Increase Your Affiliate Gym’s Revenue with Retail Merchandise

Affiliate gym retail merchandise is an excellent way to increase revenue for your business.

If you think you’re leaving money on the table, it’s probably time to reevaluate retail merchandise at your affiliate. There are so many great products to share with your athletes. Just think back to the last time you walked through the vendor area at The CrossFit Games. The options are endless, and new innovative products are introduced all the time.

We talked to long-time Zen Planner customer and friend, Josh Brown, owner of CrossFit Cataclysm in Harker Heights, TX, to see which products are selling best right now. Then we used the information he gave us to create a list of things your athletes might want and need.

Nutrition and Recovery

Of course, nutrition and recovery items are always appreciated. When you stock them, you’re providing convenience for your athletes. The grab-and-go nature of these products ensures they don’t stay in stock for very long.

Refrigerated recovery drinks like FitAid and Formula 02 are always among the most popular. Josh Brown said he even sells these drinks by the case if an athlete asks to buy them that way. When it comes to protein, SFH and Ascent are well-loved and usually sell well. Protein bars are a bit different in that there is an overwhelming number of great ones to choose from, so it’s impossible to say which are the most popular. Top contenders include EPIC, Perfect, JiMMY! or RxBars.

Functional Support

Another area of convenience you can provide for your athletes is in functional support gear like tape, grips and wraps. LiftGenie, GoatTape and RockTape are all excellent choices used by causal and competitive athletes alike.

For more significant support like sleeves and lifting belts, Rehband and Bear KompleX are always fantastic. However, both brands sell their items on Amazon. Since things like knee sleeves and lifting belts are less of an impulse buy, pricing them to be competitive with Amazon can be challenging.

Equipment

When it comes to equipment, jump ropes are a great entry point item. They are affordable enough that many of your athletes will consider buying their own. Top sellers include WOD Nation, Rx Jump Rope and one of the many great ropes Rogue sells. But again, some of these things are available on Amazon, and they aren’t necessarily a convenience purchase item. We recommend starting with a minimal stock to try it out if you’re interested in expanding your merchandise offering this way.

Branded Clothing and Gear

Finally, branded clothing and gear is always a hot item. The key to maximizing your profit is to change out your stock frequently. You can order different colors and styles, always capitalizing on the change of season to switch up your inventory.

Josh told us that in the early days of his affiliate, he used to get creative with wording and images on his branded clothing. Now he says he keeps the text and imaging simple but changes out the color of the clothing fairly frequently. Josh told us he realized that when he was more creative with the text and imagery, he had a harder time moving his inventory. But simple sells well, and as he explains, “athletes really just want to rep your brand.”

See how much other affiliate gyms focus on retail merchandise in our industry-leading Annual Affiliate Gym Benchmark Report.