Under Armour Inc. grew web sales by 28% in the third quarter thanks to global expansion and a greater understanding of athletes, both existing and future Under Armour customers.
The athletic apparel maker and retailer has 24 global e-commerce sites and more than 300 company-owned or partner-based stores around the world. As Under Armour follows its plan to invest in five main growth drivers—men’s apparel, women’s apparel, footwear, international and direct-to-consumer—it is tapping a growing database of information gleaned through its Connected Fitness database, CEO and chairman Kevin Plank told Wall Street analysts on the company’s quarterly earnings call last week.
“Our gateway to engage consumers, which will allow us to enter into new categories such as sportswear, is Connected Fitness,” Plank told analysts, according to a transcript of the call from Seeking Alpha. “As we move from changing the way athletes dress to changing the way they live, we are becoming part of the athlete’s life 24/7. From sleep and activity to fitness and nutrition, we are directly interacting with our consumers, turning their data into a call to action in support of our mission to make all athletes better.”
The Connected Fitness platform gathers digital health and fitness data through four applications:
- UA Record: A health and fitness network that enables members to track, analyze and share fitness activity on a social network for athletes and fitness enthusiasts.
- MapMyFitness: An Under Armour training app that allows users around the world to map, record and share their exercise routes and workouts in an online database.
- Endomondo: A social fitness network owned by Under Armour and created by Endomondo LLC that enables users to track their fitness and health statistics with a mobile app and website.
- MyFitnessPal: A website and fitness app owned by Under Armour that tracks diet and exercise.
“We believe Connected Fitness will enrich the lives of our consumer and we also believe it will help inform us to make better decisions on behalf of our consumer,” Plank said. “The information derived from our Connected Fitness platform delivers deep algorithmic capabilities that create a highly interactive relationship with our consumers, making it possible to engage with them in a more personal and relevant way as individuals.”
Connected Fitness has more than 150 million registered users and more than 1.5 billion workouts logged year-to-date across the four databases, the company says.
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Under Armour, No. 121 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, reported:
- Online sales, which the company calls direct-to-consumer sales, accounted for 26% of total sales and grew by 28%. Based on that percentage, direct sales were $312.0 million, compared with $243.8 million in Q3 of 2014.
- Total sales of $1.20 billion, up by 28% from total sales of $938.0 million.
- Net income of $100.5 million compared with net income of $89.1 million.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2015, Under Armour did not disclose direct-to-consumer sales but did report:
- Total sales of $2.79 billion, up 27.4% from $2.19 billion through the first nine months of 2014.
- Net income of $127.0 million compared with $120.3 million.