CRM Strategy

How Fit Are Gymshark’s Basic CRM Practices?

Customers are turning to brands to help keep them in shape during the pandemic – see if this brand is exercising their customer relationships right

Dafna Sheinberg

Working out while working from home? See how this fitness clothing and accessories brand based in the United Kingdom is shaping its CRM practices to maintain happy and healthy customer relationships. 

And if it’s your first time stumbling upon PostFunnel’s brand analysis, here’s a quick reminder of the 7 basic CRM rules brands must obey in a post-corona world. 

Ready? On the count of three, let’s go! 

1. Be Transparent 9/10

When entering Gymshark’s website, the first messaging we noticed is: 

Good news! We are dispatching as normal and ensuring contactless delivery – which is important information for the shopper, indeed.  

When clicking on the banner that reads the text above, we were taken to Gymshark’s support hub, which specifies the delivery information below: 

Again, this is a great way to be transparent by letting customers know when their orders will be dispatched, informing them of any possible delays. 

Finally, we were happy to see the brand offers important COVID-19 Q&As they see fit during these uncertain times as many customers have additional questions when shopping online. 

2. Incentives and Perks 5/10

We didn’t see any special offers or discounts for the common day customer that may be on a budget at these difficult times (that other brands we analyzed to date had.)  

However, when scrolling all the way to the bottom of their HP we did see the following incentives which are nice and creative ways to cut your customers some slack RN: 

3. Be Relevant 9/10

Gymshark is one of Britain’s poshest sportswear brands. Buyers like Dr. Martens’ owner Permira, are bidding for a Gymshark stake. Further underlying the hype surrounding the online sportswear retailer especially when many other consumer brands have been adversely affected by the pandemic. 

The fact that the auction is progressing successfully, targeting a £1bn valuation from an imminent stake sale, shows how timely and relevant the company is.  

As for their website, the brand’s home workout page is great for these WFH times as it offers just the right clothing for the comfiest workout. 

4. Be Helpful 8/10

Gymshark’s 27-year-old founder, Ben Francis, is said to be one of Britain’s wealthiest under-30-year-olds with his personal wealth estimated at £138m. 

Francis has set his goals on challenging mega sportswear giants like Nike. 

“I’m not content with managing £500m revenue in the next few years,” he said in an interview. “I genuinely think we can be up there with the Nikes of this world.” 

And in turn, the brand has been donating on numerous occasions this year. A few months back, to support the hard work of the NHS, Gymshark donated £175,000 to Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charity 

When the Black Lives Matter movement sparked, the company showed their support with a $125,000 donation and the following statement:  

“To us, strength has no identity, and solidarity should have no race. 

We will represent Black culture and communities better within our own. We’re working hand-in-hand with our Black athletes and team members to shape our plan for better representation, not just for now, but for forever. 

It’s on us – all of us – to learn from those who understand racial prejudice, to develop the understanding of those who don’t, and to take time to self-educate on the challenges of Black, and under-served communities. Not just in America, but across the world. 

At Gymshark, we’re all taking time to educate our peers, our families, and ourselves.” 

 5. Realtime Personalization 4/10

When adding items to our cart, we were prompted with the below “you might also like” banner suggesting similar items, personalizing our customer experience. (More on that in the next commandment.) 

When leaving the site, though, we weren’t reminded by means of a popup, for instance, that we still have items in our cart – therefore, pushing that purchase. 

6. Master UX 6/10

Unlike many other brands we analyzed thus far, after adding items to our cart we didn’t have the “continue shopping” button, which is much less convenient for the shopping flow. 

We did like the following range component that allows customers to sort and view the products on offer according to the size, color, fit, and price of their choice. This makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for and more fun to shop. 

7. Leverage Social Media 10/10

The brand has built a strong and healthy customer base among its popular millennial segment – perhaps part of the reason why their social presence is strong and witty on the following social media accounts that we checked: 

Facebook 

Their Facebook page boasts 1.8 million followers and the brand seems to be posting a lot of content that we found amusing, including: 

And this #BottleChallenge post, with pumping hip hop music in the background:  

Instagram 

We were impressed that the brand has 3 different Instagram accounts to target and cater to the specific Instagrammer at hand: 

We enjoyed the wide variety of content and messaging from the brand on this social media platform with posts that vary from funny jokes memes to motivational videos, clothing collections, home workouts, and more.  

Twitter 

We were happy to see them doing it right on Twitter, too. The first Tweet that popped up when writing this was a mysterious prize to be handed out to their fans, in their words: THE BIGGEST GYMSHARK GIVEAWAY YET. 

 

**  

Overall, Gymshark is getting a 51/70 here (73%) putting them in 6th place on our rankings thus far. Not too shabby! 

 Here are the full rankings of the  11 brands we analyzed to date.  

  1. Lowe’s 90%  
  2. Petco 90%  
  3. Uniqlo 86%  
  4. Best Buy 78%  
  5. Etsy 76%  
  6. Gymshark 73% 
  7. Tommy Hilfiger 70%  
  8. Walgreens 70%  
  9. Fiverr 67%  
  10. Next 63%  
  11. Patagonia 61%  
  12. Burberry 60% 

Watch this space for more brand analyses coming your way!  

Meanwhile, check out the previous ones: