Snapchat’s Latest Ecommerce Play Sells Out Again—This Time With Adidas

Snapchat looks like it’s turning into a sneakerhead’s new favorite ecommerce store. The company partnered with Adidas and Darkstore to pre-release a new style of the Falcon W shoe on Aug. 21. However, unlike Snapchat’s previous partnership with Nike and Air Jordan, which was done through a special AR world lens and QR code, the Adidas shoe rolled out on a new Snapchat show called Fashion 5 Ways. “This partnership with Snapchat was all about coming closer to our consumer and bringing a unique brand experience to one of the platforms that they value the most,” said Chris Murphy, senior director, digital activation, North America at Adidas. “Going into this collaboration, we wanted to bridge the gap between content and commerce.” Users watching the show could swipe up and buy the shoe on the app (with the ecommerce buying experience powered by Shopify). Darkstore, a fulfillment company, will deliver the shoe to all customers by Sept. 6. According to Adidas, the company had a 100 percent sell-through rate (meaning all inventory allotted to the launch sold), and it sold out in six hours. Adidas declined to share how many shoes it sold. A spokesperson for Snapchat said "millions" watched this specific episode and 70 percent were 13 to 24-year-old women. The shoe will come to all consumers soon, Adidas said, and will sell at the same price point of $100. (A previous iteration of the shoe in a different color debuted in May earlier this year and sold out in 24 hours.) For Adidas, working with Snapchat and choosing to announce the shoe on this particular show aligned with its goals of targeting a younger, more female audience that would talk socially about the sneaker. “We matched great content with exclusive product knowing it would connect with the right audience,” Murphy said. Lee Hnetinka, CEO of Darkstore, which normally does on-demand fulfillment, said this partnership wasn’t that much different from previous ones the company’s done with Snapchat. “Our partnership with Snapchat really enables any one of their brands to do these innovative social commerce launches with really very little effort,” Hnetinka said. “I think [Snapchat] is doing [something] that no one else has done [which] is connecting something digital with something physical in a way that’s really seamless.” This ecommerce play from Snapchat is the latest in a string of releases the company’s done to show it’s still a place for brands and celebrities to connect with audiences (despite quarterly earnings results showing a decline in their daily active user base). Snapchat has recently partnered with celebrities like Ariana Grande to sell merchandise through an AR Snapchat lens. Hnetinka said there’s more of these partnerships to come in the future, but couldn’t comment on the specifics. Murphy said the response from the partnership was “extremely positive.” “We are continuously exploring how to provide brand and product experiences that are more personal to our consumers and that seamlessly integrate with the technology and media they already use,” Murphy said. Get access to more stories like this - sign up for Adweek’s ecommerce newsletter today.