Future Market: Will The Brand Customize Sneakers For Every Customer?

Whether it is the mature shoe market in overseas areas, or the newly developed sneakers market headed by China, there are huge business opportunities.

This is even more evident in the 2019.

A report released by the US market research firm Grand View Research in the second half of last year showed that the global sports shoes market is expected to exceed $950 billion by the year 2025.

Young people have always been an important group to promote the sale of sports shoes. As a loyal supporter of street fashion culture and sneaker culture, young consumers are the two most important components of their daily wear.

When the consumption power of the millennial generation is growing, the competition in the footwear industry is also showing a new format. Although the celebrity effect of the starvation marketing and the celebrity network red is still the main means to attract consumers and seize the market, the Millennium novelty consumers' curiosity and the ultimate pursuit of individuality make it impossible for the marketing tools to make the brand "eat and eat all over the world" in the next few years.

With the continuous upgrading of the technology of sports shoes and the arrival of the 4 industry era, the customization of personalized shoes made in the past can only be operated on a small scale or a small number of people can also enjoy a new round of upgrading. This customized upgrade is likely to become a new battleground for brands to compete for $950 billion "huge cake".

Is the market for shoes customized service large enough?

In February 7, 2019, Foot Locker, Inc. ("Foot Locker", NYSE Code: FL) announced that it would invest $100 billion in minority equity strategy through its subsidiary to GOAT, a genuine shoe trading platform.

Data from the Global Innovation Institute of orange business, orange Bay University show that in the past 2016-2017 years, the market for sports shoes in the United States has increased from $82 billion to $96 billion, compared with the market for professional sports shoes for specific sports.

Just 2 to 3 years ago, we can see that it is a mainstream choice for the market to wear sports shoes that are more suitable for everyday wear, with stronger comfort, color focused patterns and cultural connotations.

With the steady growth of the basic market as a guarantee, the market for sneakers customized service will also have a fundamental improvement.

In 1999, Nike created the digital customization platform NikeiD, which provides consumers with a variety of color and fabric choices for consumers to design their own sports shoes.

Ken Dice, global vice president of NikeiD business, said as early as 2015:

"Today, the business is generating substantial revenue and has taken up a large part of the business.

"-- NikeiD global vice president, Ken Dice

Converse, which also belonged to Nike, first launched its customized platform in North America in 2005.

"By the end of 2015, about 10% to 12% of the shops in New York came from customized services.

"Then Converse global creative director Brandon Avery

These data from brands are only 4 years ago, and only involved two brands of Nike and Converse. Last year, New Balance and VANS began to test the water custom business in China.

Even after temporarily closing the adidas of its miadidas custom platform, the official said recently that the temporary closure of the platform is aimed at providing a deeper level of creative creativity in the near future to provide consumers with new digital experience.

The end of miadidas is not a complete withdrawal from the competition of customized business.

Besides, nowadays, unofficial private custom is very popular not only on INS, but also in the domestic shoe industry, and has become a mature industry chain.

It is possible to upgrade the brand shoes and sell profits by replacing custom materials, symbols and patterns, customizing, changing colors and upgrading accessories. It can be proved that the demand for personalities to customize their own shoes, no matter overseas or domestic, is becoming increasingly apparent with the growth of the market.

As a derivative industry in the sports shoes market, brand and the third party will undoubtedly pay more attention to customization business.

There are 3 possible ways to upgrade the customized footwear service.

1. big data era, grasp consumer preferences ahead of time

Taking the most mature NikeiD platform as an example, the basic block color change, simple alphabet and symbol addition, and the limited shoe upper material and 3M reflective and luminous material selection are the main services that can be provided online by the shoe customization platform. For example, the 001 flagship store opened by Nike in Shanghai, for example, has built a "NIKE BY YOU" zone in Nike, which provides immersive experience and shopping environment. It provides the most classic two brand shoes Air Force 1 and Air Jordan 1 on-site customization service in the history of the brand.

Through the inspiration of Nike designers, the material, sole, shoelace, shoelace button and other accessories can be selected and customized. This is also the most advanced "BESPOKE service" that Nike can provide to ordinary consumers at present.

On the surface, this service is deliberately created by Nike in order to match the 001 top flagship stores. But in fact, this service may be combined with the accumulated experience of online retailing for many years and the sales strategy gained and mastered from traditional flagship stores and agency shops.

Over the years, NikeiD has indeed won a lot of profits for Nike, but the biggest contribution of NikeiD's online platform to Nike is actually collecting the global consumers' preferences for all kinds of shoes, plus the existence of membership mechanisms and the reminder function on the SNKRS platform. In the process of subversion, a single consumer likes high or low price shoes, likes to clean it simply or exaggerate the colors, likes Recat foam or Zoom Air air cushion, and these data can be obtained by Nike, which does not involve too sensitive personal privacy.

The single data is integrated through today's big data algorithm. Nike uses these big data as a reference to launch a single product that meets the majority of consumer preferences. It is easy to understand the applause and applause.

Today, the global retail environment is being resurgence from online to offline entities. These data can also be provided to designers of "BESPOKE services" for reference when serving customers.

2. technology blowout for sneakers, tailor made products for consumers.

