Number of Resale transactions in T1 2021
I had 2,170 transactions from January 1st to April 19th. The majority of footwear sold was in the low-mid tier pricepoint. Most of those shoes came from brand doors. The sales at the high to premium pricepoint were primarily purchased at retail. What does this mean? Nike dwarfs their accounts in sales and if Nike were to be even bolder with Unite and small store formats, the Apple styled Consumer Direct Acceleration would see a lot of retail chains bankrupt.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All prices are after StockX fees of 11%. This is important because it would push the price of the shoes up on a number of models moving those pairs from one tier to another (use this information as you see fit).
Pricepoints are below:
Low – $1.00 to $60.00
Mid – $60.01 to $120.00
High – $120.01 to $180.00
Premium $180.01 to $240.00 and up
2021 numbers:
In the chart below you will be find the sales from January 1st to April 19th. Since the majority of sales were from brand doors, most of the product sold below retail. This makes the numbers in the charts skewed slightly. It speaks to the fact that Nike has the ability to remove as many accounts as they want and the product will still reach the market. I left the comparison to the SRRRA below for your reference.
2020 SRRRA numbers: In July, 78% of sales happened at the mid-point price range of 60 to 120 dollars. In August, the percentage dropped to 70%. In September the mid-level price point was 71%. The mid-level in October dropped to 54%.
The Low-level pricepoint decreased from 12 sales to 11 sales from July to August. In September this number increased to 23 sales. The Low-level grew in percentage and number as I visited more retail outlets. This is important. I’m utilizing StockX as my third party. The perception is that people aren’t buying cheap shoes in resale. More visits allowed me to find more discounts at retail and Low-level hit 30 pair at 6% of the shoes sold. The breakdown was almost 50/50 between adidas and Nike, as both brands were marked down considerably in stores.
In September’s report, I combined details of High and Premium. This month they require their own paragraphs. High end increased from 12% to 23% from July to August. In September sales at this level decreased 2% to 21%. In October High-level sneakers exploded to 30% of sales.
Premium footwear grew from 5% to 7% from July to August. In September the Premium price-point returned to 5%. In October, Premium grew to 50 sales at 10%.
Transaction price-points
Important Points:
Sales in the low range increased because of an abundance of Toddler shoes being sold, retail arbitrage from the Nike Clearance Store and shoes purchased from Nike’s under 100 line up. FootLocker, Hibbett Sports, City Gear and Finish Line have effectively killed resale with app raffles. The only people capable of buying retail shoes that can be flipped, are those who visit the mall every – single – day. There are people who visit everyday to see if new Jordan 1s or Dunks are placed on the shelves. There are teams of people who visit the Nike Clearance Store and stand around for 4-8 hours a day waiting on any shoes being brought out to restock shelves.
To effectively gauge the market at the low end, I’ve resorted to wholesale strategy via consignment from Nike doors. When I visit retail accounts, I have to get lucky or check almost every shoe in the store to find a shoe for resale.
This is important because it gives me a very good baseline for checking brand heat. I could buy a ton of adidas clearance shoes, but the price of adidas on sale in stores, parallels the price at resale. That’s not a good thing… because most of adidas’ models in stores are in the mid to high tier price point 130 – 180 for NMD to UB at SRP, but none of their product is reselling for over 100 dollars in resale (Except Yeezy, but that is extremely limited). This means that adidas is flat Their quarterly report won’t be very good. Brands like Reebok and New Balance are selling in store and the prices online are even with SRP in most instances. There isn’t any resale, but the brands are barely on promo.
In my data, on the low end, the Toddler and Pre-school models are selling at or above retail, but men’s shoes in this category, like the Nike Cortez, sold below retail. That’s not because it isn’t in demand. These shoes come from brand doors which allows for a profit.
The mid-tier increased because of wholesale purchasing and those shoes sold primarily under retail, but there were also a considerable amount of GS Jordan 1s selling for far over retail. Premium saw a reduction because of the sheer number of resellers in the marketplace now. In the past I could walk into retail locations and find shoes available that could garner premium prices. That is almost impossible now. This is an issue that is problematic at retail and causing good managers a lot of problems in stores. The shoes are released through an App, but customers don’t understand how that works and they cause disturbances in the stores because they will see people walking in and getting their pairs. The situation is stressful for store managers. At the same time, store managers are savvier and at a retailer like Hibbett Sports/City Gear or Finish Line and Footaction, when people fail to pick up their raffle wins, it can create an entirely different issue. Resellers will wait until 12, along with customers who actually want the product, and lines will form. Inevitably issues happen in these lines. The managers are now using StockX and GOAT and not making the product available at all, or they are reaching out to contacts and selling the shoes to get a cut of the profits.
The system is broken and it makes sense. If I make 50,000 a year as a manager and I know the shoes I’m selling are garnering 2-300 dollars over retail, it’s too tempting to refuse payoffs. Do I blame store managers? No, but I do see a breaking point for stores. Sales leads and assistant managers are limited by corporate and they miss out on certain shoes. The entire reason for many young people working at stores is the discount and ability to get shoes they like. When store managers are eating like drug dealers with the product, and those store managers don’t share the wealth with their employees, a store will have high turnover. Find a store with a constant stream of new employees and more than likely you’ll find a store where there is something shady taking place. At FootLocker stores, the high turnover can be attributed to the removal of commissions for part timers.
Sneaker Resale Report & Analysis 1st Third 2021 January to April 19th – Part 1
Sneaker Resale Report & Analysis 1st Third 2021 January to April 19th – Part 2
Sneaker Resale Report & Analysis 1st Third 2021 January to April 19th 2021 – Part 3
Sneaker Resale Report & Analysis 1st Third 2021 | Top 10 Sneakers Sold – Part 4
Sneaker Resale Report & Analysis 1st Third 2021 | Website Traffic Analysis – Part 5