Peloton的健身之路

你已经看到广告了。一位整洁的年轻职场人士正在设备齐全的高层公寓里骑着动感单车，他的面庞被面前的平板电脑照亮。你听不到屏幕里传出的教练的声音，但你可以想象骑手正在喊着充满鼓动性的话语。

这就是Peloton，它是继身着健美裤的简·方达带动一波健身大潮之后的又一次现象级事件。这家公司成立于2012年，它的专利动感单车售价2,245美元，直播与按需课程的视频订阅费用为每周39美元。去年，该公司还推出了4,295美元的跑步机，拓展了其产品类型。

营销攻势已经让Peloton的用户基础超过了竞争对手SoulCycle。Second Measure分析的信用卡交易显示，Peloton在2018年让SoulCycle黯然失色。Peloton并未公布用户数量，不过表示订阅数在去年翻了一番。

如今，Peloton正在为SoulCycle在2018年放弃的一件事情做着准备：上市。公司提交文件的那一刻，分析师将会迫不及待地了解其高价设备和订阅的利润空间。这对投资者来说是难以抵抗的。公司募集了不到10亿美元的私人投资，上一轮融资的估值为40亿美元。

想要获得进一步增长，挽留用户将是关键。Peloton的教练本身就是社交媒体上的名人，他们很好地维持了家庭健身爱好者的参与度。不过随着课程人数的激增，他们这种私人接触有着减少的风险。

如果公司可以把这种精英阶层的感觉维持下去，即使同时健身的用户只有1万名，Peloton也能在市场上继续保持领先。（财富中文网）

本文另一版本登载于《财富》杂志2019年4月刊，标题为《Peloton的崛起》。

译者：严匡正

By now you’ve seen the ads. A trim young professional is riding an exercise bike in a perfectly appointed high-rise apartment, his face lit by the glow of a tablet in front of him. You can’t hear the instructor on the screen, but you can imagine the sort of motivational spiel being called out to the riders.

This is Peloton, and it’s the biggest thing in home exercise since Jane Fonda in leggings. The company, founded in 2012, sells its proprietary bike for $2,245 and a monthly subscription to video streams of its live and on-demand classes for $39. Last year it introduced a $4,295 treadmill and expanded its class offerings.

A marketing blitz has pushed Peloton’s user base past that of rival SoulCycle. According to credit card transactions analyzed by Second Measure, Peloton eclipsed SoulCycle in 2018. Peloton hasn’t released user numbers but says it doubled its subscribers last year.

Now Peloton is preparing to do what SoulCycle backed out of doing in 2018: go public. When it files, analysts will be keen to learn the margins on both its high-priced equipment and subscriptions. It’s that combination that has been irresistible to investors. The company has raised just short of $1 billion in private money, with a valuation as of its last round of $4 billion.

With further growth, user retention will be key. Peloton instructors, social media celebrities in their own right, do an impressive job at keeping home riders engaged. But as classes balloon in size, they risk losing that personal touch.

If it can keep that boutique-class feel, even as 10,000 people ride along concurrently, Peloton will continue to lead the pack.

A version of this article appears in the April 2019 issue of Fortune with the headline “Peloton’s Climb.”