I had 469 transactions in July 2021. That’s a jump back towards normal and doesn’t account for the number of wholesale transactions. I sold approximately 800 pair of shoes in wholesale. These shoes go on to be sold in retail outlets and on third party digital outlets. The wholesale is extremely limited in style, and should and could be much more, but I’ve only bought what is requested and risk isn’t a part of a bulk strategy.
For the first time in a few months I utilized eBay. I turned off the professional marketplace on Amazon. It was a good experiment to gaugue how effective that marketplace is, but I didn’t sell anything throughout July. I still had 3 returns, smh. Amazon is a platform that requires considerable patience. The sneakerhead market tends to know what they want. Amazon is more of a place for the everyday consumer. eBay is a better blend of different consumers. Now that the authentication process is in place for eBay, while I haven’t sold much there, I’ve had no returns. The 469 transactions are from StockX.
I’m working on reports for third party, so in the near future I will utilize eBay more. The platform is better for discovering why the growth in traffic on StockX has been so prominent and I want to test my hypothesis that there aren’t many new resellers entering the business which has led to higher prices because resale is limited to those with access. eBay is in a position to invite more competitiveness in the marketplace, but more important, the items I sold there were returns from StockX where the box had been damaged somewhere in the transaction process; although all of my boxes are brand new, in perfect condition when I ship.
This is a major weakness in StockX, which is offset in one simple manner: The Sell Now feature. This takes me into another discussion, that I still need to build.
What was the price breakdown on the 469?
IMPORTANT NOTE: All sales are before StockX fees of 11%.
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
July 2021 numbers:
Apparel entered the mix on StockX, but it was a limited Drake collab. It’s included in the numbers, but there was a very limited supply. I am not making a distinction in apparel and sneakers for the sake of brevity.
June to July 2021 Comparison
The meat and potatoes… I’ve adjusted to basically losing retail as my source of footwear. Utilizing retail offers more variety. I picked up 5 pair of adidas, which I will show in the shoe style breakdown later, but as I mentioned earlier, due to restrictions on what I could purchase I was limited in how many of the shoes I could buy. This is unfortunate. Two months ago I wanted to buy all of the adidas styles at the 59.99 sales price. I was stopped. Each model I purchased in July had been marked down to 19.99. This is a reflection on the lack of brand heat around adidas. Included in these 5 from adidas were three Pharrell collabs. Online prices were higher which also speaks to the problems with FootLocker’s ability to sell.
What were the differences? There was a considerable increase in High to Premium. High obviously took off like a rocket and that happened for a variety of reasons. The main one was Nike Basketball. After years of Nike Basketball being an afterthought, Space Jam 2 and the Olympics led to renewed interest in the segment. How long will this last? I’m not sure, but Zoom G.T. Cut was a star and sold out on every platform it released. The Space Jam LeBron 18 Low took the 18 from dog to star. Nike also limited the number of the shoes released, using a careful strategy to prevent any of the models dropped in July from sitting. BTS, back to school, led to a decrease in low and a decrease in Mid. But the mid numbers are more than the other segments combined. What has become a Nike staple in their strategy, which is touted within their digital apps as Under 100, remained strong. That surge in Premium consisted of the usual suspects, Dunk, Air Jordan 1 High OG, but not surpising was the return of the LeBron line into the premium market. The South Beach was an obvious player, but what wasn’t obvious was how Nike Basketball was sprinkled throughout the Premium segment with a non-signature sneaker that I happened to think was a shoe designed for the Kobe line up. The Zoom G.T. Cut features elements always associated with Kobe’s sneakers. There were even Kobe Code inspired markings on the sneaker. There are six dots. In Kobe Code the letters Z, G, and T all share six dots in sequence. I haven’t deciphered or found any evidence that the G.T. is an adjustment to Vanessa Bryant not resigning with Nike, but it definitely looks as if the shoe was made for the Mamba as it also features a broken Swoosh similar to the one found on the “Flip the Switch” Kobe AD.
I’ll get into prices in Part 3.