Doing my weekly retail dive and I ran across two store merchandising layouts that blew my mind. Unfortunately, I only took one picture, so I have to explain the other. I entered the mall and walked immediately to City Gear. The store carries a variety of streetwear labeled with the term “urban”, which is trade talk for Black. The first line of sight wall in the store for years was dedicated to Jordan Brand. I hate that I didn’t take the picture. Two Jordan 36s sat in the middle of the wall. Surrounding those two shoes were at least twenty Crocs in varying shades. In front of that wall was a table with apparel and Crocs. This last week it has been 25 degrees with a windchill of 10 degrees on some days. There weren’t Nike boots, or Timbs, there were fur lined Crocs leading the store walk-in display.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. As I walked around the store, I realized there really weren’t any Jordan Brand products there at all. In the past, Jordan Brand shoes would sit, but eventually sell through. They sell out quickly today, leaving an opening for other brands to take over and be highlighted, but that isn’t the case. In this region it makes sense that neither adidas nor New Balance earned the first wall. Memphis is a Nike town. It also makes sense when considering Nike still controls many stores and once a restock of Nike/Jordan Brand product hits, it will regain that line of sight. The lead wall at this City Gear store was owned by Crocs and two Jordan 36 shoes. It would be a revelation, but the reality is Crocs is expecting 67% growth in 2022 and after this retail dive, it is apparent Crocs shifted the entire ecosystem around slides and recovery footwear. Take a look at this picture:
If this were a live class and I showed this picture I would ask the following questions:
- What do you see?
- What brands are marked down?
- How many slides are there from other brands compared to Crocs?
- How many Crocs are marked down?
- Crocs has a featured wall, Nike and Jordan Brand do not. Is this surprising?
Those aren’t difficult questions, but they are important. This store chose to display Jordan, Nike, adidas, Vans, Under Armour and New Balance all on the same tower. The tower sits behind a large table of Nike apparel and footwear. It is not in the line of sight. The Crocs wall is placed next to the most important wall in the store, Nike Sportswear sneakers. This immediately aligns Crocs with Nike as a post sneaker option. These are the small things people don’t realize when they are shopping, and sneaker culture doesn’t understand how brands begin to capture marketshare. Do you find it interesting the youth demographic has moved away from Nike slides and socks to Crocs? Why do you think this happened? Do you think it will continue?