Nike Jumps Into The Subscription Game

Shoe shopping can be the bane of any parent’s existence, because children’s feet grown unspeakably quickly. Nike has decided to help solve that problem for parents, and perhaps invest in creating customers for life, with the launch of a new subscription program geared specifically toward children, according to a report on Monday (Aug. 12).

Called the Nike Adventure Club, it allows parents to order shoes for their kids ages 2 to 10 and to pay either $20, $30 or $50 a month to again access to new shoes quarterly, bi-monthly or monthly. The most expensive $50 option takes off around $10 per pair of Nike shoes purchased (as the average retail price is $60).

Nike’s kid business has been a reasonably powerful revenue engine for the nation’s largest shoe company — with growth of 11 percent over the last year — and the new program comes just as parents are engaging in the annual back-to-school festival of commerce.

“One of the things [Nike CFO] Andy Campion gets excited about, is we are now building relationships with kids from 2 years old,” said Dave Cobban, general manager of Nike Adventure Club. “Hopefully they will remember us and feel strongly toward the brand.”

And children need new shoes fairly often — because they play hard and because their feet are constantly growing. Under age 3 children change size four times a year, between ages 4 and 8 three size changes are not unheard of and between 8 and 12 two pairs of shoes a year is about average.

Cobban said Nike has been testing this subscription platform in stealth mode for the past two years under the name “Easy Kicks.” It amassed about 10,000 members via Facebook ads. The adventure box concept, additionally, provides more than just footwear, it also comes with an activity guide, stickers and an additional gift like a drawstring backpack.

It will offer about 100 shoe varieties to choose from, including ones made by Converse.