Why Are People Getting Rich Reselling These $15 Sneakers?
The brilliant marketing strategy from a German discount
In recent months, the German discount Lidl has started to sell sneakers with its brand on at €12.99. In a matter of hours, people were auctioning them on eBay for thousands of euros.
This was the beginning of a chain reaction that led the shoes to be sold out everywhere. People queued for hours in front of supermarkets to have a chance to buy at least one pair to resell on eBay. It quickly became an absolute cult in the world of sneakers addict.
Lidl is a German discount supermarket chain that operates over 10,000 stores across Europe and the United States.
But it’s more than that. The German store has gained the reputation of a love brand. It can count on thousands of loyal customers who want to wear their logo regardless of how tasteful the shoes in question are. They knew what they were doing by presenting the “Lidl Fan Collection” on Linkedin as a fashion collection born from listening to customers' needs.
The Limited Edition Effect
Scarcity was, right from the start, the main ingredient of the success of Lidl sneakers. Despite the chain having a distribution of stores throughout Europe, the shoes were not made available immediately in every country. They were impossible to find.
Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited. — Robert Cialdini
The stores played on that from the very beginning. They didn’t impose a maximum limit of purchases per person. This strategy encouraged the early buzz around the out of reach product.
It took a few hours for a wild reselling to start on every market place. Those who managed to buy them sold the shoes at inflated prices. For example, on eBay, auctions were jumping from one hundred and exceeding five thousand euros, calling the item extremely rare.
The Nostalgia Aspect
Lidl, while developing this product, knew they could count on a slice of millennial clients. A nostalgic generation, attached to colorful sneakers that remind them of their teenage years.
The Lidl chunky sneakers have the classic 90s bright colors, that have become so popular in these recent years in streetwear looks.
The throwback effect they aimed at, with their marketing, was a key element of success. In an unpredictable year such as 2020, the importance of having something that reminds simpler and safer times is psychologically reassuring. And it sells incredibly well.
The Aesthetics of Cheap
In recent years, there has been a strange and illogical link between ugly products and fashion brands in the fashion world.
It all started four years ago, when the Creative Director of Balenciaga created a capsule collection of t-shirts branded Dhl, selling them at unreasonably high prices. Balenciaga also made a bag inspired by the blue shopping IKEA bag for 1700 euros, which went sold out in a couple of weeks.
Somebody can see the Lidl sneakers as a sort of revenge of low cost on haute couture. For years, designer brands have appropriated streetwear elements to create new objects of desire, reachable only by wealthy buyers.
Lidl turned the tables. Now it’s the middle-class people who can resell these products, while doing their grocery shopping, gaining a high return.
As a marketing enthusiast, I see a provocation in Lidl's choice. Cheap sneakers on sale, that go immediately sold out, and become a must-have for fashion addicted. It looks like an upside-down reality that challenges the classic fashion rules of more expensive equal more popular.
Do we have in front of us a drastic change in trends?
A new world, where accessories to show as a status symbol can be easily bought directly from retailers' shelves while buying eggs.
Who knows. The fashion world is and always will be one of the most unpredictable ones. In the meantime, it gave us a great marketing strategy to analyze. Thank you, weird shoes!
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