Yesterday, Adidas acquired Austrian fitness company Runtastic, becoming the latest purchase of the Adidas Group and the only brand in the Adidas Group that does not pertain to sports apparel or equipment. Adidas’ break into the fitness industry cost them around $240 million.
It appears that Adidas is attempting to answer the fitness app empire that Under Armour has recently amassed. In a matter of months, Under Armour’s Connected Fitness division has splashed $710 million on four separate mobile apps. Their newly minted collection of apps in this division is cast as the largest health and fitness network to date—and quite honestly, that advertisement is not far from reality.
But, Adidas might be looking to test Under Armour Connected Fitness, and Runtastic is their quick-fire response. They chose well, because Runtastic has their own domain in mobile apps, hosting a number of different apps that have widespread utilities. Their assortment of apps covers most fitness and health junkie’s needs.
Additionally, Runtastic’s home base in Austria is optimal for Adidas keeping their title as the largest sportswear business in Europe. They can then supplement that title with building the most extensive health and fitness network on the continent.
Overall, Runtastic has created more than 20 active lifestyle apps. And this doesn’t include their hardware. But perhaps the most attractive element from Adidas’ perspective is that Runtastic’s apps have 140 million downloads and almost 70 million registered users at the point of acquisition. It’s this type of user-base that helps them compete with Under Armour’s massive digital fitness population.
Runtastic’s tracking and fitness apps both possess an analytical and social element—as one can access Runtastic.com to see a more detailed analysis of their workouts and progress. These results can then be shared with friends for encouragement and competition.
In addition to all of these apps, Runtastic has a myriad of others, ranging from helping the user sleep to nutrition aid.
As if Runtastic could not have their hands in more endeavors, they have quite a compilation of fitness hardware—from watch trackers to scales. Adidas has beat Under Armour to this area of the marketplace, as Under Armour has yet to release their own wearables.
Runtastic’s strength may also be its weakness, as Under Armour’s series of apps under Connected Fitness provide much more complex analysis in more specific areas. For example, Under Armour’s latest acquisition, Gritness, is a search engine designed specifically for finding group workout activities. Niches like these are left unfulfilled by Adidas with only one acquisition, albeit a good one.
It looks like Adidas has gotten themselves off to a smart start in their attempt to challenge in the competitive market of mobile fitness and health apps. But, they will need to work with Runtastic to develop a product that is comparable with Under Armour, pertaining to quality and user base.
