Lululemon to sell Mirror devices in stores, add community features

Dive Brief:

After acquiring the company over the summer, Lululemon will now offer Mirror devices at its stores across the U.S., beginning with 18 stores this holiday season, the company said in a fact sheet emailed to Retail Dive. Consumers can check out Mirror's home fitness technology in Lululemon stores in cities including New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Mirror's workouts will feature Lululemon ambassadors, along with other instructors. The athletics retailer is also introducing a range of new engagement features for the tech, including letting users turn on a built-in camera to see and interact with other members, somewhat recreating the in-person workout experience.
Building on the idea of community, Mirror will soon allow users to "Face Off" against another member in workouts, earn points for hitting and maintaining target heart rate zones, send virtual high fives to other members, search and follow friends, and will spotlight members who hit milestones in workouts. Next year, Lululemon will introduce a "Sweat Dates" feature for friends to organize private workouts.

Dive Insight:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has largely kept consumers out of stores and gyms, Lululemon is seeking to seize on the home fitness trend that has buoyed the likes of Peloton by using Mirror's technology to enhance its omnichannel guest experience and digital capabilities.

With this latest announcement, the athletics retailer is integrating Mirror further into its own offerings, selling the tech alongside its own products and adding more community-based features to the platform.

The activewear retailer acquired the home fitness company in June for $500 million. That same month, the company reported a net income of $29 million, a drop from $97 million last year, but its e-commerce business also increased. Despite this decline, the company noted over the summer that it's sticking to previously outlined plans.

To combat pandemic-induced capacity limits, the activewear company announced plans in September to grow its seasonal pop-ups from 50 to 70. As Lululemon prepares for the holidays, research suggests that consumers might be more interested in the clothing it offers. According to research from the NPD Group, items such as sweatshirts, sweatpants, active bottoms and other comfortable clothing will make up a little less than a third of all U.S. apparel spending this holiday season.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story included an imprecise description of how company information was distributed.