Adidas has launched a new mobile app that has the potential to disrupt the world of retail by bringing the concept of reservations in the footwear industry.
Called the adidas Confirmed app, the app allows users to reserve high-demand sneakers directly from their phone by leveraging geo targeting technology. The app technology includes location verification in an attempt to thwart “bots” that often interfere with social media promotions. The app allows consumers to sign-up, reserve, and pick-up their sneakers using only their mobile phones. adidas Confirmed was designed to not only service adidas own retail stores but also select wholesale partners.
“If you look at the landscape today in our industry, it can be very frustrating,” Simon Atkins, adidas VP of Brand Activation, told Forbes. ”People are faced with several issues that gets in the way of a seamless transaction. A lot of retailers use a lottery system in brick and mortar. A lot of people believe the system is rigged. Because of a live re-sale industry, a lot of people trying to game the system. We’ve tried to be the first in the industry to cut through all of that.”
"We are addressing a real market need," said Simon Atkins, adidas vice president of brand activation, said in the release. "Until now, the industry standard for reserving hype sneakers has been social media or lottery-based systems, which often result in long lines and unclaimed reservations. We thought about our consumers, what platforms they're using the most and what would make the most sense for them. The adidas Confirmed mobile app is our way of improving the customer experience and reaching kids in an environment where they spend most of their time. It's a totally new way to bring limited-release sneakers to market and we expect to see a paradigm shift in the industry now."
Atkins told FastCompany that the biggest challenge was finding a way to provide consumers more control over limited releases in a way that worked for them, but also the brand and retail partners. "We needed to ensure the technical back-end solution matched an easy-to-use experience in the palm of your hand," says Atkins. "Then we had to match inventory with store locations to ensure the system was simple, fool proof and offered a clean in-store transaction."
"We wanted to create a more elegant, safe and consumer-friendly way to launch marquee shoes to our most loyal customers," said Atkins. "Working with our digital innovation team, we wanted to create an experience that gave consumers more control over limited releases. We wanted an experience that would treat everyone fairly, allow instant confirmation of product availability and reduce long lines. We coupled that with our ambition to create highly localized mobile shopping experiences that merged the physical and digital worlds and created adidas Confirmed."
adidas Confirmed is available for download now, through the Apple app store or Google Play.
