After all, Goodong will have to face the Keep.
On The 19th, Goodong held a new release conference for its strategy & autumn products with the theme of “Fitness 3.0, Alive” in Beijing, and released a number of products including intelligent hardware, AI virtual coaching system and “data + LIVE” course — Goodong LIVE. The conference also conveyed a core message to the outside world: gu Dong has been doing running and cycling to enter the fitness industry.
Coincidentally, Gu-dong also took the opportunity to define the “fitness 3.0” era. In fact, the target is the popular online fitness apps in the “fitness 2.0 era”, and keep, the leader of online fitness, is the first to take the lead. In other words, by defining yourself in the 3.0 era, Goodong is clearly taking a shot at the entire online fitness scene, with a “on my way” vibe.
In the eyes of the outside world, Gu Dong always keeps a low profile and has no trouble with the Keep team. However, this time, Gu Dong is different from normal and crosses over to the track of the Keep team. It is clear that he wants to do real work. Or is goo-dong certain to win? Otherwise, who would mess with the “boy” in his prime?
The differentiation of Gu Dong
Entering fitness, Goodong must think about how to capture users, especially those who are attracted by Keep.
Judging from the several products released this time, the answer of Gu Dong is obvious, that is to differentiate and make products and services different from those of KEEP. As for how to differentiate, we can look from three aspects.
First, intelligent hardware ecology.
This time, Gudong released two intelligent hardware products, namely, intelligent heart rate bracelet and intelligent heart rate headset HiFi. With the intelligent hardware such as intelligent sports BAR, intelligent running shoes and body fat scale successively released by Gudong, Gudong has formed ecological on intelligent hardware. In addition, the Hub open platform established by Goodong has also been connected to nearly 100 third-party well-known sports equipment, such as Apple Watch, Crocs, Jiamin, Songtuo and Yizon.
But keep’s progress on smart hardware has been slower. Its first smart hardware, the K1 smart treadmill, was launched this year, and with the release of the body fat scale, it is clear that keep is still a long way from the “smart hardware ecosystem”, which is a sharp contrast to its previous image as a fast runner in the fitness sector.
Gu Dong has been gone for eight years, while Keep has only been gone for three. Perhaps time is a good explanation. But for that reason, Goodong is also expanding its intelligent hardware to be able to twist a rope and swing it at the enemy in a pinch. The addition of two smart hardware models is the icing on the cake for Yu Gu Dong, but may add another pressure for Keep.
There is no doubting Goodong’s determination to distance itself from Keep in terms of intelligent hardware richness. Because a rich ecosystem of intelligent hardware, at least in the matter of assisting users in fitness, will make users more quickly into the state, more clear of their current state and what to do next. Even Keep doesn’t doubt that, or it wouldn’t be on its way to perfecting the smart hardware ecosystem.
Second, big data value.
In a recent interview with 36KR, Goodong CEO Bo Shen hammered home one point: Goodong is a data company. Why is that? From an objective perspective, data is the driving force. The evolution of cutting-edge technologies such as AI and big data is based on the quality and quantity of data.
After eight years, 150 million users have accumulated 5 billion pieces of activity data. In terms of volume alone, Goodong does have a very large database, which comes from APP, smart hardware and third-party brand access. Up to now, keep has 140 million users, but due to the lag of intelligent hardware quantity and development time, Goodong has taken the lead in data volume.
However, the amount of “data” alone is not enough to show which one is closer to a data company. The quality of data is actually more important. Take the current AI medical industry as an example. Only by feeding AI with valuable and reliable data can AI evolve to more accurately analyze various diseases.
Valuable data, how do you define it in the fitness industry? In Gu Dong’s view, it is “high dimensional” data. What is the high-dimensional data? It is different from the middle-low dimensional data such as steps, distance and trajectory. According to Gu Dong, high-dimensional data includes heart rate, body fat and blood sugar, etc.
