Jordan Brand new Marketing Strategy to Curb Reseller market???? LOOKOUT 2013 - Page 2

As we all know there are 3 types of resellers:

Hypebeast Reseller:  Guys interested in buying the hottest release of anything trying to flip ASAP to make a  huge profit. These guys are well educated on HYPE, Limited releases and GR's...long time lurkers of NIKETALK, ISS, etc. and are very well prepared.  The usually have friends or family in line many times occupying half of line spots 1-10.  These guys care nothing about thoe sneaker community or sneaker heads... matter of fact WE are their repeat customers.  They only have a small amount of capital so getting rid of inventory when it comes in as fast as possible is imperative.  A new release and re-release system would almost put these guys totally out of business. 

 Professional Reseller:   These guys run mom and pops or online stores and can't get a Nike account or don't want one.  They have some operating capital and go through any means to obtain as many pairs of most releases that they can, but are not so fast in liquidating their inventory.  They are in business for the long haul, they buy and hold.. sometimes for a year or longer, and when the market is dried up they sell their inventory online and locally to make the most profit.  WE are also their repeat customers, but frequent business outside of releases can secure a pair with these guys for a small premium.  They may having some of the same practices as the Hypebeast... but it's their livelyhood.  They take it serious, it's how they feed their families. Changes in releases will effect them NONE, as the don't buy to sell today.

Sneakerhead Reseller:   Most of us, including myself sometimes fall in this Category.  We buy kicks to wear and when we can double or triple up on pairs to sell to pay for our pair to make it free.  A lot of times we may hook up other Heads for a little over retail, but we know the kicks and know the game.  We sometimes buy pairs with the intent to resell but many times after getting a hold of more than one pair we don't.  Reselling doesn't make or break us, and most of the time is a method used to buy the kicks we really want.  Changes in the release would make it harder to buy more than one pair and sell the others to make money.. but would give us a chance to double up on some pairs or obtain trade bait to trade for what we want.. We come out on top in this case.

Feel free to add to the  reseller type list for the types I forgot...

Based on the poll the majority of NT's just want JB to make enough pairs to go around. 

So here's a quick thought... how easy was it to get The chicago 10's, cement 4's, playoff 12's, obsidian 12's, fire red and military 4's, charcoal 7's and bred 4'sand cool grey 9s?  For most with a little work fairly easy even online.

Now look at the cav. 4's, db 9's, j2k 7's and golden moments pack, and the entire kilroy pack (except kilroys)....All these are QS or "hype limited releases" which most people didn't get lucky and not every store had which forced you to pay resell or not have in your collection.  In essence these are retro + colorways that never would have sold 5-10 years ago and went straight to the clearance racks.

So in theory JB is producing almost most of the og colorways and some retro + as well (excluding olive 9s wh/red 14s and of course playoff 11's that dropped this year) to satisfy the general sneakerhead....

So based on the polls are we basically telling JB to make more of the Limited hype releases that have sparked raffles and online lotteries that are fueled by marketing, that would have never sold out years ago and are in essence just RETRO PLUS + Colorways and RESELLER & HYPEBEAST MAGNETS??  

WE ALL KNOW THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!!!

If you noticed all these HYPE release are carefully placed with release dates close to general releases...so when you fail in your mind you buy the general release shoe that is widely available...I can't count how many times in every forum people say...welll I couldn't cop xxxxxxx so I got XXXXXX instead.  This was the plan from the beginning!!!

The late Steve Jobs said something along the lines......"I don't listen to the consumer input they don't even know what they want......I create the desire for my product which has led to my success"...........

Jordan Brand was listening to him and is following his direction.... but doing it with SHOES that has been produced over and over and they remain successful...

Quote:

Originally Posted by beansietime 

I don't think JB cares about resellers at all. If anything resellers help them sell through a retro shoe on release day.
JB doesn't care if their $160 comes from a reseller, a diehard collector, a basketball player, or a soccer mom.
If anything they'll just keep raising prices to meet the market of what people are willing to pay to resellers.

I have to strongly disagree.  Many of us forget that Jordan brand has already made their money months before release day as all their shoes are sold wholesale to their retailers.  If a shoe doesn't sell out they haven't lost one penny they have only lost the leverage they have to raise their WHOLESALE prices to the 1st hand resellers (Mom and Pops with Nike accounts and major shoe chains like FL, Finishline, etc).  When the MSRP goes up on a shoe two things MUST be considered...profit for Jordan Brand and Profit for the retailer.  If you think JB doesn't care about resellers your 100% wrong, because the resell market helps them justify price increases that would otherwise lead to big losses for the company without the data of how much shoes resell on ebay and on CL and other sites and the average selling price after release day.  JB is the backbone of Nike right now, and is the only division that brings in huge consistant profits.  You can 100% bet their marketing executives have someone browsing every sneaker forum, online resell sites, etc to gauge next years game plan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoleByThePound 

This is exactly how I feel, JB doesn't give a flying **** about any of it's customers. As long as people mindlessly hand over their cash Jordan is happy.

Though most of us feel this way, JB is doing the total opposite.  Name one company that has been able to take a products and designs released starting 27 years ago and re-introduce and retro some of them over and over, raising the price with inflation cutting costs on the quality of materials and successfully bring in hundreds of millions in profit?  If this continues JB has the potential to be a Billion dollar corporation.... and the only way they can do it is with you and me.  They need no marketing which also saves MILLIONS since NTALK and other shoes sites do it for them plus giving a couple of celebs that have major influence a pair or 2 to rock at concerts, in public on tv, etc.  Social media has changed the game but for JB it has become free marketing and no longer a company expense all this to give you and I the retros we crave....minus quality and low prices though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by digital022 

JB's marketing strategy to curb the reseller market has been in place since they started jacking up the prices on each and every one of their releases. The price increases take directly from the would be resale profits. It was bound to happen.

Price increases of MSRP are not profits just for JB directly.  These price increases represent a small amount of inflation and profit for the 1st reseller which are retailers.  This way JB can protect their profit, but when they raise the wholesale costs the retailers can protect their profit as well.  Doesn't affect resellers in any way... they base their numbers on how much society is paying over retail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoleByThePound 

This is exactly how I feel, JB doesn't give a flying **** about any of it's customers. As long as people mindlessly hand over their cash Jordan is happy.

Though most of us feel this way, JB is doing the total opposite.  Name one company that has been able to take a products and designs released starting 27 years ago and re-introduce and retro some of them over and over, raising the price with inflation cutting costs on the quality of materials and successfully bring in hundreds of millions in profit?  If this continues JB has the potential to be a Billion dollar corporation.... and the only way they can do it is with you and me.  They need no marketing which also saves MILLIONS since NTALK and other shoes sites do it for them plus giving a couple of celebs that have major influence a pair or 2 to rock at concerts, in public on tv, etc.  Social media has changed the game but for JB it has become free marketing and no longer a company expense.