Sneakers Cycles – Opportunity?

Just about half a year ago I wrote about how the way we sold sneakers on the internet/social media has changed drastically and it’s about to change a whole lot more. If you’re a sneaker re-seller without a brick and mortar store and you didn’t have Instagram account to sell or advertise the shoes you have, you would have been at a big disadvantage because Instagram was the place for buyers to buy sneakers. However, more than half way through 2022 things have indeed changed as predicted and as a re-seller you just have to adapt accordingly. Sure enough buying behavior changes isn’t just solely because of platform changes, but rather we are indeed going through rough and uncertain times in the economy. This in turn has slowed buying because when you’re down to the choice of either buying food or sneakers, obviously the prior would be more important and top of the priority list. Buying a pair of Nike Jordan even at below retail or steal prices isn’t something people will be rushing to buy in 2022.

So what does this mean for sneaker re-sellers in 2022? Well this depends how serious and how much you love being in sneakers. Of course those that love the money and have no interest in sneakers will slowly move towards the exits because when there is no profit, there is no money. When there is no money, there is no love. Then there are those that are truly are passionate about sneakers and love being in the game. Those are the people that actually see opportunity in the market right now (not sure if that’s obvious or not) and will stick around because they genuinely love sneakers and don’t really care too much about the profit and just simply love what they do for a living. During Covid, sneakers just like a lot of hot commodities has been a booming industry and a lot of people in the industry made a lot of money (including myself). The changes in the economy definitely has altered demand significantly and profit margins are indeed much lower, but if you’re a veteran in this industry you should also be aware of the opportunities that presents itself today.

Buy low and sell high is obviously the only way any type of re-seller can make money in this game and in my opinion, everything is lower relative to what we have seen in terms of prices just a few months ago. Is this an opportunity? We all want to buy at the lowest point possible and sell at the highest price possible. Let me tell you this…no one can ever predict the lowest and highest points in anything and if you’re waiting for the lowest, sometimes you just might have missed the best opportunity. Now is a great time to snatch up some great value sneakers because some people either are forced to sell to pay for bills and some just simply want to leave sneakers entirely and don’t mind taking a 20-30% loss on their “investments”. Certainly I can’t say how long this cycle will last, but I can say with a lot of confidence that sneakers will always come back (unless there is a massive underlying shift in the market). Just last year as sellers, you’d be begging people to sell for even 5% less than market price, but nowadays sellers are just struggling to offload and buyers are no where to be found. So if you have the liquidity to weather the uncertain times, it might be a wise idea to pick up some great deals on the market. I’ve been into sneakers for 20 years and I’ve seen this trend too many times to say sneakers are dead for good.