I finished my most recent book and released it a week ago. The book begins as a discussion on resale site StockX and then shifts into the opportunities for startups, entrepreneurs and reemerging businesses in the sneaker industry. As with any of my writing, this book can cross categories. It’s not just about the sneaker industry, but about finding a path in any business. If you’d like to buy a copy of the book, the link is below. I definitely suggest this follow up to my previous effort.
Sneaker Resale and Retail in the New Normal | Navigating the Sneaker Industry in a DTC World
I’m guessing that you are of the belief that this “industry” is going to be around for a few years? I remember when the “Second Hand Stores” were a really big business, places like American Rag in Hollywood. Then after the craze died down, these retail shops just became an upscale version of the Goodwill Thrift Stores, and prices were reflected in their merchandise. Do you think the same will/could happen to the brick & mortar resale sneaker stores?
I told him I would write a longer post on this, but I responded quickly with this answer:
I wanted to jump into this real quick before I work on a longer answer. In this new book I discuss that StockX was a fragile unicorn that is just beginning to flex its real muscle via their IPOs. When I talk about Sneaker Resale it’s in regard to the third party middle men, and not really the brick and mortar resale/second hand shops. I do jump into Stadium Goods for a moment, and in doing so I talk about how none of the sneaker resale shops would exist if brands simply executed better.
They would exist because everything sells out, but they wouldn’t be as big as they are if brands and retailers understood how to operate more effectively and efficiently.
Quick answer to your question though, there aren’t that many resale shops and I don’t think there are going to be many retail outlets left after COVID-19. These businesses are going to be pushed to the edge by the brands. I discussed this in the first book. It’s only a matter of time for brands to shift to small store formats and when they do, resale shops will find themselves in a very difficult position. There are so many people jumping into the business because of the democratization of resale that resale is actually broken. I’ll write more later.
That quick answer is actually more detailed than I realized. Stores like Urban Necessities, Flight Club and Stadium Goods are not your typical resale shops. In sequence each of these companies garnered investments from:
American Eagle
Goat via Foot Locker
Farfetch
The amount of capital these stores have available is not the same as other “resale” stores. In other words the question that LaVoie asked isn’t straightforward and would rely on a considerable amount of discussion to take place. Here is a link to a series of posts over the years on resale:
https://arch-usa.com/?s=Sneaker+resale
To really look at the question would require resale stores to be broken down by revenue. Bigger stores obviously have a better shot at long-term success. Smaller stores, and my immediate reference is Jonesboro, Arkansas based StepbyStep Sneakers. The shop moved from an online shop to a brick and mortar and only lasted about two years. I bring this up to state that many small business resale shops lack the years of retail experience needed to understand inventory issues and profit and loss balance sheets.
Just because a company has dope kicks, doesn’t make their job easy. The acquisition of sneakers has become increasingly difficult. The company that has a lock on bots and backdoors will do better, but the relationships for backdoor deals is tenuous and constantly in flux. As brands lean onto platforms like StockX for IPOs, discussed in the book, bots become less important. Brands are also getting better at battling bots. Resale shops don’t typically have accounts and this is an issue in creating sales tactics. Accounts with brands can give a retailer time to adjust and shift with trends. The credit lines are a huge bonus as well.
To be honest, to answer LaVoie’s question would require a book focusing solely on how resale shops tend to operate. Are resale shops going to survive in a post COVID-19 world? Flight Club and other resale shops were hit during the looting around protests. It’s extremely difficult for a consignment model to bounce back from an issue like this. In the book, I discussed the fragility of StockX being built on a model where they don’t carry inventory. It’s easy to disrupt a business that isn’t capable of acquiring inventory consistently. It’s easy to disrupt a business where the purchase of one bad batch of inventory wipes out funds (I know this problem firsthand). Consignment businesses can be solid operations, but there aren’t any guarantees.
To dig in to this topic, please use the link above and browse through the posts.
I finished my most recent book and released it a week ago. The book begins as a discussion on resale site StockX and then shifts into the opportunities for startups, entrepreneurs and reemerging businesses in the sneaker industry. As with any of my writing, this book can cross categories. It’s not just about the sneaker industry, but about finding a path in any business. If you’d like to buy a copy of the book, the link is below. I definitely suggest this follow up to my previous effort.
I told him I would write a longer post on this, but I responded quickly with this answer:
That quick answer is actually more detailed than I realized. Stores like Urban Necessities, Flight Club and Stadium Goods are not your typical resale shops. In sequence each of these companies garnered investments from:
American Eagle
Goat via Foot Locker
Farfetch
The amount of capital these stores have available is not the same as other “resale” stores. In other words the question that LaVoie asked isn’t straightforward and would rely on a considerable amount of discussion to take place. Here is a link to a series of posts over the years on resale:
https://arch-usa.com/?s=Sneaker+resale
To really look at the question would require resale stores to be broken down by revenue. Bigger stores obviously have a better shot at long-term success. Smaller stores, and my immediate reference is Jonesboro, Arkansas based StepbyStep Sneakers. The shop moved from an online shop to a brick and mortar and only lasted about two years. I bring this up to state that many small business resale shops lack the years of retail experience needed to understand inventory issues and profit and loss balance sheets.
Just because a company has dope kicks, doesn’t make their job easy. The acquisition of sneakers has become increasingly difficult. The company that has a lock on bots and backdoors will do better, but the relationships for backdoor deals is tenuous and constantly in flux. As brands lean onto platforms like StockX for IPOs, discussed in the book, bots become less important. Brands are also getting better at battling bots. Resale shops don’t typically have accounts and this is an issue in creating sales tactics. Accounts with brands can give a retailer time to adjust and shift with trends. The credit lines are a huge bonus as well.
To be honest, to answer LaVoie’s question would require a book focusing solely on how resale shops tend to operate. Are resale shops going to survive in a post COVID-19 world? Flight Club and other resale shops were hit during the looting around protests. It’s extremely difficult for a consignment model to bounce back from an issue like this. In the book, I discussed the fragility of StockX being built on a model where they don’t carry inventory. It’s easy to disrupt a business that isn’t capable of acquiring inventory consistently. It’s easy to disrupt a business where the purchase of one bad batch of inventory wipes out funds (I know this problem firsthand). Consignment businesses can be solid operations, but there aren’t any guarantees.
To dig in to this topic, please use the link above and browse through the posts.