Adidas Golf has gone back to basics with an in-store execution that’s led to a spike in sales for the higher-priced footwear in its product line.
An interactive digital retail display, created by Toronto design firm Shikatani Lacroix, allows users to get information they’d need on a particular shoe just from picking it up, without having to rely on floor staff.
The displays include four shoes from the Adidas Boost footwear line (although the idea is that the shoes could be changed depending on what the brand is currently promoting most extensively at the time).
When a shoe is lifted from its spot, a light sensor is triggered, launching content on an LCD screen that shows off the shoe’s specs, as well as highlighting the pro golfers Adidas partners with who wear the product.
When two Adidas shoes are lifted, a split screen comparison launches, allowing customers to see the differences between the pairs.
“We took a look at an interactive experience that could be easy to use and intuitive for the shopper that didn’t ask them to change the way they’d normally browse for golf shoes,” says Marcos Terenzio, director of digital creative experience at Shikatani Lacroix, which used technology from Dot2Dot Communications and LG on the execution.
The ability to have side-by-side comparisons is also important for the brand, which has a challenge showing the differences between its footwear, which can range from under $100 to $400, says Lesley Hawkins, brand director for Adidas Golf in Canada.
The displays – a first for Adidas both in and outside of Canada – are currently running through the golf season. Adidas purposely rolled them out in different types of stores – from specialty Golf Town locations in different cities to public and private pro-shops and its own Adidas Sport Performance store in downtown Toronto.
Those spots are serving as a testing ground to see what types of markets the displays resonate with best, how often the on-screen content will need to change and the physical particulars of the displays (such as screen height).
The idea will be to have the displays (possibly adapted based on consumer feedback) be a year-round fixture in some of the brand’s retail partner stores next year.
Since the brand introduced the displays back in April, the average sale price on its golf footwear has increased by 30%, a big win for the brand and its retail partners, Hawkins says.
Overall, the priority was to make Adidas stand out from other brands in golf retailers and also for the category to pop in Adidas’ own store, where golf competes for shelf space with other sports.
In golf footwear in Canada, Adidas is currently second in terms of market share, behind FootJoy Canada, according to Hawkins. “We’re trying to ensure that wherever there is leading-edge technology that our brand is there.”
