Don't engage in cut - throat price competition, don't pursue high - end luxury. Keep has grown into the Decathlon of the new era.
In 2025, Keep opened the door to profitability.
In the full - year financial report for 2025 released on March 25th, this sports technology company achieved full - year adjusted profitability for the first time.
Behind this is a long - planned strategic transformation of Keep. The most notable signal is hidden in the structural changes of the consumer goods business. Although the consumer goods revenue dropped to 780 million yuan in 2025 due to the active cut of inefficient businesses, the gross profit margin increased from 31.7% to 35.8%.
In the first quarter of this year, the effects of this strategic adjustment began to be clearly felt. As of March 15th, the revenue achievement rate of Keep's sports equipment category in the first quarter had reached 100%, and the overall 2C market of equipment + outdoor products increased by about 19%. Not only were the products out of stock in all domestic channels, but also there was a 366% increase in the Amazon US market.
From "able to sell everything" to "selling the right things", Keep is redefining the value of sports consumer goods with a new set of logic. From the transformation of this business, we can also see that this company probably has a clear idea that in this era of stock competition, business operation should not only focus on the speed but also on the fuel consumption.
1. Shaping the Consumer Goods Business
Nowadays, it is no longer an era when one can run blindly forward.
This means that when we look at a financial report, the quality of profit is often more crucial than the increase or decrease in revenue.
To put it vividly, Keep actively "shaped" its consumer goods business in 2025. In the past few years, the consumer goods business accounted for half of Keep's revenue, but the category structure was not perfect: high - margin equipment and clothing coexisted with low - margin smart hardware and large fitness equipment. Although the latter contributed to the scale, heavy assets, high logistics costs, and fierce competition pulled down the overall profitability.
So in 2025, Keep made up its mind to do two things: stop losses and focus.
To stop losses, it actively reduced low - margin and low - turnover categories. The household large fitness equipment and bracelets in smart hardware were strategically scaled back; the food business actively reduced products with low margins and high cold - chain costs. To focus, it tilted resources towards high - margin and high - frequency sports equipment.
Wang Ning revealed in the earnings call that in 2025, the gross profit margin of the core products of sports equipment increased from 40% to 55%, that of clothing increased from 45% to 60%, and the gross profit margin of some food categories reached 70%. In terms of inventory, the inventory turnover days of sports equipment, food, and clothing were controlled within 30 - 50 days, 20 - 30 days, and 100 - 150 days respectively, and the long - tail inventory was cleared in 2025.
The result of this "shaping" is that although the consumer goods revenue decreased, the category structure was optimized, opening up broad space for subsequent development. Coupled with the optimization of cost management, the gross profit margin increased by 4.1 percentage points.
In stock competition, scale does not represent competitiveness; profit margin is the moat. Keep no longer pursues "able to sell everything" but starts to think about "what should be sold and what should not be sold". At the critical node of overall profitability, this enables the consumer goods business to become an indispensable part of the company's ecosystem in a healthier state.
Actually, going deeper, the reason why Keep's consumer goods are becoming more and more "right" is that it no longer just focuses on the revenue figures but targets those who "exercise seriously".
In 2025, the added value of the sports industry exceeded the overall growth rate of the GDP with an average annual growth rate of 10.5%. The data in the "2025 National Fitness Activity Status Survey Bulletin" shows that the proportion of people who often participate in physical exercise increased to 38.5% in 2025, and the per - capita sports consumption of residents aged 19 - 59 increased by 38.1% compared with the level in 2020.
Everyone knows that sports and fitness are the general trend. However, when the national fitness boom resonates with the trend of sports consumption upgrading, a point that is often overlooked is the structural change in consumer demand. When sports change from a "trend - following" activity to a "lifestyle", users no longer need the most expensive products, nor do they trust the cheapest ones. What they need are products that are professional, aesthetically pleasing, and reasonably priced.
In the structural adjustment of Keep's consumer goods business, a particularly notable signal is that the revenue contribution of the sports equipment category increased to over 60%, a 15 - percentage - point increase compared with 2024.
In the past, most of Keep's users were "beginners" who just followed the app to exercise. But now, the user structure is changing.
The financial report shows that the average monthly active users of Keep in 2025 were 21.8 million. Although the total number fluctuated, the user structure was significantly optimized: the main group that left were the low - frequency sports groups driven by hot topics, while the remaining core users were those with stable exercise habits, especially outdoor vertical groups such as runners and cyclists. Users under 30 contributed about 70% of the user base. These users have good sports awareness and growing consumption ability.
People who exercise seriously will pay for "the right products".
