by Brendan Dunne
How many people purchasing basketball sneakers from the likes of Nike and adidas actually take into account the cutting edge tech so often touted by the brands?
According the Citigroup's recently released annual U.S. basketball footwear survey, the "fashion design" of a given shoe is more important to customers than the "new technologies" used. Citigroup polled more than 60 retailers for the survey, about half of which were dedicated sporting goods retailers. Responses in the category of "Factors Driving Success of Basketball Footwear" were as follows:
These responses from retailers match with the anecdotal observation that people buying the LeBron 12s and the D Rose 5s are usually not wearing the sneakers for performance purposes. Speaking of the LeBron 12, the shoe was pegged by retailers as the most anticipated for the month of February 2015.
This chart is more difficult to believe than the prior one. The LeBron 12 at the top isn't the most shocking, but the idea that a random adidas Crazy 8 release was poised to make as much noise as the "Mirror" Foamposites, both of which are tied for last place, is a surprising one. Also surprising is the notion that consumers' excitement for the Under Armour Curry One was higher than that for any given Air Jordan model. Remember that these responses come from the retailers, not directly from the consumers.
More interesting results from Citigroup's latest basketball footwear survey via Yahoo! Finance.
