Monday, November 27, 2017

"With its SNKRS app, Nike has transformed sneaker shopping into a Pokemon Go-style game"

WSJ:
The only way fans could get their hands on this specific sneaker was to come to Fuku, open Nike’s SNKRS app on their iPhones, hold up the camera to Fuku’s coded paper menus and through the magic of augmented reality (AR) make a sneaker digitally materialize on screen. Only then could they purchase the shoe on their phone and have it sent to their home.

Sound like a lot? Welcome to sneaker shopping in 2017, where the goal is to bring back some of the excitement of old-school shoe scavenging.

...

“Stash Squad,” the SNKRS app’s latest feature, will allow users, regardless of where they live, to join the team of a shopper in the city where a given sneaker is launched. When the shopper “unlocks” the shoe for himself, he unlocks it for everyone on his team, so that someone in Albuquerque, or even Katmandu, can get a sneaker that previously would have only been available to Manhattanites.