The results in the first quarter of 2026 confirmed this trend. Wang Ning said in the earnings call that from January to March this year, the core categories such as yoga, muscle - building and fat - loss, and sports electronic products achieved a 40% year - on - year growth. The monthly revenue on the Douyin platform in the first quarter increased by over 40% year - on - year, and the transaction volumes on the Tmall, JD.com self - operated, and Pinduoduo platforms increased by 20%, 29%, and 40% respectively year - on - year.
When users change from "casual exercise" to "serious exercise", the demand for equipment also upgrades from "usable" to "good - to - use, professional, and high - quality". Keep predicts that the sports equipment will achieve a 20% scale growth throughout 2026.
The overseas market also showed positive signals. Keep's yoga mats ranked among the top 10 in the category on Amazon US, yoga bricks ranked among the top 10, and yoga balls ranked among the top 20. The sales in Q1 increased by 366% year - on - year. Keep's management revealed that the overseas consumer goods business is expected to reach nearly 100 million yuan in GMV in 2026, becoming a new growth engine.
Making products around the core group is the right way.
2. Keep Becomes the "New - Era Decathlon"
After understanding Keep's strategy, why do the core group choose Keep?
In other words, what kind of ecological niche does Keep's consumer goods occupy in the market? Wei Zhe, the chairman and founding partner of Jiayu Capital, once expressed the view that in the era of stock competition, brands should shift from pursuing "cost - performance" to "price - performance ratio".
The so - called cost - performance means that when my product has the same performance as competitors, I can only compete on price and sell at a lower price; while the price - performance ratio means maintaining the pricing, not engaging in price wars, and winning the market by significantly improving performance (design, professionalism, and emotional value).
Keep's strategic transformation of its consumer goods business in 2025 can be regarded as a victory of "price - performance ratio".
What does it mean?
Have you noticed that in the sports market, the upper and lower limits of consumption are very obvious and stable. Looking up, high - end brands such as lululemon and Arc'teryx emphasize not only products but also social premiums and brand loyalty. Looking down, there are a large number of white - label and miscellaneous brands selling at extremely low prices, with only limited professionalism.
Keep precisely targets the position of "basic professional sports products" and is becoming more and more like Decathlon.
Take the "Cloud - Sensation Square Dumbbells" (the same model as in Sun Yingsha's courses) released in March this year as an example. Keep did not compete with white - label brands by offering a 9.9 - yuan free - shipping deal. Instead, it maintained the pricing of professional equipment but provided an experience far beyond products at the same price in terms of appearance design, ergonomic grip, and linkage with content.
This is the "price - performance ratio" - I may not be the cheapest, but in this price range, I have obvious advantages in professionalism, brand endorsement, and supporting content. This "dual - compatible" strategy enables Keep to successfully capture the middle - layer users who "want both professionalism and cost - performance" in the wave of rational consumption.
The reason why Keep's consumer goods can achieve this lies in its business model.
The purchase decision of sports consumer goods often occurs after the "awareness of sports" and before the "start of sports", and Keep precisely covers the entire process of users from "wanting to exercise" to "sharing after exercise".
When a user completes a training session on the Keep App, the system can recommend suitable equipment based on the sports data; when a user completes strength training three times in a row, Keep can send a discount push. When a user starts running, the battery life of the watch, the shock absorption of running shoes, and the sweat - wicking ability of clothing all become natural demands.
Keep's consumer goods business is essentially an accurate translator that converts users' sports data into consumption demands. The 14 billion sports records and more than 700 sports indicators accumulated in the app will ultimately lead to one result: better understanding of what users need.
Therefore, Keep's products can address users' real pain points. For example, the soft - rubber kettlebells that won't damage the floor and the ergonomically designed push - up stands are all minor but crucial improvements on the industry's regular models. These improvements respond not to "functional parameters" but to the details of users' experiences in real - life usage scenarios.
In addition, the products and content form a deep - level linkage. The popularity of the Cloud - Sensation Square Dumbbells is related to the launch of Sun Yingsha's courses. Users are not just "buying a dumbbell" but "having the same training experience as Sun Yingsha". This closed - loop of "content + equipment" is the core advantage that differentiates Keep from pure sports brands.
By actively cutting non - core businesses, Keep has freed up its hands to polish those real "price - performance ratio" blockbusters. The out - of - stock situation of products such as the wider and thicker fitness mats in all channels is a collective recognition and purchase of this "basic professional product" by users.
In 2026, with the continuous development of the equipment category, the expansion of the overseas business, the layout of new tracks such as cycling, pickleball, and tennis rackets, as well as the layout of new tracks such as the youth sub - brand, this business has even greater room for imagination.
In the era of stock competition, if you don't move forward, you'll fall behind. But for Keep, which has found the right rhythm, this long - distance race has just entered the acceleration phase.