More directly, high-dimensional data is difficult for apps to obtain, but smart hardware can, which is also an important reason for goodong to enrich the smart hardware matrix without stopping. With smart hardware, you can generate high-dimensional data, and with technology, you can provide a variety of services to attract more users, who in turn continue to generate data. This perfect closed loop is actually an ecological motivation that Gu Dong has been pursuing.
Indeed, because of the lack of smart hardware, Keep cannot produce much high-dimensional data, so its own data mining capabilities are somewhat limited and there is a natural ceiling to its ability to serve users. On the other hand, Gu Dong is so concerned about the high dimensional data, just to beat the “seven inches” of keep, so as to form a commanding position in the data.
Third, products and services based on data and technology.
The two products are CODOON V-Coach, a virtual COACH, and CODOON LIVE, a LIVE video and data streaming service, which Are also defined by The company as “strategic” products.
According to Gu dong, the virtual coaching system includes four intelligent services, including intelligent training plans, interactive training courses, real-time voice guidance and sports evaluation system. In this way, the virtual coach system is actually an intelligent fitness service based on AI technology, but compared with many pure software intelligent services, the AI coach also added hardware.
Compared with Keep’s private virtual coaches, Goodong still has an advantage. The reason is that Goodong has built more abundant data and intelligent hardware at the bottom, so the AI coaches on top of it also benefit from this, and are better than Keep in terms of service width and breadth. It has to be said that Keep does not lose to Goodong in terms of product height, but the “underlying architecture” is not as good.
CODOON LIVE may be seen by Goodong as a stronger “killer app” than AI coaching, as Goodong defines it as “an open platform connecting coaches and users” and says it is the first “data + LIVE” service in the fitness industry. Specifically, CODOON LIVE allows coaches to teach students in the form of LIVE broadcasting. With the assistance of intelligent hardware and the form of group classes, CODOON LIVE still retains strong interactive and social elements. In the words of Shen Bo, CEO of Goodong, Goodong LIVE is a perfect combination of the advantages of online fitness apps by moving the two advantages of offline gyms — personal trainers and group exercise courses — online.
So Goodong still thinks the best medium is online, but it knows that if it can’t solve the pain points of the 1.0 and 2.0 era, everything will be useless, so it adds its own data service (based on intelligent hardware).
What does Keep do? In March this year, Keep opened its first offline store in Beijing, focusing on intelligent small group courses with more than 20 students. Gu Dong and Keep, one is back offline, the other is still online. At a glance, Keep actually uses O2O thinking. Although the course model is partially optimized, it is actually not much different from offline gyms.
That’s why We have CODOON LIVE. But Goo-dong accidentally occupied a day. Think about why online fitness software like Keep can rise. One is due to inertia of people, and the other is due to the fragmentation of time. In other words, the trend is that users prefer to work out at home. Keep is trying to pull people offline.
The above three points have clearly demonstrated the differences between Goodong and Keep in intelligent hardware, data dimension and fitness teaching mode. However, Not only Keep but also offline gyms are competitors of Goodong.
Oddly enough, it is said that people are more willing to work out at home, and various high-end home personal trainers are also developing in full swing in the first and second tier cities. However, due to the improvement of fitness concepts, the number and market size of offline gyms in China are still growing.
Offline gyms are highly interactive and motivating, but expensive and low efficiency have been criticized by consumers. The AI coach of Goodong and CODOON LIVE are online services based on technology, so they have more advantages in cost. CODOON LIVE has not forgotten the interaction and motivation in teaching. Making up for each other will make Goo appealing to bodybuilders loyal to the family scene.
Put aside all the competitive factors, looking back to think about why Gu Dong at this point in the fitness industry, isn’t it also the opportunity under the industry environment? This opportunity includes two points. One is that the focus of the whole national fitness gradually tilts towards the family scene and light mode. The second is that the existing online fitness mode is not perfect, otherwise Goodong would not be the first 3.0 mode.
