Page 20 - July 2020

CERRUTI 1881 crowdfunding. Williams feels that this helped confirm the
business was on the right track and doing the right things,
and following this investment the company has undergone a
transformation and everything from operational excellence
through to digital brand projection, to social media channels
to internal processes have improved beyond recognition and
allowed them to build a solid platform for growth.
“The key for us is the community,” Williams explains. “Our
day to day goal is to keep customers happy and engaged, and as
long as our operational excellency levels excel every day, then
we believe we will continue to build trust with our customers
and retain their custom moving forward.”
With e-commerce and online activities being so critical
to the growth of the brand, in the last year they have taken
steps to grow their distribution capabilities in the US with
the opening of a distribution centre in Houston, Texas. This
year their US revenue will grow from $300,000 to $2.5M and
next year they expect it to reach over $6M so it is a massive
opportunity of growth for WIT.
A quarter of all their trade now comes from outside
of the UK, they are shipping to over 100 countries and in
markets such as Ireland, France, Spain and Netherlands their
conversion rate is over 1.5 per cent so they are increasing
their stature as an international retailer.
“Our focus in the next 12 months is entirely on improving
Building a Core market concept that no-one had the online business; we want to be the leading global retailer
for the fitness consumer. We want everyone to feel they
“We wanted to create a first-to-
should be shopping with us because we are the only one with
such a diverse product selection from a multitude of different
Community ever done before, bringing a gym brands,” Williams highlights.
“Whilst the major brands are increasingly closing down retail
and store environment together
accounts, our unique relationship with them and access to exclusive
and collaborative products adds to our unique proposition.”
to be a beacon for the fitness
With a business that is constantly increasing in size, the
community of London and the UK” challenges are numerous. Predominantly the challenges
are operational ones, especially now given they have a UK
Founded in 2015, WIT Fitness is a global, omni-channel sports he aim of WIT Fitness is to offer the consumer warehouse and a US warehouse. They are also setting about
introducing a lot of systems behind the scenes, such as a
retailer that caters for the fitness obsessed. Here, RLI speaks with the definitive collection of training products, major advance with its inventory and customer relationship
access to unique training experiences and events,
CEO Daniel Williams to discuss how the business has grown Tathlete engagement and to create our own global management (CRM) system.
Looking forward, despite being a digital business, in the coming
training community. Our mantra is that “training has the ability
since its inception and how it hopes to develop in the coming to change lives and we exist to change as many as possible”. years the hope is that they will be able to follow the model of its
The business was born out of Daniel Williams noticing that a London site and launch flagship locations in major cities around
years as it continues to build a stronger community. cult community had begun to take shape where everyone began the world, so they have a brick-and-mortar presence in major
to wear the same thing and a focus on CrossFit training had taken locations as well as growing its online capabilities.
hold. “It created this sense of community which, on the back of “The other area of growth will be our own label business,
it created an opportunity for brands to capitalise on that and it which at the moment is just t-shirts. We feel this is an excellent
formed a fashion movement that we, along with the brands, were area to transform and we will be turning our attention to
the first to notice,” explains Dan Williams, CEO of WIT Fitness. it more in the future, but without losing sight of our digital
A predominantly online business, the company operates an background and focus on this medium,” explains Williams.
exceptional space in London in St. Pauls which acts as a hybrid, “For us, this new world is a challenge to enhance our experience
incorporating both a retail space and a training space. The space and enhance our space, digital offering and customer experience.”
is seamless and merges the training and retail space into one.
“We wanted to create a first-to-market concept that no-one
had ever done before, bringing a gym and store environment
together to be a beacon for the fitness community of London and
the UK. The space provides a platform to speak to our community,
to run product launches, it is a space for our members and it’s a
place to learn about our consumers every day,” says Williams.
While the store only represents around 10 per cent of the
revenue the business generates, having it shut down during the
coronavirus lockdown will still cost WIT Fitness somewhere
in the region in £2-3M in lost revenue. However, what this
pandemic has allowed the company to do is have the whole
team focus on how to drive the business forward online, its
main point of sale and predominant customer contact point.
It was around 18 months ago when private equity
investment was received. Before this, the start-up had
been operating through money from friends, family and

20 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL JULY 2020