Athletic apparel companies are quickly moving into the fitness tracking app and wearable markets. UnderArmour buying up both Endomondo and MapMyFitness (and partnering last year with HTC) and Adidas buying Runtastic are but two recent examples. The latest to make a similar move is ASICS which announced today that it was acquiring FitnessKeeper, the company behind the fitness tracking app Runkeeper.
With the addition of FitnessKeeper into the ASICS Group, we expect to further support customers’ fun and healthy experiences and lifestyle through sports by providing new contents and cutting edge services utilizing advanced digital technology. We aim to fully utilize the resources of both ASICS and FitnessKeeper to provide high value added products, services and contents to even more customers.
The Runkeeper acquisition gives ASICS a fully developed digital fitness platform that it will be able to leverage with a new generation of fitness apparel. Not only do consumers increasingly expect to have access to such data and tools but ASICS gains valuable data that it will be able to use in more targeted marketing efforts.
In a post on Medium, Runkeeper founder Jason Jacob talked about what the acquisition will mean for the running app used by over 40 million people:
When we look ahead, it seems clear that the fitness brands of the future will not just make physical products, but will be embedded in the consumer journey in ways that will help keep people motivated and maximize their enjoyment of sport. By putting these two pieces together (digital fitness platform and world class physical products), you can build a new kind of fitness brand that has a deeper, more trusted relationship with consumers and can engage with them in a more personalized way.
Terms of the acquisition were not announced.