// CASE STUDY //

THE NEXT PHASE IS REALLY ABOUT MAKING THE EXPERIENCE MORE PERSONALISED AND INTELLIGENT.

Tell me more about the exclusive content and experiences offered on the app.

We were really clear from the beginning that we didn’ t want the app to just be another place to buy products because customers can already do that on the website. Working with One iota allowed us to create something that felt much more like a community and loyalty space for runners. So we offer exclusive competitions, giveaways, early access opportunities and experiences you can’ t easily get elsewhere, including things like London Marathon entries and exclusive kit opportunities with major sporting brands. We also put a huge amount of focus into educational and editorial content around running, training and product advice. Often the first thing customers see isn’ t‘ buy this shoe’, it’ s content designed to genuinely help them as runners.

What have the partnerships with England Athletics, parkrun and Vitality looked like?

Those partnerships have become a really important part of our wider growth and loyalty strategy. Through the One iota app, we’ ve been able to integrate those relationships directly into the customer experience so members can easily access and redeem discounts or partner benefits. But it’ s also bigger than that because those organisations connect us directly into really engaged running communities. It gives us access to new audiences while also strengthening the relationship with existing customers who already identify strongly with those brands and communities.

What plans do you have for the app?

The next phase is really about making the experience more personalised and intelligent. We’ re looking at how we can better understand customer interests and behaviours so we can make communications and recommendations much more relevant on an individual level. Push notifications are a huge opportunity there, but only if they’ re genuinely useful and timely. We’ re also exploring how technologies like large language models can improve product discovery, particularly in running where customers care about very specific technical details like cushioning, stability and terrain. Working with One iota gives us the flexibility to keep evolving the experience without having to completely rebuild the foundations every time we want to introduce something new. �

16 Intelligent SME. tech