But then again, not everything is under control, despite His ambitions.
To succeed in overtaking, Koo Dong had to figure out two more questions
Under the foundation of a series of products, differentiation is played out, want to create a fitness 3.0 era of Gudong is also an overwhelming look, but there is a fact that can not be ignored, in the fitness track, keep started earlier than Gudong.
So to succeed in overtaking Keep, Goo-dong had to figure out two more questions.
First, keep has a strong marketing ability. How can Gudong establish a better brand image?
In just three years, Keep has developed into a super App with 140 million users. There are many fitness apps that entered the market earlier than Keep, but Keep has become the “fastest horse” and its marketing ability may take the first place.
With the strong marketing ability of Keep, its brand image to the outside world is young and energetic. On the contrary, gu Dong is too low-key, but there is a “middle-aged man” taste in it, not to sell themselves more to the market. But now that he’s in the fitness industry, he has to learn how to please a market where most of the users are young.
To please them, He must work more aggressively to improve the brand’s image. Is it to plan more youth-oriented brand marketing events like Keep, or is It to find a new way to appeal to young people? Gu Dong should carefully consider this problem. Although it has 150 million users now, assuming that it plans to attract another 50 million young fitness users, if it does not have proper marketing ability, Gu Dong may go relatively slowly, which is not what Gu Dong wants.
The second question is, how much of a gap can the whole product ecosystem, which covers hardware and software, video, data and technical services, make in the land of keep’s light fitness?
What is Goodong’s ambition? For sure, it is not only to beat Keep, but also to eat enough cakes in the fitness market to become a “BAT” in the fitness industry. It is always good to have the ideal, but now all this has not happened, The whole product and service ecosystem, how many users can be harvested, and what position can be obtained in the market?
Only by thinking clearly about this problem can Gu Dong better formulate strategies and seize more high ground. Assuming that Goodong wants to quickly build enough market share to compete with Keep, it could start with its 150 million users. Assuming that Gudong wants to become the super hegemon of the fitness industry by virtue of 3.0 fitness mode, it may need to focus more on its own product evolution on the basis of comprehensive speed improvement.
As long as these two questions have a clear answer, the curve overtaking for Gu Dong, is not a difficult thing.
Goodong VS Keep, blitz or long war?
Gudong forefoot announced to enter the fitness, keep hind feet will definitely be nervous to move.
But what should keep be nervous about? Is it the product ecology of Goodong, or the 150 million user base of Goodong? These are not the most important. What keeps really need to be nervous about is the boundary of ambition.
Gu Dong’s ambition, how to measure, CEO Shen Bo actually has given the answer.
“Goodong is not a competitor. We build the infrastructure to empower the fitness industry.” This is shen Bo in the previous interview said a word.
Infrastructure, like sunlight and water, is essential to survival. In addition, the concepts of infrastructure and empowerment are actually from the mouth of such giants as BAT. Goodong’s ambition is obvious, that is, to become everyone’s must, at least to the fitness industry to do full.
But despite Gu Dong’s ambitions, will the young and energetic Keep be caught without a fight? Who can say keep’s ambitions are modest? And It’s not just Keep that Goodong faces. Ambition versus ambition, whether it’s a lion versus a tiger, or a pack of wolves versus lions, a fierce battle is inevitable.
Will it be a long war, or a blitz? In fact, Gu Dong and Keep have the same desire: to win quickly and defeat the opponent. But the business arena is fickle, and a misstep can be a waste. Maybe gudong’s power put enough pressure on Keep to change track, then it could be a blitz; Perhaps Gudong’s provocations have stirred up Keep, so this could be a long fight.
There were countless possibilities, but now that the war had started, there was no room for reconciliation. The result was simple: There could only be one winner between Ku-dong and Keep. It remains to be seen how many flags Gu Dong can plant on the keep’s light fitness land.
Article/Liu Kuang public number, ID: Liukuang110, this article first kuang Venture capital network