Agree - I think TR likely has more of a challenge attracting new customers than retaining existing ones.
Another area where I think TR made the wrong decision is on grandfathering the pricing for existing customers, and only raising price for new customers. This means the price for new customers is higher than it would have been had TR increased price on all customers.
I dunno, most people in our club want to ride outside or simulate riding outside. The things you list don’t matter in general, IMHO most people don’t get excited by staring at blue bars. I really think it is that simple. Zwift and RGT and Rouvy and Fulgaz are more compelling - if you are going to ride inside why not see places you don’t normally ride? Or perhaps train on courses you hope to compete on in 2021 - a local masters 45 racer has uploaded local races into RGT and doing simulated races and/or workouts on courses to prepare for 2021 season.
Our club is about 600 members, and the same people are posting TR workouts. Scrolling thru this morning’s Strava feed, most (30+) were outside rides, then 10+ Zwift rides, then 10+ RGT/Rouvy/Fulgaz/“exercise bike”/etc, 2 pics of workouts uploaded by Whoop (?!!), and finally a local guy working out at 12:52am and getting a Xert breakthrough using TR’s Scott Peak -1:
That was out of ~60 workouts posted this morning on Strava.
Hadn’t seen Whoop before on Strava, because I only look at my feed. Here it is:
I find this topic really interesting. My SO and I do TR and Peloton classes side by side. I don’t know how typical of a TR user I am; I am slow and am very low volume, and I use it to hang on in a weekend group ride. I’m a hobbyist.
My view is that Peloton users generally just want to burn calories, whereas TR users want to get stronger. However, this will evolve, and methodologies for structured improvement may find their way into the Peloton arsenal. I don’t think this’ll be on account of Peloton going after the IRL cyclist market, it’ll be due to its users wanting to go faster on their stationery bikes. They already have an instructor with a track background, and zone classes based on RPE. If they added structure, it’d be a good offering.
I dunno about this.
It’s hard to believe that a Peloton customer would have “considered” TR when he/she doesn’t even own a bike. Beach cruisers don’t count.
That already exists through the Power Zone training (Wilpers and the others) and the Power Zone Pack structured challenges. If you’re not aware of PZP and their challenges, check out their FB group. It’s huge.
Nope…the plural of anecdote still isn’t data.
And there are a myriad of reasons why those postings could be down, starting with the most obvious - people are riding outside right now.
Maybe they aren’t tagging their posts anymore (You’d never know I was on TR form my Strava feed), maybe they are taking a break from structured training before resuming it in the winter, etc. etc. etc.
Ya, I’d bet at least one Zwift ride in this morning’s 60+ club rides was using TR for the workout and Zwift for the entertainment.
I take a somewhat different view of this. If anything, I wonder if the PZ rides have the potential to peal PT users away from the platform by introducing them to a next level of training. Have you looked closely at the PZ rides? Maybe you have, so forgive me, but I was wholly unimpressed (unless they’ve been completely revamped in the past couple months.) When I looked, it was ~ 3 weeks with just ~~3-5 different classes. No progression, no overload, no recovery. There was only one volume option, there were no options for different ‘types’ of power (duration, sprint, etc.). Just “here’s a few weeks worth of power-based training, enjoy.” I guess my point is: you’re definitely right that a lot of Peloton users are really latching onto them; if they don’t really step up, I wonder if those users will start looking for other structured training options?
Peloton CEO on Apple launching a workout service: ‘It’s quite a legitimization of fitness content’
Apple releases Fitness+, a fitness service for Apple Watch
The service will connect Apple Watch users to trainers. Users can access a catalog of workout videos on iPhones, iPads or on an Apple TV, synced to an Apple Watch. New workout videos will be published weekly, and you’ll be able to see live stats from your Apple Watch on your iPad or iPhone while you work out. Shares of Peloton initially dipped about 5% on the news, but quickly recovered.
Yeah, I think Peloton just got a new list of things to worry about.
80 a year… not bad at all…
if you are into this stuff that is.
Some will/have become more focused cyclists and migrate, but it’s a very small minority. In the end, it’s still a spin class bike aimed at the fitness market and not bike racers. I remember when they ran TONS of ads during the TdF and I was shocked by it. They definitely didn’t know their audience with those ad placements.
Actually, the plan might have been a good idea.
Using the similar idea that most people who watch ball games dont actually play the game, we could assume a great majority of people who watch the TdF do not bike to excersise.
A Peloton ad during the TdF might give some people the idea that maybe thats the bike for them !
I have to admit if i was not into competitive endurance sports, peloton would be a better alternative than gym spin class.
Maybe in other countries, but I’d guess about 1% of households in the US watching the Tour do not contain cyclists. That’s purely a guess. I could be wrong.
Here are my thoughts:
With the above being said, the bigger threat I see to TR is from the HW side from the trainer manufacturers putting more resources into developing full trainer bikes vs. just smart trainers. My assumption is that a lot of people who use TR started first riding a bike, liked it, got a trainer and joined TR. But if the smart trainer market “goes away”, then the road for people joining TR takes a big hit. Or we could start to see “islands”:
My admittedly not Nostradamus prediction
I seem to recall a few years ago a stat that as much as 40% of the TdF viewership at any point in time is to see the scenery of the region.
And 3 hours later here are the updates on our club’s Strava feed:
While our in-real-life club is 600+ members, we’ve got some outsiders on Strava:
I recognize and have ridden with everyone but Santiago, he is some “FOMO must join every club” dude and interestingly hails from the Galapagos and is posting actual rides from Isla San Cristobal in the Galapagos.
Kinda interesting, and thats my last Strava bean counting as I’m not getting paid to analyze like some Morgan Stanley analyst 10+ years ago counting people outside Apple store during an iPhone launch.
$450M in funding will allow Zwift to make a nice piece of hardware.
Now this will put a significant dent in TR future growth. A “plug and play” piece of hardware that enables the immersive Zwift experience will make for an easy way for a new customer to onboard onto Zwift.
“The hardware will make Zwift a more immersive and seamless experience for users.”
This is a real threat to TR.
I could see myself buying a zwift machine if the price is right.
