Gyms become the new frontier for retail brands chasing young consumers

Retail companies expand touchpoints at fitness studios

Collaborations evolve from sampling to co-developed products

A scene from the 2026 Jeju Island Makia CrossFit competition [Provided by LF]

"These days, brands approach you first at the gym."

Retail companies are heading to the gym, tapping fitness facilities as a new way to connect with younger consumers.

Lotte Department Store, CJ Olive Young, CJ OnStyle and Dongsuh Foods are among the retail, food and fashion companies that have been partnering with gyms and yoga studios in quick succession, industry sources said Thursday. The collaborations range from simple product sampling to co-developing events. As the wellness trend that took root in running culture spreads to a wider range of sports, companies are trying both to offer existing customers new fitness experiences and to attract new customers who are already active in those sports.

Lotte Department Store is setting up an outdoor gym at World Park in Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul. From Oct. 15 through Oct. 17, it will run a hybrid sports challenge called "Day Out" with global fitness brand F45, featuring extreme training missions designed as a competitive course that tests speed and endurance.

The strategy pairs a department store's content-planning capabilities with the fandom of a sports brand that already has a devoted following, broadening customer touchpoints. F45, a global fitness brand operating worldwide, promotes high-efficiency functional workouts that aim to burn up to 800 kilocalories in 45 minutes. It has 70 locations in South Korea, and about 60 percent of its total membership is women in their 20s.

F45 has also teamed up with CJ Group. CJ Olive Young is using the partnership to target male consumers, running a discount event for first-time male buyers and offering F45 membership vouchers through a prize draw.

CJ OnStyle is presenting a hybrid sports festival, "Beatempo Korea X F45," combining running, fitness, yoga and meditation. Tickets are sold exclusively through its mobile live-commerce platform. As the company expands from traditional TV home shopping into mobile commerce, it is also stepping up efforts to reach younger consumers.

CJ Olive Young is targeting male consumers through its partnership with F45. [CJ Olive Young Instagram]

In the food industry, Dongsuh Foods is moving quickly. The company is conducting on-site sampling of its newly launched Starbucks Cafe Latte no-sugar-added product at gyms and yoga studios, noting that the product's target demographic overlaps with the typical fitness facility customer.

Sports brands are also active. Reebok, operated in South Korea by LF, partnered with F45 Training in April to release training shoes and high-performance activewear — going beyond simple sponsorship to co-develop products tailored to the actual F45 workout environment.

In July, the brand participated as an official sponsor of the 2026 Jeju Island Makia, the largest CrossFit competition in South Korea, held in Jeju, where it exhibited and sold its signature "Nano" training shoe series. The results showed in the numbers: sales of the Nano series rose 30 percent year-on-year in the January–July period this year.

Adidas has also joined forces with fitness brand Buffet Ground, expanding its presence by placing products at gyms for customers to try and borrow.

"Fitness facilities differ from ordinary offline advertising spaces in that consumers with specific interests visit them repeatedly," an industry official said. "As more consumers have come to treat exercise itself as a lifestyle, brands are increasingly looking to use these spaces as natural touchpoints to connect with them."

Dongsuh Foods is conducting new product sampling in partnership with F45. [Provided by Dongsuh Foods]

siuu@heraldcorp.com