Nordstrom to add Tonal stores in 40 stores to boost fitness offerings

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

He has found a new partner at Tonal, a company that sells a wall-mounted exercise station for $ 2,995.

The department store chain announced Monday that it will add 40 Tonal mini-stores to its stores, with the rollout starting later this month. The 50-square-foot stores will be located in Nordstrom’s active department alongside workout apparel and other fitness accessories. Customers will be able to demonstrate the Tonal device and speak with a Tonal employee.

For Tonal, the partnership will expand the fitness equipment maker’s reach to new customers, at a time when many Americans have been investing in high-tech gadgets to enhance their workouts at home during the pandemic. Currently, the company has only 16 physical locations: six of its own stores and ten “shop in stores” with other business partners.

In the meantime, Nordstrom hopes to become a priority destination for the active team and give shoppers more reasons to visit its stores. Many of them are in less frequented shopping centers during the health crisis.

The Seattle-based retailer has previously said that it plans to increase the amount of space dedicated to active clothing and wellness products. It added a dedicated active page to its website in December as it saw more people browsing yoga mats and sweat pants from home. And it is in the process of adding more than 75 new active brands, specializing in categories like 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 category merchandise manager, said in a telephone interview.

“We are often seen as the partner of choice when it comes to working with brands, both physically and digitally,” he said. “So it was a pretty seamless opportunity across the board, one that really helps us build our authority and authenticity in a space that we are aggressively growing.”

Marten added that the talks between Nordstrom and Tonal began in November, in the middle of last Christmas season, and quickly developed from there. The partnership is a long-term agreement, not a pop-up window, he said. In the past, Nordstrom has temporarily dedicated store space to brands such as suitcase maker Away and beauty business Glossier, in an attempt to attract younger customers indoors.

Christopher Stadler, Tonal’s chief marketing officer, said the fitness maker spoke with several other potential retail partners, but that Nordstrom topped his list. The typical Nordstrom buyer and Tonal’s target customer are closely aligned, he said, pointing to factors such as age, income and type of employment.

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

Tonal, whose backers include Amazon’s Alexa Fund and NBA star Stephen Curry, fits into a highly contested home fitness market, which includes other device makers such as Peloton, Hydrow and Mirror. The latter was acquired by Lululemon for $ 500 million last year and is currently on display in various Lululemon retail stores. Hydrow also signed an agreement with sportswear brand Fabletics last year to display its rowing machines in various Fabletic stores and on its website.

While betting on Tonal’s success, Nordstrom says it will continue to grow its active department, buying more fitness and outdoor products like snow helmets, ski goggles, massage devices and jump ropes. Not just clothes and shoes.

Nordstrom is ready to report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after the market closed on Tuesday. Previously, it estimated that its revenue will increase more than 25% in fiscal 2021, as there is a period in which its physical stores were closed for two quarters due to Covid restrictions in the spring. Nordstrom also expects about half of its sales this year to come from its digital business. Last year, the department store chain posted about a third of its sales online.

In the long term, Nordstrom expects sales to grow at a low single-digit rate annually from 2019 levels. That year, Nordstrom reported net sales of $ 15.1 billion, marking a 2.2% decline over the year. previous.

Analysts and investors will be looking for clues on how demand for clothing is picking up and how comfortable shoppers are feeling in their stores.

Nordstrom shares are stable for the past 12 months. The retailer has a market capitalization of $ 5.7 billion, which is smaller than Kohl’s, at $ 8.6 billion. But it’s bigger than Macy’s, at $ 4.7 billion.

To date, this is where Nordstrom plans to open the Tonal mini stores: