Adidas just changed the shopping game forever

A large portion of our lives is spent waiting. Waiting on the bus to work, waiting for a new movie to be released, and for us fashion lovers, waiting on new collections to be made available in stores. Yes, there are always those stories of those people who camped out in line waiting for the Alexander Wang for H&M collection to come out, or those who camped out for the Saks Fifth Avenue day after Christmas sale because they had to get their 60 percent off those Prada pumps. Well, Adidas may have just ended the need to wait in line ever again, for their sneakers at least.

The brand announced this morning that they would be launching a new app called Confirm, which will allow fans of Adidas sneakers to receive notifications when new arrivals come in stores. After being notified users of the app will then be able to reserve a pair of sneakers in their size. The first test of the new app will come when Adidas launches their collaboration with Kanye West, which they have somehow managed to keep the release date of hushed so far.

New app "Confirm" allows customers to buy sneakers ahead of time

The fashion rumor mill has it that the collection might be released during New York Fashion Week, although Adidas might be weary of trying to drag the fashion lovers who are clamoring to maybe catch a glimpse of their favorite editors, stylists, and designers away from the tents of Bryant Park, but as it seems like this app was practically launched for this collection it has to be coming soon. Simon Atkins, Vice President of Brand Activation at Adidas was quoted in an interview with Style.com saying, “Until now the industry standard for reserving hype sneakers has been social-media or lottery based systems, which often result in long lines and unclaimed reservations.”

The hope for this app is that it will ameliorate this problem, and improve Adidas’s commitment to excellent customer service. The fewer customers that have to wait in line the happier they are. Of course, Adidas’s biggest fear is that when a real major collection the likes of the Kanye West collaboration is released in stores that the app might actually crash, so they’ll need to give it this first test run to see. For the moment being, the app will only be available to those customers based in New York City, but, there are plans to launch the app in other cities as time goes on if the app does prove to be a success.

While this app is a revolution in fashion, it is not a home delivery service. Customers will still have to go to a physical store location at a designated time to pick up their shoes. It isn’t quite the glory of pre-ordering with release day delivery, but it does save time from camping out overnight in front of a store. It does fall on the customer to remember to turn their location and push notifications on, because the app will not work otherwise. While it isn’t perfect, it certainly is a revolution in the way people shop.

It will be interesting to see if a similar strategy will be adopted by competitors such as Nike and Puma. With the convenience of online shopping applications, such as The Gilt Groupe App and The Hunt, which helps people find the latest trends and edgy clothes, it is a wonder that other global conglomerate apparel retail companies haven’t thought about this sooner. Adidas gets to be lucky number one, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding, so we’ll have to wait for those quarterly revenue numbers to come out before we give Confirm a final verdict. Who isn’t excited for that Kanye West collaboration though?