Fitmoo, Inc., out of New York City, NY, launched what it believes will be a revolutionary social commerce platform, created to organize, aggregate and monetize the scattered resources of the fitness community.
Built on top of a social framework inclusive to everything from MapMyRun, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google and other social and fitness tracking apps, Fitmoo considers itself a new breed of online distribution.
Jeffrey Dyment, Founder & CEO, Fitmoo
“We’re a technology platform,” said Jeffrey Dyment, founder and CEO at Fitmoo, in an interview with SGB. “Integration of other social media into Fitmoo is one of our core objectives.”
Fitmoo thereby places itself at the starting point of one’s fitness journey, recording, tracking and sharing progress regardless of the hardware being used. In uniting the fragmented accounts, sites and presences of the social fitness journey, enthusiasts in any category of sport are able to build community and document their passion using Fitmoo.
Dyment said he is incorporating individual’s fitness passions into the ethos of Fitmoo. The start-up capitalizes on the pure love of sport with an endorsement feature – allowing any person to become an “Influencer” on the site. “Anyone can come to the site, for free, and instantly become an affiliate and representative of anything and everything on the platform,” said Dyment.
An Influencer can affect anywhere from two people to 2 million, in a referral-type process where inspiring others to purchase a certain piece of gear or enroll at a particular gym directly remunerates a portion of earnings from the retailer and into the Influencer’s bank account. Athletes without endorsement deals can turn their following into a business.
Influencers with large social followings become Fitmoo Ambassadors, like CrossFit athlete Christmas Abbot, whose exclusive Fitmoo post garnered 3,500 new registers, 14,000 site visitors and over 50 t-shirts sold over the span of 12 hours.
The process works the same for everyday athletes. Dyment gave the example, “If members are able to bring one more person to a class, that is significant to the profits of a whole gym. Then multiply that times five million and you have something.” The idea is that an individual’s enthusiasm can boost overall business for everyone.
Although Fitmoo is currently in a phase-one launch, after two years of planning and five months of beta testing, the platform plans on evolving into a social networking, shopping, distributing and selling space. The company hopes to reach 500,000 registers by September 30, 2015.
Fitmoo hopes its “next-generation” social distribution strategy will begin to correct discrepancies blocking the current system of goods and services distribution from reaching new customers and thriving to its full potential. According to Dyment, the pre-Fitmoo method of delivering fitness goods and services has left gaps negatively impacting the industry and its users. Everyone from the 5 a.m. cycle instructor to the small run specialty storeowner suffers under the current model, the company asserts.
Dyment said the existing model results in unsold inventory, unnecessary expense and limited exposure to new customers. Examples cited include: the estimated $5.8 billion left on the table annually from unsold spots in fitness classes, the estimated $7.3 billion spent on wholesale distribution of fitness apparel, gear and products, and the $19.66 billion turned over every year of gym memberships. Dyment hopes Fitmoo will realign these discrepancies for both big and small retailers, events, gyms and athletes.
“The fitness industry is littered with small players with limited resources,” Dyment said. “There are 200,000 fitness classes going on today, right now, and 90 percent are not filled.”
“It is very expensive to target the market, either through retail or direct-to-consumer services,” Dyment said. “I’ve got a running magazine in front of me. At least 60 percent of this magazine is advertising.” Add to the marketing muddle Facebook promotions, boosts, Google ads, traditional marketing and YouTube ads, and you’ve got a lot of targeting going on at once, he explained.
“It’s all guesswork at the end of the day,” Dyment said. “You’re competing for eyeballs from a thousand different angles to make a purchasing decision.” Dyment’s thought process: Aggregate the clutter and even the field. “Fitmoo is simply connecting everyone with a technology platform that allows connections to result in sales and earnings.”
For the hundreds of thousands of fitness instructors, athletes, stores and average Joe’s and Jane’s with a passion for a particular apparel brand, nutrition product or activity, Fitmoo provides a platform to engage and grow. “Commerce is front and central,” Dyment continued. The idea behind Fitmoo is democratization of distribution. Fitness brands can distribute through their most loyal customers while social influencers engage and activate their networks in new ways.
The platform itself, however, is brand-neutral. “Directly and through social influencers, fitness brands and providers can target and incentivize without having to build elaborate or expensive technology solutions themselves,” concluded Dyment.
The success of Fitmoo’s multi-level social platform will depend on a “see-saw strategy” where Dyment and his team increase registered users and merchants at an even, leveled pace. As with all social media platforms, users pick and choose their level of involvement based on usability and interface, and the best way to judge Fitmoo is to try it.
Anyone can create a free Fitmoo login by visiting the site or by downloading the Fitmoo app from the AppStore or GooglePlay. Merchants can also apply to sell on Fitmoo by going to the site.
