Nike Air Max's market share on StockX soared 800% since 2016
In 2016 StockX opened shop as “the world’s first stock market for things.” A place where folks could sell or bid on coveted items such as handbags, collectibles, and of course sneakers — lots and lots of sneakers. As the company celebrates its fifth anniversary, sneakers are undoubtedly its biggest draw. StockX co-founder and COO Greg Schwartz and StockX senior economist Jesse Einhorn spoke to Yahoo Finance about just how much the marketplace and the secondary sneakers industry has changed over the past five years.
One of the most significant changes to occur was a consumer shift away from athletic shoes. Except for the Jordan signature line, performance basketball silhouettes have fallen out of style in favor of athleisure models.
There’s no accounting for taste
“When it comes to basketball footwear, we’ve seen a real shift in buyer preferences from performance silhouettes to more fashion silhouettes,” Einhorn told Yahoo Finance.
According to StockX data, when the marketplace went live in 2016, Nike’s (NKE) LeBron James performance basketball line models represented 34 of the top 1,000 shoes sold on the site. Five years later, in 2021, 13 LeBron models are in the top 1,000, representing a 60% drop. Meanwhile, the Nike Dunk — an athleisure offering – only saw one model crack the top 1,000 list five years ago. Today, 25 models of Nike Dunks are in the top 1,000.
Brand loyalty has also shifted. In 2016 Adidas (ADDYY) UltraBoost was in its golden age, especially on the secondary market. Unfortunately for the three-stripe brand, sales of UltraBoost have fallen by 80% on StockX. Adidas’ market share loss has been Nike’s gain. Air Max — one of the most iconic swoosh brands – has seen a giant 800% increase.
Despite the average resale price of Kanye West’s Adidas Yeezy 350 line dropping by nearly 50%, it’s still the second-highest-selling silhouette on StockX. The No. 1 model continues to be the Air Jordan 1.
If it ain’t got the seal, it’s not real
One of the most crucial components of secondary marketplace transactions is ensuring and protecting merchandise authenticity and quality. This is something that StockX has mastered, COO Greg Schwartz says.
Schwartz notes that technology plays a big role in the authentication process, and says the company has a 99.95% success rate for sniffing out counterfeit products. According to StockX, Jordan 1s, Adidas Yeezy Boost 350, along with collaborations from artists such as Travis Scott and Off-White CEO Virgil Abloh, are historically the most counterfeited shoes.
“There wasn’t a job rec for a sneaker authenticator before StockX. We built out a really robust, comprehensive authentication system and network,” said Schwartz.
“We went from a couple of authenticators in our office here in Detroit to now 10 global authentication centers, 300 authenticators, globally. We just have an incredible playbook for training and going through this multipoint inspection around every item.”
Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.
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