COMMERCE – Logic follows that
e-commerce is all about access. Consu-
mers can beat a path to purchase your
products whenever and wherever. But when
e-commerce evolves into v-commerce, that
appears to not necessarily be the case, at
least not for Nike. For the recent launch
of their Air Max 720 sneaker, the sports
apparel brand created a virtual store that
was, indeed, open to all. To be eligible to
obtain any of the limited-edition merchan-
dise, however, you had to enter an order
number from a previous purchase of the
720s. Only then would the range of foot-
balls, utility vests, water bottles and socks
become shoppable.
The experience demonstrates one way
of transferring ‘drop culture’ – in which cus-
tomers have to prove their fealty to a brand
by turning up at the right time and place...
and paying close enough attention to the
brand mythology to know when and where
that might be – to the frictionless context of
the web. Nike’s Air Store might be accessible,
but it’s still really for insiders only.
This also provides a clue to the design
of the space. On anecdotal evidence, many
observers have been taken aback by the
appearance of the Air Store, with its awkward
avatars, early noughties iconography and
inelegant interface. It’s not quite the virtual
storefront many expected one of the world’s
largest consumer brands to be pushing in- But for Nike, the project acted as an
opportunity to create the ultimate expression
of a visual language the apparel maker has
been using to communicate to its core fan
base over the last couple of years. A visual
language that links emotively back to that
demographic’s formative years around the
turn of the century. It’s niche, it’s self-con-
sciously ugly and it’s unappealing to many,
and that’s just how Nike wants it to be. It’s
also the reason that this initiative would not
have worked as a static web store.
The lesson? The future of virtual retail
may depend less on creating one digital realm
that feels applicable to everyone, but on
creating many virtual realms, each of which
appeal to a select few. – PM
nike.com
For Nike, the
future of the
VIRTUAL STORE
is niche
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