Making Sense of WW’s Slow Start to 2019
Photo Credit: A healthy meal is shown. WW shares fell by over 30 percent last week, due in part to membership decline and fourth quarter losses. Pexels / @byrawpixel
Skift Take
Even though wellness is a growing sector, it probably isn’t wise for legacy companies to make abrupt shifts to enter the category, which can confuse and abandon key customers –– especially when big sales are at stake.
Earlier this year, we wrote about how a rebranded Weight Watchers has moved further away from its diet focus. The brand not only changed its name to WW, with the tagline “Wellness That Works,” but also shed some of its diet messaging in the New Year –– a time when customer interest in weight loss plans is at a high.
Our concern for the abrupt about-face rang true, as WW shares fell by over 30 percent last week, due in part to membership decline and fourth quarter losses. Investors now want answers about why this downturn happened, especially after Oprah’s big investment.
Although CEO Mindy Grossman pointed to the rising popularity of the ketogenic diet as a factor, other fad diets have come and gone while Weight Watchers carried on. Another reason, she said, was that its popular “Freestyle” plan is losing momentum.
But the third issue is maybe the most relevant: The rushed and bewildering name switch from Weight Watchers to WW, which left many loyalists scratchin
