Amid a slew of challenging economic indicators, consumers still want to shop, and they’re gravitating towards thrift stores and warehouse clubs to fill their footwear needs.
In a Coresight Research webinar Thursday hosted by founder Deborah Weinswig, Placer.ai’s head of analytical research R.J. Hottovy said thrifting continues to be a growing market.
“Thrift and growth in platforms like Poshmark — we do see a lot of that as being disruptive, and I think that has also played a part in some of the issues that we’ve seen for the mid-tier department stores and others as well,” Hottovy said.
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One webinar attendee said Poshmark was the source of several pairs of New Balance sneakers purchased “new with tags for half the price.”
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Hottovy said there are two trends taking place. One is the increase in middle-income consumers, and the other growth in younger, consumers choosing to shop at thrift stores. This group, he said, isn’t just shopping for cost reasons. They are seeking “unique merchandising, unique products. There’s a story behind it [based on] the success we’ve seen from a lot of retailers.”
Of course, sneakers have a big presence in the resale market, as evidenced by StockX’s trend report last November. Separately, the secondary athletic footwear market has also evolved to include a B2B wholesale model. For example, OS Group has projected its annual revenue growing to an estimated $50 million at the end of 2025.
Another channel that has increased their fashion and shoe options is the warehouse club. “There are a lot of young families that may be at earlier points in their careers, so less household income, but [they are] prioritizing the warehouse club membership,” Hottovy said. “The average warehouse club shopper [has been in the] late 30s and slightly more affluent than the rest of the U.S. population. But it has been shifting. [The new members are] coming from [those with] lower household income…. There has been a definitive shift towards younger families, even younger singles.”
Weinswig cited a data point that 72 percent of those taking GLP-1 medications have lost weight and changed their sizes, spurring purchases of apparel and footwear. “I think it’s actually one of the reasons apparel and footwear [sales have] held up so easily,” she said.
As for overall spending, Hottovy said spending is being driven by a “very value-focused, deal-driven consumer” who continues to spend.
“That consumer maybe feels a little bit more stressed from a household budget standpoint but is finding ways to be more creative,” he said.
Another disruptor across discretionary retail categories, including shoes, has been the rise in third-party delivery services, he said.
For example, DSW last September was the latest shoe retailer to join the Uber Eats platform, enabling customers to use it to order shoes from the app and have the delivered in as little as an hour. Dick’s Sporting Goods last June joined the platform, offering users of the app access to its network of 800 stores. Also on the same platform now is Hibbett Inc., giving athletes and sneakerheads the ability to get their latest drops when they want with the ability to track their order in real time.
Consumer confidence, while not exactly robust, has been holding its own. The Conference Board’s February report last week said its Consumer Confidence Index rose by 2.2 points to 91.2.
“Confidence ticked up in February after falling in January, as consumers’ pessimistic expectations for the future eased somewhat,” the Conference Board’s chief economist Dana M. Peterson said, noting that the Index remained “well below the four-year peak achieved in November 2024” when it was 112.8. She also noted that write-in responses from those surveyed skewed towards pessimism, with prices, inflation and the cost of goods remaining at the top of consumers’ minds. “Mentions of trade and politics also increased in February,” she said.
The past week has seen an escalation in the Middle East conflict, as well as the rise in energy prices due to the war in Iran. And on Friday data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February that resulted in the U.S. unemployment rate to inch up 4.4 percent.
“When we see big shocks to the system, like we see with gas prices and others, it takes consumers about a week to two weeks to fully adjust to that,” Hottovy said.