Yahoo Finance How men and women differ when it comes to buying shoes
A recent survey of 2,500 adults by Cowen Equity Research shows that men ages 18-24 prefer to shop for sneakers at Footlocker (FL), while women in the same age group like to do their sneaker shopping on Amazon (AMZN). Both the men and women surveyed earned $50,000 to $99,000 a year.
Cowen managing director John Kernan spoke to Yahoo Finance about some of the survey’s findings. Women, he said, are more “channel agnostic” when it comes to shopping for sneaks, so Amazon’s ability to offer selection and convenience is the big draw for female shoppers.
“It’s more of a mass market offering, and most of the brands are there,” he said.
Men, on the other hand, prefer to shop at Footlocker because it offers a more curated selection of kicks, said Kernan. In addition, the survey found that the sneaker resale market skews heavily male.
Men and women do have at least one thing in common when it comes to buying kicks: A growing preference to shop in the digital space, where Nike (NKE) and Adidas (ADDYY) have been changing the game. "Their digital apps are amazing tools for them to establish data driven connections with their core consumers," said Kernan.
All you need to do is look around to know that the popularity of sneakers continues to rise. More people are wearing sneakers, buying sneakers, selling sneakers and reselling sneakers. Cowen estimates that the U.S. sneaker market is valued at $21.2 billion, and the global sneaker market is nearing $100 billion. The sneaker resale market has also blossomed and is now valued at around $6 billion. Sneakers are now looked at by some as an alternative asset class.
Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.
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