If you’ve visited this site, or read my quote in a recent Baltimore Sun news article, I think Under Armour has turned the corner towards becoming a leaner, smarter sportswear company. The recovery won’t arrive without a lot of pain via layoffs and a slow journey to learning what works long term, but the signs are there.
I was asked if I owned any Under Armour gear by a peer (Greg Garber) and I realized that after cleaning my closet and donating a lot of sneakers, I didn’t have any Under Armour gear at all. My closet is stuffed with heritage brands and of course Nike. I have footwear from diverse companies like Greats Brand, COMUNITYmade and 99 Products, but I didn’t have a drop of UA in the closet.
I decided to visit the Factory store to see if I was correct in my analysis of Under Armour turning the corner. I can write articles and say that the company is getting better, but at the end of the day the product has to move people to want to support the brand. If I didn’t find any of the gear appealing, justifying my thoughts would be much more difficult.
Video breakdown:
Intro
1:38 Discussing the Location of the Store
1:52 Leaving Nike Factory and Walking into Under Armour Factory
2:20 Browsing the shoes
3:19 Selecting the UA HOVR Sonic 2
4:20 Selecting the UA Swacket and Dope Customer Service from Tyler Siedell who explains finding matching apparel with the UA App.
5:07 Trying on the Swacket
5:23 Selecting the UA Vanish Hybrid
5:53 Getting my total spent at the UA Factory Store
6:07 Discussing what I picked up at UA at the office
9:12 The UA HOVR Sonic 2 unboxing
11:17 Up close look at the UA HOVR Sonic 2
13:05 Trying on the entire look
16:19 On Foot Close up of the HOVR Sonic 2
Post UA Factory Store Visit
I tend to deliver a ton of information in these posts without consideration that analysts from different companies utilize this site to pitch their services. My endgame is to build a website that creates a smarter sneaker community and to provide an unfiltered discussion on where a brand may be headed by someone deeply embedded in the business, who also wears the products. I have a paper in process detailing my thoughts on Under Armour’s Factory store and product mix. If you’d like a copy when it’s complete, e-mail me at cburns@arch-usa.com, with the subject line Under Armour White Paper and I’ll forward you a copy when I complete the essay (This is unpaid work so it may take a week for the paper to be completed. Be patient.)
5 points of emphasis from my visit:
- This was a visit to one location and it can’t represent all factory stores or Under Armour doors. However, the store is overwhelming. If it weren’t for Tyler’s assistance I may not have bought anything else. When Nike is less than 20 feet from your door, a strong differentiation needs to occur.
- Under Armour does have a lot of footwear design that is not appealing. The Curry SC30 takedown models, shouldn’t be happening at all. Stop copying Nike. Curry should remain a premium brand at all times I don’t care how old it is. You should never sell a Curry with a box top ripped off, YOU ARE NOT NIKE.
- This is your store. I understand it may have products from previous seasons, but customers are used to buying sportswear from Foot Locker and urban accounts. Your product isn’t there. This may be the first time someone is seeing the product. PERCH interactive and Under Armour should be joined at the hip.
- Tyler is the bomb! Whatever your team is doing with in-store customer service, keep doing that… but your visual merchandising is overwhelmed with product and it’s hard to really funnel the customer when there is so much available. This is difficult though as it’s an outlet and the product needs to be readily available, but give your visual team the ability to tell more of a story. Give them more room. Nike is across the walk. Be for the athlete and give your sales team sports performance training. Especially as COVID-19 subsides next year (hopefully).
- The UA Factory Store has an opportunity to stand out. Four words: Store Associate Certification Program. In number 4, I said the sales team needs sports performance training. I don’t expect sales leads to be coaches. I do think, the Factory store should prepare to host fitness events in the future. When I stated that the Factory store should be joined at the hip with Perch, Under Armour should take a page from Jimmy Jazz with a big screen display showing the UA YouTube at home workout videos and placed throughout the store should be QR codes directing athletes to things like the Ready For Anything Series.
