Brands tap new customers with VitxCycle D2C collaboration

Direct to consumer (D2C) sports nutrition upstart VitxCycle has this week told CI.N how, aside from raising its own profile, it is collaborating with other labels in the cycling world in order to achieve targeted group marketing, benefitting both partners and its subscribers alike.

Started in September last year, the tailored for cycling nutrition subscription company has a rolling £28 per month package that is delivered free of charge through their  subscribers’ letterbox. In a bid to stand out to new customers and existing subscribers alike, the company’s Founder Will Larkin has begun a series of collaborations with other labels looking to gain a following with the MAMIL audience tending to be VitxCycle’s main customer.

Will told CI.N this week “We have worked with other brands to seed their marketing with us. Bum Butter, for example, gave a knob of Bum Butter for every subscriber, which has been placed in the box with a referral card featuring a discount. We have also done this with Hilltop Energy for its energy gel products. Our box is A5 letterbox size box, so there are limits to what we can fit in, but with some creative thinking it’s a win-win on marketing for all. Our subscriber demographic is generally 40+, affluent, belongs to a cycle club and happy to spend on their sport.”

The subscription brand has collaborations with cycle coaches, nutritionists and some targeted bike shops in order to grow its presence, but in assessing carefully where his customers are most likely to buy into a nutrition product, Will thinks there’s a sweet spot aligning with holiday and events companies.

“We have found there are two trigger points and firstly that is when people become ill or injured and want to get back to form fast and then stay fit. Secondly, it seems to be when they sign up to do a big event. We have worked with Struggle Events and Eastbourne Tri to reach athletes preparing for events; again the services just align,” explains Will.

Those customer synergies have seen the brand further link up with brands as large as Rapha and Stolen Goat, as well as a number of cycling clubs. On the latter he adds “it helps us reach potential new subscribers, while enhancing the cycle clubs’ offering to their members.”

“I really care about our subscribers and helping them discover new brands. Including products that I feel match our own quality standards is another way of showing this,” he adds.

The VitxCycle product is manufactured in the UK and the brand has begun to face the many challenges of operating sustainably. Tackling the issue of a food safe packaging that is recyclable and able to deliver a long shelf life is the current problem that needs solving.

The product is delivered as a trio of pouches, badged Protection, Flexibility and Recovery. The three capsules are designed to be taken daily, each offering nutritional content to aid good general health, promote greater physical flexibility and improve post exercise recovery among other things.

Will concludes: “The big difference between us and Boots, for example, is they will likely sell you tablets not capsules. A tablet typically has bulking agents to help reach a uniform size and and flow agents for the manufacturing process. These can negatively counteract impact the absorption of the active ingredients and of course there are glues the binding agents to stick the active ingredients together too. Our supplements are contained within a vegetable cellulose capsule, which means we don’t use anything else other than the active ingredients, so it’s a much purer product. . Ingredients include sustainably sourced anchovy oil in our Omega 3 soft gel and MSM, a naturally occurring sulphur that kids have in abundance and helps them be so supple but is in short supply in our bodies as we age, plus a balanced formulation of other essential vitamins and minerals to complement a healthy diet.”

If you’d like to learn more about the product or potential collaboration opportunities, feel free to make contact with Will at hello@vitxcycle.co.uk.