As an avid shopper, I’m always looking for the newest and hottest releases. One hot item, Adidas Yeezy’s, were always hard to buy. “Adidas Yeezy is a collaboration between German sportswear brand Adidas and American rapper Kanye West. The Adidas Yeezy 750 Boost “Grey” was the first sneaker to release from this collaboration on February 23, 2015.” (Adidas Yeezy)
Now you can only imagine how big this was— because who doesn’t know Kanye West? It was seen as an exclusive release that only true sneakerheads would have. The anticipation for the release was high and the morning of February 23, everyone was on standby for the release. As soon as the clock struck 2:00 pm EST, the website crashes. Everyone is in a panic. Constantly refreshing, hoping the page will upload. After 10 grueling minutes of refreshing, the Yeezy’s are sold out. Despite the $350 price tag, the exclusiveness made them such a hot commodity. However, this was an issue for Adidas (Nittle).
The lucky people who were able to buy a pair were reselling them for more than double— and people were purchasing them! There was a huge profit share that Adidas was losing out on because of how hard it was to buy a pair of the Yeezys. To combat this issue, Adidas analyzed their current system in place and changed the process for sneaker releases (“Reselling Shoes: How I Make $10,000 a Month Flipping Sneakers.”)
At first, customers were able to purchase exclusive sneaker releases on a separate app, Adidas Confirmed. Having a separate app limited the amount of traffic coming into the Adidas site. This was a good alternative until customers started building bots to beat the traffic and buy multiple pairs of sneakers. (DeStefano)
After some testing and updating the Adidas app, Adidas is now allowing reservations for sneaker releases on directly on their app. This eliminates bots from buying multiple pairs and allows Adidas to control how many pairs each person can buy. On top of that, Adidas is now releasing enough pairs of sneakers so that a good share of the market will be able to purchase them. This process improvement helped Adidas become more of a trustworthy brand. Consumers now know that there is a fair process in place to get the newest sneaker releases.
References
“Adidas Yeezy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Yeezy.
Brandon, et al. “Reselling Shoes: How I Make $10,000 a Month Flipping Sneakers.” Side Hustle Nation, 24 June 2019, www.sidehustlenation.com/sneaker-flipping-reselling-shoes/.
DeStefano, Mike. “Adidas Announces New Release System.” Sole Collector, Sole Collector, 13 Aug. 2018, solecollector.com/news/2018/08/adidas-launching-new-release-system.
Nittle, Nadra. “Why Yeezys, a Brand Based on Exclusivity, Are Suddenly so Easy to Buy.” Vox, Vox, 21 Sept. 2018, www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/21/17888676/adidas-yeezys-kanye-west-easy-to-buy-sellout.
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