shop led to the project being rolled out on a wider scale.

We moved our own-brand retail, as well as our partner brands’ stockholding, into D2F’s warehouse for online distribution. We’ve recently added an aquatics line and there are plans to introduce new brand partners.

The shop was designed and created in Shopify, by Action Group. All products have been priced competitively, using Amazon as a benchmark, to ensure the shop can thrive in a competitive market. Initial sales reports show dumbbells are the most popular item.

How much did it cost to set up?
It was fully funded by profits from sales made from the online shop during the first national lockdown

How long did it take to set up?
Around six weeks.

Why did you choose Shopify?
It’s a simple, intuitive platform that can be fully managed by ‘non-techies’, which makes it easier for us to be responsive to sales in real-time.

What turnover are you expecting?
We’re forecasting £500k turnover in year one rising to £1m in year two.

How are you marketing the Everyone Member Shop?
We’re prioritising digital including email, social media, push notifications and direct links from the main Everyone Active Website. We’re also using Instagram and Facebook shopping to make it easier for customers to purchase from our social platforms. 

When centres reopen we’ll market products via digital screens including cardio consoles. We’ll also be running referral campaigns with colleagues.

How will it affect your existing retailing offering?
Everyone Active has always presented strong retail sales. We don’t intend to lessen the focus on our physical retail but see online as a complement which helps us reach a wider audience with a larger product range. We’ll be able to move end of season/line stock from centres to online for flash sales. 

How will you cross-market in-centre retail and online?
Not all centres have the space for large physical retail displays, but our members can view capsule collections in-centre before ordering online. In the future, we plan to use QR codes to make it easier for members to find and order products they see in-centre, even if they’re viewing them via an on-screen ad.

We are also working on launching an in-centre ‘click and collect’ service with all the products we sell.

What are your long-term plans?
The Everyone Member shop will be a permanent part of the business. We know that for it to succeed in the long-term we need to be able to sell at competitive prices, so we’ll continually review the market to ensure we’re offering the best prices.

We’ll continue to source new suppliers and products that are relevant to the activities we offer in our centres and at home, via EOD. The online shop provides an opportunity to widen the product ranges. We’ll also be working with suppliers to forecast seasonal stock.

Find out more: shop.everyoneactive.com