Exploding Sports Shoes Are Sold At A High Price: In Addition To Wearing Them, They Still Hide Big Business.

"Friends who can't shake their shoes usually have a few of them shaking!" At 10 o'clock in June 22nd, several "shoe friends" of Tian Chaochen, a sports shoe enthusiast, were signed on the Adidas official website of China on the "Yaohao". They were granted the qualification to buy a classic shoe with a price of 1899 yuan Silver Pink YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 (commonly known as "coconut shoes").

Online registration of Yaohao, physical store queuing, price increase to find overseas purchasing...... For many people, buying a pair of hot sneakers is not easy. The hot "coconut shoes" not only captured those consumers who had purchasing power, but also formed a complete industrial chain and unique marketing methods. They were even fired at high prices.

From simple sporting goods to fashion products for young consumers, sneakers are not only worn, but also hidden in other big businesses. Sports shoes are much more than just sports.

"Sneaker culture" spread

"Coconut shoes" is the sports brand Adidas YEEZY series shoes. Since its inception in 2015, it has launched many shoe models and matching colors, and the topic of "shoe circles" and even fashion circles has remained high at home and abroad.

The hot selling of the YEEZY series is undoubtedly a microcosm of the vigorous development of the sports shoes industry. Data show that between 2006 and 2015, the sales of sports shoes in China increased by 30 billion 485 million yuan to 92 billion 993 million yuan. In particular, as consumer demand continues to escalate, many brands start offering restricted, limited, joint and other shoes, often priced at several times or even tens of times of ordinary sports shoes.

Even if the price is not expensive, but its unique style design, science and technology elements, as well as the symbolic meaning and cultural implication of shoes, still attracts many basketball fans to pay for their "good hearts". Many products have become explosive money, and the industry of explosive shoes has gradually flourished.

What is worth mentioning is that the differentiated product positioning gives consumers more choices, so that the "sneaker culture" of the minority has spread, resulting in a group of basketball fans, sports shoes collectors and so on.

"When I was in primary school, I saw the" dunk player "cartoon, the cherry tree flower road wore a pair of AIR JORDAN6 basketball shoes, and the seeds of basketball shoes were born. A netizen has been drying out his own shoes for many years on the Internet, and he said, "one shoe circle is as deep as the sea".

Similar to this netizen, those young consumers who watched the NBA basketball stars such as Jordan, Kobe and Wade gallop in the school stage have grown up. For those who have a certain purchasing power, choosing their favorite sneakers is to choose a lifestyle and attitude towards life. Buying hot shoes is also a fashion pursuit.

According to the sales data released by Tiger pits, AIR JORDAN already has 815 matching colors, and its monthly sales volume exceeds 60 thousand pairs. In many electronic business platforms, the price of AIR JORDAN1 black green orange patent leather has exceeded 25 thousand yuan.

Sports shoes collectors grow

"The most expensive pair of shoes has been bought in the YEEZY series. It cost about 700 dollars at that time and loved its design." Tian Chao told reporters. In his view, for ordinary consumers, the ultimate goal of buying shoes is "to keep up with the feet and keep value added."

Relative to "not much money" ordinary players, sports shoes collectors gradually grow.

According to the press survey, some domestic shoe collectors often share their collections and related experience through Sina micro-blog, beep, barrage network and other network platforms. Although there are fans who ridicule "Collectible shoes are more expensive than houses", many collectors say that buying shoes is just a hobby and does not want to return their shoes to the market.

A report shows that the size of the global sports shoe collection market has reached US $6 billion, of which the US market accounted for us $1 billion 200 million, and China and other Asian countries are new growth points.

The visible market trend has made clear price footnotes for high-end shoes. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the price premium of the "Union Blue" and the "Origin Story" special gift boxes of the joint venture with the Union were 490%, 346% and 342% respectively.

Under the trend of "business oriented" sports shoes industry, the two tier market of resale shoes has emerged. The two level market is changing from the retail shoes of trading shoes and the collection of shoes dealers from sports shoes to the more transparent platform for shoes trading. Among them, the US electronic business platform "StockX" has been well known for domestic "shoe friends", while the domestic second-hand shoe trading platform is developing and improving.

Reporters found that "StockX" compiled the transaction data after the sale of the shoes into a K-line chart, presenting the price curve to buyers and sellers, and buyers and sellers can also bid directly online. According to StockX data, in the two tier market of sports shoes in 2018, AJ ONE, Adidas YEEZY and AJ THREE were premium at 99%, 30% and 31% respectively. From the sales point of view, Nike's AJ brand occupies 44% of the total, Nike brand (excluding AJ) accounts for 26%, Adidas brand accounts for 24%, and other brands only account for 6%.

"Some shoes are scarce and are hard to get through official channels. The two tier market is not official, which means you may buy fake products." As an ordinary consumer, Tian Chao is more concerned about whether the shoes that are heavily purchased are not "fidelity".

Expect market to return to reason

"Now buy a car to Yaohao, even buy shoes must also Yaohao?" For many people, it is hard to understand how to buy shoes by Yaohao lottery, but this is not a new trick for fans who are familiar with brand names.

Under normal circumstances, the brand commerce limited to sell as a gimmick, the introduction of restricted, limited or joint funds, etc., before the official sale, require consumers to Yaohao ahead of time, "signed" before buying. Consumers who get the purchase qualifications will even be asked to wear the designated shoes to the physical store.

In the industry view, this is just the "hunger marketing" method commonly used by brand dealers and dealers, and there are common marketing methods such as the star "take the goods" effect and so on.

Zhang Qing, a sports brand expert, said in an interview that when a wave of fashion hits, if the sale of shoes is limited, it will inspire young people to yearn for this product. "A small number of prices will inevitably be pushed up, which in turn will inspire people to get their thirst."

Aiming at this business opportunity, "shoe dealers" will hire people to queue up online, line up, or collect popular sports shoes through different channels, and sell them to consumers and earn the difference in the way of "buy low and sell high".

With the help of multiple factors, the price of "exploding" sports shoes has been raised again and again in recent years.

For example, in February 2017, Adidas released the white horse brand "coconut shoes" issued for less than 2000 yuan, the price of a week in the market has soared to more than 10 thousand yuan.

On the second hand sale platform of sports shoes, "APP", the reporter saw that most YEEZY series prices were higher than the official selling price, of which the black star was priced at 8799 yuan and the white spot horse price was over 3000 yuan.

"The market is a bit crazy and out of line. It's hard to buy a good pair of shoes at a positive price." Many "shoe friends" pointed out that under the hype and following the trend, the price of shoes rose all the way, and the purchase process became "less pleasant".

Insiders say that marketing and speculation will not be accepted by the market forever. "I hope that the market for shoes can regress to reason, so that people who really love the shoes culture can buy their favorite shoes at a reasonable price."