Peloton announces Australian expansion to compete with Apple Fitness Plus, FiiT

Some people thought it was destined for failure, but an idea that surged in the pandemic is expanding globally – and has Australia in its sights.

At-home fitness company Peloton has announced it will expand Down Under, giving Aussies a new way to keep fit without leaving the house.

The company has grown to now offer two different bikes and treadmills that integrate with classes delivered on the Peloton app.

You can also use the app to listen to curated playlists to keep your energy up, track your workouts and compete with friends.

It also features workouts and classes from celebrities like Beyonce.

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The hi-tech Peloton bike starts at $2895.

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The company will launch with the bikes to start with, beginning in the second half of this year.

The Bike will start at $2895 and the Bike+ will be $3695.

An all-access membership is another $59-a-month, but you don’t necessarily need the bikes to take advantage of it.

The bikes will be sold online as well as in showrooms planned for Sydney and Melbourne where you can try out the idea before putting your money down.

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All-Access Membership gets you the benefits of the app without the bikes.

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Peloton’s international managing director Kevin Cornils said launching in Australia was a “natural decision” because “health, fitness and sport is a central part of Australia’s DNA”.

Australians will join roughly 4.4 million other Peloton members around the world.

Peloton will compete with other at-home fitness offerings like the recently launched Apple Fitness+ ($14.99 a month but you need an Apple Watch) and FiiT ($36 a month or £20).

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The two bikes will be sold in Australia before the company’s treadmills are launched.

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Many have seen the recent introduction of Apple Fitness+ as an attempt to capitalise on the Peloton craze (as well as the pandemic required home workout trend).

Peloton was founded in 2014 but started becoming increasingly popular throughout 2019.

That had some “short selling” finance types calling a bubble and expecting the company’s share price to crash.

Citron Research “activist short seller” Andrew Left said in December 2019 that people would be “laughing” at the company’s $US10 billion valuation in a year unless the company could make “a machine that works out for you”.

His prediction came a few days after the company was mocked for an ad where a man buys his wife a Peloton bike for Christmas.

The company’s stock fell 9 per cent following the backlash but Peloton didn’t believe it was due to the ad.

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Peloton appears to have learned its 2019 Christmas lesson and now promotes men working out too.

It didn’t matter by April 2020 – by then the world was in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic and billions were trapped in their homes. Suddenly the at-home fitness business was booming.

The actor branded “Peloton wife” from the notorious ad was paid $91 on Cameo to send out a video message at the time, saying: “Listen, one bad little bit of promotional materials or press isn’t gonna kill a company like Peloton, I mean come on … especially right now! You know how many people I know had a bike delivered to them this week alone?”