Xponential Fitness' multi-brand strategy is built around boutique access to various workout and wellness offerings like Pilates, barre, and cycling.

Xponential Fitness has carved out a central role in the boutique fitness industry by embracing a multi-brand strategy. The franchisor behind popular chains like Pure Barre, Club Pilates, CycleBar, and StretchLab has assembled a portfolio spanning nine distinct fitness and wellness verticals, from Pilates and barre classes to stretching, weight loss, and metabolic health.

This diversified platform gives Xponential a unique position in a crowded industry. While competitors often focus on a single concept or modality, Xponential offers variety under one corporate umbrella.

"Our goal is to make boutique fitness, health, and wellness accessible to everyone and to meet the consumer where they are," said Sarah Luna, president of Xponential Fitness, in a recent address to franchisees. "We aim to ensure members have access to an Xponential experience that matches their individual needs and interests."

This omnichannel approach, delivering in-studio, digital, and even at-sea fitness experiences, allows Xponential to capture a wide swath of the boutique fitness market. And it appears to be working: The company now has over 3,000 open studios across its brands, with licenses for over 6,250 locations globally. Its studios operate in 49 U.S. states and 24 countries, making it the largest boutique fitness franchisor in the world.

So what's driving Xponential's expansion and the devoted followings around its brands? A closer look reveals a formula of boutique concepts, community-based environments, and technology integration, supported by a shared services platform as well as brand-level specialized support. 

The Brand Portfolio 

Over the past decade, Xponential has acquired a portfolio of specialty fitness and wellness brands tailored for a boutique experience. These concepts drive the in-studio workouts that form the backbone of the company's operations.

The portfolio covers a wide array of modalities — from the boxing-inspired Rumble, to the personalized stretching focus of StretchLab, to YogaSix’s modern approach to the ancient practice of yoga. There are even brands dedicated to functional and strength training like BFT, which provides a progressive programming, group approach that utilizes science-based techniques and equipment such as weight racks, benches, and kettlebells, along with an innovative heart monitoring system.

Pure Barre is the largest barre brand, offering a range of low-impact, high-intensity, full-body barre workouts across four signature class formats. Its introductory Pure Barre Engage class provides a 30-minute introductory workout, while more advanced formats like Pure Barre Classic, Define, Align, and Empower combine the brand's isometric training with cardio intervals, various levels of strength work, and recovery work.

Club Pilates, the largest global Pilates brand, exemplifies Xponential's formula of taking a niche fitness discipline and making it more accessible and approachable through consistent formatting and instructor training. Its studio experience is designed to make low-impact, full-body workouts inviting to all.

CycleBar brings a similar strategy to indoor cycling through CycleTheaters designed for an "immersive, multisensory experience." The brand's proprietary CycleBeats playlists and CycleStat performance metrics help create a distinctive rhythm-riding atmosphere.

"We have so many brands, layered assets, and ways to connect with the end consumer," said Luna. "This is an attractive proposition for our end customer, who is looking to incorporate health and wellness into their daily life."

The Member Experience 

Beyond curating a portfolio of varied brand concepts, Xponential aims to facilitate a premium member experience at each studio location.

Optimizing this experience is where Xponential's shared technology services come into play. The company has invested heavily in digital infrastructure, like branded apps and websites, to create a network of customer touch points.

"We believe our digital technology facilitates our mission by creating the very best consumer experience across both the digital journey and the in-person experiences, making it seamless from end to end," said Luna. "Customer touch points are methodical and allow our franchise owners to further focus on the localized experience, building a community within the studio, as well as on the quality of the experience."

Features like the in-app Refer a Friend tool and custom challenges can boost engagement and cut customer acquisition costs for franchisees. An integrated booking system streamlines processes like scheduling, and Xponential's cross-brand technology sharing provides a foundation for personalizing the user experience.

This digitally augmented approach extends to the company's at-home fitness platform, XPLUS. The service allows subscribers to stream workouts from across Xponential's brand catalog, creating a multidisciplinary digital ecosystem.

"XPLUS allows our customers to access digital classes and content at all of our fitness and wellness brands from the comfort of their own homes and as a supplement to the in-person experience at our studios," said Luna.

XPLUS is part of a horizontal integration strategy designed to both add flexibility for members and reinforce their studio-level experience.

Xponential Fitness’ Franchising

Xponential Fitness' growth playbook relies on franchisee-support services and strategic partnerships.

The company has pursued an array of strategic business-to-business partnerships across categories like retail, wellness, travel, and more. As Luna stated, these deals help to "expand the four-wall economics for our franchisees by bringing incremental revenue into the in-studio experience."

For example, a partnership with Princess Cruises allows Xponential's brands to offer fitness experiences at sea through a channel franchisees likely couldn't access alone. Other tie-ins with companies like ClassPass, Optum, and Lululemon could open new customer acquisition pipelines and revenue streams.

Xponential's business model ultimately comes down to the value it creates for franchisees. The suite of shared services, from technology and training to partnerships and marketing artillery, could be a major selling point.

"Franchise owners get the benefit of all of these shared services when they join the Xponential family," said Luna. "Our franchisees also benefit from our dedication to creating a truly seamless brand experience for consumers as well as proven systems that owners can harness for optimal studio operations."