Nordstrom will add Tonal stores to 40 stores to enhance fitness deals

Nordstrom is looking for ways to grow its active business, while adding even more merchandise to its stores beyond dresses, footwear, handbags and makeup.

He found a new partner in Tonal, a company that sells a wall-mounted training station for $ 2,995.

The department store chain announced on Monday that it will add 40 Tonal mini stores to its stores, launching later this month. The 50-square-meter stores will be located in Nordstrom’s active department, next to training clothing and other fitness accessories. Customers will be able to demonstrate the Tonal device and talk to a Tonal employee.

For Tonal, the partnership will expand the fitness equipment maker’s capacity to new customers, at a time when many Americans are investing in high-tech devices to improve their home workouts during the pandemic. The company currently has only 16 brick locations – six own stores and 10 “bought in stores” with other business partners.

In the meantime, Nordstrom hopes to become a top destination for active equipment and give shoppers more reason to visit their stores. Many of them are in malls that were less frequented during the health crisis.

The Seattle-based retailer has previously said it intends to increase space for active clothing and wellness products. He added an active page dedicated to his website in December, as he saw several people flipping through yoga mats and sweatpants at home. And it is in the process of adding more than 75 new active brands – specializing in categories such as hiking, tennis and golf – online and in its stores this year.

“We continue to prioritize being that place of discovery,” Lori Marten, Nordstrom’s active cargo manager, said in a telephone interview.

“We are often considered the partner of choice when it comes to working with brands, both physically and digitally,” she said. “So it was a pretty simple opportunity everywhere – one that really helps us build our authority and authenticity in a space that we aggressively develop.”

Marten added that talks between Nordstrom and Tonal began in November, during the holiday season, and developed rapidly from there. The partnership is a long-term agreement, not a pop-up, she said. In the past, Nordstrom has temporarily dedicated space in its stores to brands such as luggage manufacturer Away and the beauty business Glossier, in an attempt to attract younger customers inside.

Christopher Stadler, Tonal’s director of marketing, said the fitness manufacturer had spoken to a number of other potential retail partners, but Nordstrom topped its list. The typical Nordstrom buyer and Tonal’s target customer are closely aligned, he said, indicating factors such as age, income and type of employment.

“There is a segment of our customer base that wants to touch and feel and experience digital difficulties,” Stadler explained Tonal’s expansion strategy. “We want to create more distribution points and physical touch points.”

Tonal, backed by Amazon Fund Alexa and NBA star Stephen Curry, is in a highly contested home fitness market that includes other device manufacturers such as Peloton, Hydrow and Mirror. The latter was purchased by Lululemon for $ 500 million last year and is currently on display in numerous Lululemon retail stores. Hydrow also entered into an agreement with sportswear brand Fabletics last year to display its rowing machines in several Fabletic stores and on its website.

While betting on Tonal’s success, Nordstrom says it will continue to expand its active department by buying more fitness and outdoor products, such as snow helmets, ski goggles, massage devices and ropes for jumps. Not just clothes and sneakers.

Nordstrom will report its fourth-quarter tax gains after the market closed on Tuesday. He previously estimated that his revenue would increase by more than 25% in fiscal year 2021, as a period in which his brick and mortar stores closed for two quarters expires due to Covid restrictions in the spring. Nordstrom also expects that about half of its sales this year will come from its digital business. Last year, the department store chain reached about a third of its online sales.

In the longer term, Nordstrom expects sales to grow at a low single-digit rate annually from 2019 levels. In that year, Nordstrom reported net sales of $ 15.1 billion, down 2 percent. 2% compared to the previous year.

Analysts and investors will look for clues about how clothing demand is growing and how comfortable shoppers in its stores feel.

Nordstrom shares have been roughly flat for the past 12 months. The retailer has a market cap of $ 5.7 billion, which is lower than Kohl’s at $ 8.6 billion. But it’s bigger than Macy’s, at $ 4.7 billion.

So far, here is where Nordstrom plans to open Tonal mini-stores: