“Pay with Your Pace”: How a Cult Running Brand Revolutionized In-Store Rewards

With 45,000 run club members, a personalized training app, and highly anticipated product drops, Endorphins has built one of the most engaged communities in running. Known for their collabs with New Balance and signature singlets, they’ve grown from a grassroots run club into a coveted lifestyle brand. 

And as NYC Marathon weekend approached, Endorphins wanted to go beyond regular retail and create a new kind of customer experience that would really resonate with their community and integrate their training technology into their customer journey.

The Challenge: Make Shopping as Fun as Running

Endorphins' community doesn't just buy their products — they live the lifestyle, whether it’s participating in weekly group runs or a personalized training routine. With their Marathon popup, Endorphins wanted to turn that same shared passion into a personalized retail experience.

Part One: A gamified treadmill that rewards your hustle

To celebrate Marathon weekend in NYC, Endorphins and Shopify hosted a popup where runners could "Pay with Their Pace" using a gamified treadmill that transformed athletic performance into store credit. 

Here's how it worked: after signing a digital waiver, runners chose their target pace (e.g. 7 minute mile) and then had to maintain their speed as accurately as possible for 30 seconds. The treadmill was ‘human-powered’ which allowed for constant real-time feedback on their performance. A video game-style interface on the treadmill guided them to speed up or slow down, while their stats were displayed on large screens so their friends could cheer them on.

The payoff was immediate. The more accurate their pace, the more credit they earned. Top participants earned up to $60 to redeem on Endorphins merch, but everyone earned something. At the end of a session, each runner received a custom receipt that featured their performance stats and a unique barcode to claim their reward at checkout. 

Part Two: A seamless checkout 

From a retail perspective, the real magic happened at the point of sale. When runners were ready to buy Endorphins products, they scanned their barcode to redeem their store credit. Instantly, their discount was applied to their order — there was no need for the retail associate to do mental math or memorize promo codes. Plus, these barcodes also stored the meta data from their treadmill waiver (e.g. name, birthday and email) so a customer record was instantly created or updated each time a runner checked out. 

In total, over 600 participants stepped up to the challenge, and it was one of the most talked about retail moments of marathon weekend.

How Shopify Made This Possible

Here’s how Endorphins used Shopify’s dev tools and retail hardware to bring this retail experience to life: 

• Instant rewards through custom receipts: Using an Epson receipt printer, Endorphins dynamically issued store credit barcodes on personalized receipts. They used the Admin API to generate unique discount codes; this ensured the discounts couldn’t be shared, faked or redeemed twice. The receipts also featured the customer’s name and performance stats, giving them a fun memento to flex on social media.
  
• Frictionless checkout: The custom POS UI extension allowed in-store credit to be instantly applied through simple barcode scanning — no complex systems or code memorization required. Extensions are scalable by design and can be used to integrate almost any in-store experience into a retail checkout. Not only can they be used to redeem discount codes or unlock gifts with purchase, but they can also be used to capture or sync customer meta data. 

The Results

• 646 participants ran to earn in-store credit & joined Endorphins mailing list
• 67% of treadmill sessions immediately led to an in-store purchase 
• 94% new customers (to their Shopify store) 

Beyond the numbers, Endorphins proved that retail experiences don’t have to be transactional — they can be as personal and rewarding as the sports that inspire them. The treadmill was just one of the activations that brought their community together at their popup. Together with Shopify, they also offered marathon medal engraving, group runs, a fuel bar and runner portraits to commemorate race weekend.

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