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Shoes of prey: New time versus personalization trade-off

A case of when personalized means more than speed of delivery.

Courtesy of shoesofprey.com

December 14, 2015 by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

Shoes of Prey …a very strange name for a business. But then again, it is extremely hard to find a business name that can be translated to a domain name that isn't already taken! Shoes of Prey is certainly a unique name that fits a company based upon a "mass customization" model to create unique women's fashion. This Australian based company enables women to literally design their own unique pair of shoes online, and is now inside select Nordstrom's stores. The question in this omnichannel age is one "time" …will women will wait three weeks for a pair of unique shoes they design? Is unique customization a just a passing fad, or new value equation of when consumers will trade speed for personalization?

Why this is important: If you are selling a commodity, it is extremely difficult to differentiate. Mass customization enables unique customized products, and a unique differentiated experience. Question for retailers is can they play and how?

We have touted the value and importance of retail "smartbriefs." With all that is happening, and the speed of change, it is difficult to stay current with retail trends and innovation. The "smartbriefs" are generally free, and are a very efficient way of staying touch with what is happening in retail, in your country and abroad.

I've been fortunate to be a member of RetailWire's "Brain Trust" panel. The panel members are asked to respond with comments on one of three daily articles highlighting current retail issues and trends. One of this week's topics was Nordstrom's partnership with "Shoes of Prey". Whoa … what exactly is a "shoe of prey"?

Let's be clear … I'm not a fashion expert and had never heard of Shoes of Prey. According to RetailWire, Shoes of Prey is an Australian based company that is built on the model of "mass customization." Said another way, Shoes of Prey started out as an online retailer enabling women to customize their shoes to their own tastes and needs. Women can go to their website and literally pick styles, colors, accessories to design their own shoe right on screen.

What was interesting about the article was the news Nordstrom's has placed Shoes of Prey shops within six stores. Not only has Nordstrom's placed the shops in stores, they are a major investor in Shoes of Prey as they expand internationally.

My vote on this strategy is today's customers increasingly value personalization, and there is nothing more personal than being able to design your own unique pair of shoes. Seems like a great fit for Nordstrom's stores who has a customer base and history in women's fashion.

Shoes of Prey certainly seems to be a unique twist in allowing custom shoe design for women. However, it is certainly not the first innovator in mass customization applied to apparel and footwear. Nike has been offering customers the ability to build customized Nike footwear online for a long time. Nike has further expanded their mass customization concepts through NikeiD, which has been very successful at extending personalization with customization for shoes, apparel and accessories, both online and in store.

But is this move toward "mass customization" a real trend, or a passing fad?

There is another category of product where "mass customization" was in fact a primary way of marketing and selling products. Many of the early personal computers were "build to order," where you configured the components of exactly what you wanted in a PC. Michael Dell built a very successful computer company based upon configure to order model. So, what happened? Mass customization of PCs was confronted by mass commoditization! While you can still do custom orders online, most consumers can now find one already built and ready for sale in store, or available in a day from the thousands of models online. In era of mass commoditization, speed of delivery trumps ability to get minor customization.

Nothing is impossible … until it's not. Shoes of Prey promises delivery of your custom designed, one of a kind shoes within three weeks. If you watch their video, it shows how their shoes are handcrafted from your specifications. I had to wonder how they could do custom build and delivery within a 3 week window. And, of course you pay handsomely for both the quality and ability to personalize your design.

While the Star Wars movie will soon rule all media, there is a great line from Captain Picard in the Star Trek series. "THINGS ARE ONLY IMPOSSIBLE UNTILTHEY'RE NOT!"

Adidas just announced robots will be "building shoes" in their factories early next year. Automotive manufacturing already deploys robotics and offers a great deal of customization capabilities. The coming convergence of artificial intelligence and robotics makes the concept of mass customization in retail seem more probable than impossible.

Much of retailing to date has been based upon standard conventions of the four p's: Product, price, promotion and place. Retailers are still fixated on leveraging those four levers based upon their historical baggage of selling commodities at a price from a shelf. Even the success of ecommerce retailers like Amazon has been largely based upon selling standard models to consumers cheaper, with free shipping and the convenience of delivery to your door. All of these retail conventions assume that consumers ONLY want to purchase standard models and styles produced by manufacturers because they are cheaper and readily available.

Mass customization turns the consumer value equation upside down. Women can literally design their own unique pair of shoes that no one else in the world owns. In this new paradigm, what is the value of uniqueness worth … relative to price and time? Will women pay more to have a pair of shoes no one else has … and will they wait three weeks to get them? Maybe not for flip flops. But, a woman's closet always has room for more shoes!

If a woman goes to a special event someone asks: "Where did you ever find those shoes?" and, she is able to reply: "Oh, I designed them myself" … PRICELESS!!!

A special shout out to Nordstrom's. Too many retailers are complaining about the "state of retail," but do little to innovate. Nordstrom's experiment with Shoes of Prey is a compelling case study of not only the power of personalization for differentiated products, but how the personalization process can bring exciting engagement and experience back to the retail floor.

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