Beyond Yoga CMO on turning fitness classes into a retail opportunity

For Beyond Yoga, the future of activewear retail involves a little less scrolling and a little more “touch grass,” if you ask CMO Katie Babineau.

The activewear brand, which Levi Strauss & Co acquired for ~$400 million in 2021, recently opened a 2,300-square-foot pop-up at 108 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, its most significant retail presence in New York City to date. The location, which will remain open through early January, features much of the brand’s assortment alongside NYC-exclusive merchandise and a slate of fitness and community programming.

Per Babineau, the pop-up is as much an experiment in physical retail as it is another store. In fact, a previous weeklong Flatiron pop-up gave the brand an early idea of New York’s potential, attracting both existing customers and shoppers discovering Beyond Yoga for the first time, she told Retail Brew.

“We knew, based on some of that success that we had seen a couple years ago, that we continue to see strong customer love and engagement in this market, and we wanted to maximize this opportunity that we had to have more of a retail presence longer term,” she said.

This time, Beyond Yoga is sticking around for several months to test what happens when shopping and community programming are happening under the same roof. “We’ll be in this location now through the end of the year to really understand, ‘OK, what could a longer term retail experience mixed with community activation studio space really look like?’” Babineau said.

Whether the experiment ultimately leads to a permanent New York store remains to be seen.

“We’ve got a lot to learn, and obviously there needs to be the opportunity there,” she said. “We definitely want to be in New York City. We want to do it right. We want to be able to have a more permanent home, so when the time comes, we’ll hopefully be ready.”

Beyond the mat: Beyond Yoga is also leaning more into brick-and-mortar as its parent company reports growth for the brand. The retailer’s net revenue rose 23% YoY in Levi Strauss’s first quarter and 16% in Q2.

The New York space includes movement classes led by local instructors and wellness figures, part of Beyond Yoga’s Club Beyond community program. Babineau said those events can also serve as a customer acquisition tool.

“We get a good mix of existing customers who come and want to connect with other people and movement, and it actually draws in new customers as well who may not have known about our brand, but discover our brand through movement,” she said, adding that the company evaluates the pop-up on several fronts “from revenue generated to new customers acquired to even repeat retention and engagement.”

IRL matters: Despite retailers’ ability to reach consumers online, Babineau said physical retail will remain a major part of Beyond Yoga’s growth plans.

“The physical experience is very important, especially as we’re seeing just more craving from customers and community to interact in real life,” she said. “Really wanting to touch and feel the product, and talk to people, and touch grass, if you will.”