Will Peloton’s supply chain struggles end up hurting sales?

Peloton’s sales in 2020 have been record-breaking for the company, but that doesn’t mean all is well for the company. With a backlog of orders that never seems to run out, some are speculating whether that will end up benefiting their rivals.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Peloton’s future customers are tired of waiting.

On Peloton’s Facebook page, posts promoting the brand and its classes spur commentary from angry buyers. A good-natured post on Thursday featuring Peloton user ‘Gus’ spawned an exchange between customers over whose delay was worse.

‘Canceled 15 minutes before the window. I’m in Michigan and bike is in California still apparently. December 9th is new date,’ read one post. ‘Is it sad I’m jealous of your delays? Had a delivery of 11/19 and pushed into January,’ another commenter said.

The WSJ speculates that if Peloton can’t get its supply chain woes under control, it may benefit its rivals like Nautilus Inc. and NordicTrack maker ICON Health & Fitness Inc in the coming months. Both of those companies begin to offer similar experiences to Peloton, but with long-standing brand names.

While the idea of a long waitlist for products is good to show investors strong demand is still there, Peloton is at risk of losing customers to its rivals during the Christmas buying season. Once a customer makes a large investment in another connected fitness company, they aren’t likely to change anytime soon.