Stripe Expands Partnership With Mindbody For Fitness Payments
Stripe has grown its partnership with Mindbody to fuel advanced digital and brick-and-mortar experiences for wellness clients in North America and throughout Europe, according to an announcement emailed to PYMNTS.
“As the global wellness industry goes through a seismic shift, fitness studios, spas and salons are adapting with technology to stay connected with their customers,” said Dan Chandre, SVP of payments at Mindbody. “With Stripe, we have a global technology partner to help our customers — from Canadian yoga studios to British boxing classes — keep growing and evolving in a new wellness world.”
Virtual workouts have soared in popularity due to the pandemic, according to Mindbody data that indicated 71 percent of consumers were using livestream classes in June, up from 7 percent in 2019.
Mindbody has bolstered in investments in technology to increase the convenience and accessibility of the virtual fitness experience as consumers have had an iPhone in their living room take the place of the yoga studio.
As part of those efforts, Mindbody is putting Stripe to use in Canada and throughout Europe to enhance digital revenue conversion for clients facing spiking demand for offerings such as Pilates broadcast live.
Furthermore, Mindbody has put the Stripe Terminal to use for payments in brick-and-mortar studios in the United States and Canada, with additional markets to come.
The technology provides studios with an easy method to set up EMV card readers and assist customers simply check out. Payments for a range of products from beverages/snacks in the studio to merchandise purchased online and memberships can be handled via the unified platform of Stripe.
The news comes as navigating the COVID-altered landscape has been challenging for fitness businesses that have had to shutter their brick-and-mortar outlets and translate in-person services to virtual offerings.
ClassPass CEO Fritz Lanman told PYMNTS in a previous interview that virtual offerings have partly filled a hole — albeit not completely — for consumers not able to get to their fitness facilities.
“What we are hearing from our customers is that they're dying to go back to studios,” Lanman said. “The majority are getting bookings through the digital classes, which has been great for just keeping customers engaged and keeping partners’ revenue flowing to them.”