Under Armour is buying two fitness apps in a quest to increase data about health enthusiasts who could be potential customers of their sportswear-focused business. The company, which is known for making running shorts, hoodies and other athletic apparel, will spend $475 million in purchasing MyFitnessPal and an additional $85 million for Endomondo. The latter is a Denmark-made app that keeps track of a person's activity which includes running, doing gymnastics, and more. It is touted as "the personal trainer in your pocket." MyFitnessPal is an app that caters to those who have been wanting to lose some weight and helps them by allowing them to record the type of food they eat and count the calories.
Under Armour has been doing a lot to increase sales. One of the things that it does to achieve this is by integrating its sportswear products with a number of fitness tracking services. In 2013, the company bought MapMyFitness which is a type of app that tracks fitness workouts in a virtual capacity. It currently also operates Record, an online health and fitness network which allows people to store data from popular wearables such as Jawbone and Fitbit.
In a previous statement, Under Armour claimed that it will venture into creating the largest digital health and fitness community in the world. Once this is realized, the company may become a strong competition against Apple and Google which are also building their own line of health and fitness software and services.
It seemed like Under Armour is looking into all the data that it can gather with the acquisition of MyFitnessPal and Endomondo which have registered users of more than 80 million and 20 million respectively. The more often people log and share their activities, the more Under Armour will be able to understand what they need.
"We are developing a digital ecosystem that provides us with unparalleled data and insight into making every athlete better," said Chief Executive Kevin Plank. "It's a piece in the puzzle toward having a total picture of the athlete."
Under Armour hopes that the information it gathers will allow it to expand its sales on products such as clothing, hiking shoes and others. With the acquisition, the company gains an opportunity of building with their consumers a long-term relationship.
"Ultimately, we think we're going to sell a lot more shirts and shoes," added Plank.
The acquisition of Endomondo was completed in January while the deal with acquiring the MyFitnessPal will be finalized towards the end of March. Under Armour made the announcement on the acquisitions alongside its earnings report for the fourth quarter wherein it has indicated a sales growth of 31 percent to reach $895 million.
