Customization: Walk a Mile in These Shoes

The digital age has brought with it a wide array efficient marketing tactics that will in continue to bring a more perfected view of the consumer’s wants and needs into focus. The innovation seen in such a marketing strategy of mass customization has certainly provided the consumer with a vast amount of power at their disposal in terms of their buying power. By implementing this feature into the athletic shoe business, two major competitors have found an opportunity to better comprehend the patterns of consumer behavior. What better way to gauge someone’s interest than to walk in, or at least hold in hand, a consumers newly created shoe? I will give my personal opinion on how effective Nike and Puma are at using their interactive websites to gain my interest as a shoe buyer.

Nike Inc is a very well established brand with a mass of followers adorning their kicks and sporting apparel. It was no surprise that when initially checking out the NikeID site I found their approach to be much more subtle and manageable than that of the Puma Mongolian Shoe BBQ site. My reaction was mostly satisfaction with what Nike was trying to do. They seem to have a captivating but yet simple page layout that emphasizes efficiency in terms of getting the consumer quickly and easily into their shoe design journey. The feel of the Nike site is not entirely that of entertainment but rather getting a task completed. There are times when the clean-cut atmosphere of a site such as NikeID helps to alleviate the pressure that may already be forming in a consumer knowing that the style of shoe they desire is not sold in any store. Before even selecting a shoe model under a specified gender, the consumer can use the color scale at the bottom of the homepage to see if they like what color options are available without getting tied up in the complexity of navigating all the other components of the site. Once a consumer decides to push on with the NikeID experience, they can focus in on their favorite shoe model. It may sound strange but I actually liked hearing each indicator noise as I navigated and made selections on the site. These sounds being a typical annoyance in most other contexts actually allowed me to feel as if progress was being made toward completing my expensive new fashion statement. The sites use of flash did not seem to be too overpowering on my usually slow computer, allowing me to retain interest in creating a trendy shoe.

A far cry in my mind from the strategy of NikeID comes in a far away place in the fantasy world of Puma’s Mongolian BBQ site. I find the site to be just plain ridiculous from its homepage to the mission statement or the “What is Mongolian BBQ” section. It is hazy to me whether Puma is in the shoe business or entertainment business. Unlike Nike who does not seem to need to use excess entertainment in its design, Puma tries to create somewhat of a confusing brand culture. I was actually somewhat disappointed at not hearing more audio on the Puma website to go along with the flash and at least keep me amused enough to not want to close my browser. One can investigate through a simple Google search that a Puma is actually a native mammal of America, not Mongolia. Not to dwell on this point but I simple do not understand the efforts of Puma in creating a valuable experience for the consumer. A catchy homepage for the Puma site is all well and good however the site continues to disappoint when attempting to cook up a shoe. Puma only allows the consumer three modifiable shoe models unlike NikeID. It seems as though the abundance of flash is trying to compensate in some way for what little actual substance there is on the Puma site. NikeID to me has better structure that is capable of gaining revenue by offering a large product line while the Puma Mongolian Shoe BBQ is a less planned effort to keep up with what the competition is doing with the customization strategy.

When it comes to actually designing the shoes on either site, there are some fundamental flaws which I could see irritating to the consumer. The main drawback I saw with the NikeID site was the lack of color options. Having a few basic colors in mind to say make a replica shoe from a collegiate basketball team, I was unable to find colors like orange and navy blue. Some shoes model like the Nike Dunk did have these colors but others did not. If I was interested in a model such as the Air Mogan, I would be disappointed to find that my exchange with Nike was cut short simply because they did not have what I was looking for in terms of color. If you are going to make a product such as shoes customizable, there should be a wide variety of colors available for all models. What I did like about NikeID is that they kept the material selection such as nubuck, mesh, and leather simple and separate from the color options. In the case of Puma, the consumer is forced to select color along with fabric at the same time which becomes confusing. I decided to design a shoe that I would actually wear in my “cool” Air Mogan prototype. Needless to say, you can tell I will not be rocking laser blue, cerise, dragon red, barn, or marina anytime soon.

It is important to also speak of what kind of sneaker consumer I tend to be in order to defend the conclusions I have made on these two customization outlets. It may seem low on many a person’s priority as to what is worn on their feet however I do take pride in the shoes I wear. In every attempt to keep them “fresh” and “cool” I try and make sure they do not get too dirty or the unthinkable, go out of style. If one were to pick up a pair of my sneakers which looked to be no more than a month old they are most likely over a year old. In no way do I see myself as a trendy shoe buyer. I do not try and make bold statements by wearing loud, multicolor sneaks which seems to be all the rage on many college campuses today. Put simply, I like what I like. Typically I purchase New Balance, Asics, and Nike with simple color patterns. When I think it is time to purchase a new pair, usually every few months, I find the model and wait to find the right price for me in terms of value. The idea of spending over ninety dollars on a pair of customizable shoes is absurd. I am not saying this due to my status as a college student on somewhat of a budget. The types of shoes I wear, which are simple in nature, do not hold a value of anything near the amount of money Nike and Puma are asking for even their most basic designs. I do not believe I have ever or will ever spend over seventy dollars on a pair of everyday casual sneakers. Give me the money to buy the most expensive customizable shoe possible and I will go buy two pairs of shoes which satisfy my feet just fine.