Whether it is the Air Jordan sneakers before Michael Jordan retires or the Nike Lebron series of Lebron James now, these signature shoes, which belong to the top professional athletes, have many commercial added value for sale, but their essence is to serve these top professional athletes on the field.

So no matter what version the consumer buys, signature shoes must be developed and designed with reference to the sports habits, feet, height and weight of the shoe holders. Nike has always respected the personal opinions of the holders of the signature shoes.

This is why the same market signature shoe, each consumer's experience of their feet feels different, because the shoe shoe with the most comfortable feeling of the shoe's signature shoe is always the signature shoe holder.

But with the blowout of Flyknit, Flyprint, FUTURECRAFT 4D and other latest shoe technology in recent years, these technologies, which have become increasingly mature in application and commerce, may soon reduce the cost to the level of customization that ordinary consumers can choose.

If the service of customization and choice of Flyknit shoe upper has been shaped, then the future technology of sneakers in the future represented by FUTURECRAFT 4D will be a cross era upgrade if the custom service is fully opened to consumers.

This choice is not just a pair of sneakers to choose the use of Zoom Air or Air Sole air cushion, but on the choice of customized services for consumers to carry out the same exercise habits, feet, height, weight and other data acquisition, and then handed over to the bottom of the machine design.

At present, Shanghai Nike 001 LED giant screen experience area has been able to do digital sports testing and analysis of data for consumers.

Recently, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in an interview that Adidas will take 3D printing technology in the shop within 10 years, and print customized shoes in the shop.

We hope that we can better cope with the fast changing tastes and habits of consumers through this way of improving development and production.

Obviously, at the technical level, if Adidas can also collect the body data of the customer, then it is entirely feasible to buy a pair of adidas shoes that are equipped with tailored FUTURECRAFT 4D midsole in the shop.

If Nike's next generation vamp technology Flyprint can also reach the mass production level.

This 3D printing fabric upper technology, which is shaped by solid deposition, can also be used to shape the vamp of the tailor's feet.

To create Flyprint vamp, we first need to capture and collect the athletes' data, and create unique fabric upper with different athletes or different functional requirements, and at the same time, the overall design can be greatly reduced.

With this technology, Nike can design and develop faster and more accurately than before. The prototype design is more than ten times faster than the previous production methods.

Once this technology is mass-produced, the advantage of its speed can also meet the time requirements of consumers' online ordering and offline experience.

In this way, the top athletes can enjoy customized tailor-made shoes, and consumers in the future will also be able to experience them.

3.AR technology also ensures that consumers have the same right to choose online and offline.

Today's consumers and potential consumers in the future will even experience the immersive experience and shopping environment under the regression line. However, online consumption can not be ignored. In this case, if they do not go into the adidas shop in the future to set up 3D printed shop or a limited number of flagship stores such as Nike 001, the online upgrade customization service will need the help of AR (augmented reality) technology.

Nike has been in deep cooperation with Apple in recent years. Apple's current CEO Tim Cook is also the chief independent director of Nike.

Apple's product has changed human life for many years, and it is totally untechnically difficult to collect the consumer's body data through the existing and future terminal devices. This is the first step in the Apple Watch.

It is also feasible to collect physical data from consumers' own terminals and upload them to the platform so as to provide the exclusive sole and vamp for the brand.

But the problem of not being able to touch, observe or even experience is to be solved by AR technology.

AR technology includes multimedia, 3D modeling, real-time video display and control, multi-sensor fusion, real-time tracking and registration, scene fusion and other new technologies and new technologies.

It provides information that is different from human perception in general.

This information is enough for consumers to make judgments and improvements on their customized shoes products, and immersive experience also gives the tailor the chance to choose.

Beautiful vision, but there are still bottlenecks.

The feasibility of upgrading customized services is very possible with the development of science and technology, but the relative bottleneck is also objective.

Just as a brand can drive large-scale upgrading of existing customized services under the drive of interest, capital is also a huge problem that prevents brands or brands from weighing them.

The various technologies to upgrade customized services are mostly in the stage of technology formation. The brand has been carrying out further actions through the conservative small batch of market after getting feedback. The FUTURECRAFT 4D shoe interview has been for some time, but the real large-scale sale was opened by the Adidas ZX 4000 4D earlier this year.

Moreover, the most expensive "BESPOKE service" of Nike is priced at RMB 7000, and there are not many customized choices that contain technology. On this basis, consumers still have to wait for 6-8 weeks to customize the time. If the future upgrading service is still shown at this price and waiting time, it is very difficult to survive.

To reach the level acceptable to ordinary consumers, it is also necessary to wait for the maturity and cost reduction of various technologies. I am afraid this is not the complete control of Nike and Adidas sports brands.

Although the global market for shoes and the culture of sneakers are somewhat utilitarian and impetuous, with the development of the brand culture, the market of shoes and shoes is under the control of platform and capital.

In the future, consumers will definitely change their way of looking at their shoes and pursuing their personalities through shoes. Since Apple can change people's communication and social habits, Alipay can change people's payment habits.

When the mature upgraded shoes customized service is born, the meaning of sneakers for each Sneakerhead may also change dramatically.

Author: Andy Hu