The two charts above give the average price of the shoes I sold vs the average price of shoes sold on StockX and the Suggested Retail Price. Once again, my resale has to be considered as close to wholesale accounts as possible. Most of the product is arriving straight out of Nike doors and the product that resales at a higher price comes from retail. What should be considered here is the speed at which I can turn shoes over utilizing StockX. eBay is attempting to adjust their platform to match StockX. They assume that it’s authentication that gives StockX the edge. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. StockX has the edge because of the amount of bids placed on general release shoes which aren’t being allotted to wholesale accounts quick enough.
The sweet spot for Nike remains the mid-tiered priced shoes. This is important information for other brands. A company producing footwear, hoping to compete with Nike should price itself in the range of 60-120 dollars. That is a wide ranging number and should be broken down. I think an explanation of the StockX average and SRP should be made. My sales happen immediately. Unlike a retailer, I do not hold the shoe at SRP and I don’t take the time to allow the market to swing. I intake, process and sell on the same day.
This allows some buyers to utilize StockX as a wholesale outlet, as often shoes that retail at 150 may sell for 110, leaving room for a buyer to purchase and resale at a higher price. StockX in essence is establishing the market for a pair of shoes and with more people aware of the platform, brick and mortar retail has to adjust quickly and make more items promotional to compete. Is this happening at a high level? I think it is. The decrease in the average sold price is directly related to the amount of arbitrage and brand door pairs entering the marketplace.
Observation of Brand of Sneakers Sold
I have to adjust my resale as a measurement of brand heat concept. I barely buy any product from wholesale accounts. Almost my entire inventory is directly from Nike’s doors. Of 2,170 pair sold, 2 pair was adidas. I have to build this section as a discussion on observations at retail to gauge brand heat and then break down how the product sold shapes retail.
There has been solid sell through on the Reebok Question, but it doesn’t garner a resale price. The black and white Kamikaze retro has been a solid performer, but the various multi-colored pair have been flops. Puma is selling at a very good clip at retail and the Dreamer is a solid performer in retail locations, but a recent restock on the original black color fell flat. Puma is a victim of poor in-store merchandising and a lack of product knowledge by employees. The recent release of Thundercats themed Puma should have been online only in limited quantities. In contrast, the Super Mario Puma RS should have been more extensive. It sold out at retail in about two weeks. That’s solid for Puma.
Fila has a ton of potential, but their U.S. strategy is as flawed as I’ve ever seen. Their willingness to maintain wholesale relationships with off price retail undercuts the product severely. The new Fila Renno, a shoe I covered on the site, has Sacai style and on its own is a very nice product with better materials than anything sitting next to it on the shelf. That is the problem though, it’s sitting on a shelf next to everything else. It’s a new product from a brand that has been labeled as a cheap, low-end product… although internationally their work in tennis and with entertainers places the brand on par with Puma and adidas in some cases. They have rolled out a series of premium models that can’t find shelf space and the Renno, like all of Puma’s products, is bereft of merchandising. The ultimate issue though is the perception of the brand. When your product is placed on the floor in stacks, it’s a discount brand, period.
adidas continues to underperform. The product is on discount and it still isn’t selling. The Forum from adidas has done well. This tells me that retro basketball for adidas could recapture interest from the sneaker enthusiast side of things, in the right colorways. NMD, even with refreshed marketing, in this region, simply isn’t capturing interest. It does do well with women. The volt colorway sells well. When adidas makes the NMD in Japan formats, it almost always sells through. Other colors and themes sit. The UltraBoost is selling at an average price of 95 dollars on StockX. Basically the wholesale price, if it isn’t Yeezy, it sits. adidas basketball is a non-factor at FootLocker and it would serve adidas well to pull back their signature basketball models and consider shifting to a small store format where they can merchandise and highlight their athletes. That might help.
New Balance has a lot of wall space and is an average performer. ASICS is a non-factor in this region.
Style of Shoes Sold
If I basically considered Nike and Jordan one company, this chart would be laughable. Yeezy is released in such limited quantities, it’s hard to believe it’s a billion dollar brand. In a three state region in the U.S. the amount of Yeezy releases is non-existent. It is unfathomable for me to think that a three state area doesn’t get Yeezy drops, but it’s true and this shows how fragile Yeezy is as a brand. If Yeezy was readily available as Jordan Retros, they would be on discount. I raise this point because right now I can buy Pharrell adidas Crazy BYW Hu, a 250 dollar SRP shoe for 29.99. There are over 60 pair in inventory in one store and I still won’t buy them… at all. Other styles of the same shoe are on sale for 39.99. They are sitting. UltraBoost Trail is on sale for 69.99. It has been on sale since last year. I guess this means that either adidas is smart for not bringing Yeezy to this market, or the brand has a bigger issue. I think it’s the latter.
I had an opportunity to walk in the store and capture the Reebok Question BBC Low, which was limited, on the day of release. There wasn’t a raffle. Only a few resellers were aware of the model, but they showed up with teams and by the end of the day that shoe was sold out. The Question is on par with the Jordan 10 Retro. It’s a model, if it’s overproduced, it will sit and sell through slowly. If it’s released in a stream of consistent pairs, not too much, the Reebok Question has the ability to be Reebok’s Jordan 1. That’s a big deal.
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