Social distancing rules have forced millions of Americans to stay home, and that seems to be good news for Peloton because US adults are now twice as likely to consider buying one of the exercise bikes than they were at the beginning of the year.
According to YouGov BrandIndex data, six percent of Americans are considering the popular stationary bike brand, up from 3.1 percent in the first days of 2020, when New Year’s resolutions around exercise and weight loss were still fresh.
But the beginning of 2020 is now considered a bygone era as Americans are now faced with unprecedented measures — including shelter-in-place orders for many US cities — to battle the spread of the coronavirus.
Peloton — which sells exercise equipment such as bikes and treadmills and streams group workouts live around the world to its subscribers — started offering a 90-day free trial on March 17, just as stricter measures were enacted to ensure social distancing.
The number of Americans who would recommend Peloton to friends or family has also shot up in the last quarter five-fold. On January 1, the brand’s Recommend score was 1.1 percent (that’s how many Americans would recommend the brand to friends or family). As of April 1, that score was 5.3 percent.
The brand’s Purchase Intent score — the percentage of those who are likely to buy — is sitting at 1.5 percent, up a full point from January 1.
Peloton’s business hasn’t been untouched by the outbreak. It has suspended live content for the rest of April and has stopped deliveries of its treadmills, however its bikes remain available.
The brand has also been a buoy in a sinking stock market. Between March 12 and April 1, the company’s share price increased by roughly 43 percent to nearly $28.
As Americans find themselves stuck at home, unable to go to the gym or leave the house at all, many say they are gaining weight. According to a recent YouGov poll, nearly a quarter (24%) say they’ve gained weight since the beginning of the pandemic. The same poll found about one in five (19%) has lost weight and just over half (51%) say weight has stayed the same.
