I love retail. I enjoy walking into stores and discovering new products. I enjoy it even more when I walk into a store and I discover something attached the community. I want retail to survive especially sneaker retail, but I live in a city that doesn’t have a sneaker boutique. This means that I’m subjected to the homogenous, sameness at every store I visit carrying kicks. It’s frustrating and unfortunate, but the problem is I’m an anomaly. I love kicks so I know about most of the items being released.
The average customer doesn’t know or care about the shoes in a store. It’s tax season and parents are bringing their kids to Foot Locker, Finish Line, Hibbett Sports and City Gear to find kicks for their children. These are customers who are probably shopping twice a year, at tax time and at the holidays. You can possibly throw in a third visit during a birthday visit.
Stores don’t have to be informative or have fantastic merchandising and beautiful displays with educational content to tell the visitors what they are looking at, right?
Take a look at this picture:
What’s wrong with this picture?
A lot.
Since this is a post and you’re reading I will have to list the problems and raise a question of who is to blame. First there is a bit of clarification needed. The table is full of basketball shoes. Basketball sneakers aren’t selling as fast as they used to. As a matter of fact sales are down across the board. Any information you read will tell you that there isn’t a performance basketball model in the top shoes sold according to point of sales data. In resale, which is my guage for brand heat, there isn’t a single basketball model released bringing in offers above retail (unless it’s a limited release which doesn’t count). Since basketball isn’t selling there has to be a question asked. Is it the chicken or the egg? Every footwear store is failing to educate the consumer. As a matter of fact I’m willing to bet if you are reading this and looking at that table you can’t name every shoe on the table.
Here is the tragic part, neither can the sales leads on the floor of Finish Line. You know what? I don’t blame Finish Line’s staff. The people in this store have over 1000 styles in inventory. They are paid minimum wage and just because you can pick up any shoe in the store and ask me what it is and what it’s for, doesn’t mean that employees who are overworked and underpaid should have the same depth of knowledge. Now here is the picture again, yep the same picture with a different caption:
The table is filled with signature footwear from adidas and Under Armour. There is also one of the most important shoes made by adidas on the table. Under Armour also has a relaunch of one of their original lines in basketball on the table. People aren’t buying basketball shoes at the same rate for a number of reasons, but could it be that in the last 7 years as basketball sales declined, brands allowed this to happen because they don’t send any educational material or merchandising for the shoes? Brands have relied solely on the NBA to sell basketball shoes. I discussed this a few years ago in the article below and almost everything I wrote then rings true for this picture that I took on February 27th 2019.
Kyrie at one point was in the top shoes sold according to POS data less than three years ago. That is no longer the case. If you read through the post above you’ll find that Nike initially promoted Kyrie at a higher clip than they did for LeBron or any of their signature models. It wasn’t Nike that made Kyrie popular however, it was Pepsi… which takes this off topic, but not really. Here comes that question again:
What’s wrong with the table in the picture?
- Stores lack creativity in their merchandising. There are so many styles in inventory, the managers have to display the shoes whereever they can. This has created an uninspired shopping atmosphere and there isn’t anything that makes a kid or parent excited about being in the store. As a matter of fact the wall is frustrating and just a giant splash of color. Sales leads don’t know the product, they only know the logo. Parents don’t know what to buy and kids have no reason to interact with the shoes other than, “my friends are wearing these so I want these.” Or kids are simply saying, “I want Js, I want Vans. Everybody is wearing those.” Stores are using the throw it against the wall and see what sticks concept literally.
- Just in case you were wondering, on the table from left to right at the bottom are: Curry 6 Coy Prankster and the Curry 6 Working on Excellence. On the top table are the adidas N3XT L3V3L, Lillard 5 All Skate, Harden Vol. 3 Supernova, Houston Black/Red, Core Black, the same Lillard 5 All Skate and blurred behind the Lillard 5 All Skate is the reintroduction of Under Armour’s Spawn worn by Joel Embiid. This picture was taken entering into the store. Nike footwear in the store is not combined with another brand in any display format. The merchandising team is failing the store. Dropping all of the basketball shoes on the same table doesn’t leave any opportunity for merchandising or storytelling. What’s worse is that the UA Spawn is on the upper table with the adidas basketball kicks. It doesn’t matter though because the brands didn’t send the store any information to educate the consumer. With a pair of Vans there isn’t explanation needed. It’s cheap and easy to wear. That’s why it sells right? The Spawn only cost 110. The Lillard 5 is only 115.00. A suede pair of Vans costs 75. Price is definitely a factor in the sale of these kicks, but that factor is multiplied when nothing explains what the hell is being sold. This isn’t any more evident in the most important shoe on the table.
- In the picture notice the placement of the Next Level (I didn’t feel like using the doggone numbers). The shoe is in the back on the left of the table. It’s the bright red pair of shoes. There is so much wrong here it’s hard to begin. The Next Level is an adidas flagship model. The brand should have sent the store a colorway that was less bold. This vivid red color may standout, but you’ve immediately half of the market on a shoe that no one working in the store knows is important. adidas, contrary to a lot of dicussion, isn’t selling very well in the U.S. right now. BOOST is no longer the draw it once was. adidas had to develop a new technology. BOUNCE cushioning isn’t as coveted, but the brand worked hard to create a new tech. It’s called Lightstrike. You know where it’s found? In the Next Level. You know what shoe adidas is touting as the opposition to Nike’s laceless Adapt? Their laceless Next Level. You know what adidas sent with the Next Level to the store to educate the sales leads and employees? NOT A DAMN THING. In turn the customer doesn’t know how important this shoe is and why would they care? It’s at the back of the table and only one pair is on the table.
- The Under Armour Spawn which is on the right and in the back is a reintroduction to Under Armour’s first shoe. The shoe is the right price and it looks fantastic, but it’s blurred in the picture and behind the adidas Lillard 5 and not with the Under Armour shoes at the front of the table. The only people who would know what it or the Curry is are basketball fans. Here is what’s interesting though, the casual basketball fan loves Steph Curry. You know how many pictures of Steph Curry are in the store? ZERO James Harden is the reigning MVP and currently the leading scorer in the NBA. He’s marketable and even if basketball sales are low, utilizing imagery of Harden and Curry would enhance the footwear.
I guess when Vans and cheaper models are selling and they don’t require any marketing or extra costs then what’s the point? Why am I complaining? The shoe industry would be a multi-billion dollar business without basketball shoes. As a matter of fact it would be a multi-billion dollar industry without endorsements. Maybe I’m the one that’s out of touch and adidas and Under Armour aren’t failing Finish Line. Maybe Finish Line, Under Armour and adidas are right where they want to be.looking at the smoke from Nike’s taillights going up the mountain and out of sight. Why pay to merchandise and advertise and endorse if it isn’t carried over into the retail space? The only people who care are people like me who love kicks enough to write long posts like this… right?
