al berrios & co. Analysis of the NonAthletic Footwear Segment Consumer
With A Focus on Timberland And The Launch of Their New Roll Top Boot
Conducted, Authored, & Prepared by Al Berrios,
Managing Director, al berrios & co. March 2003
OVERVIEW
Between February 7th and February 15th, 2003, al berrios & co. was engaged by The
Timberland Company to generate nationwide awareness for the launch of its new Roll
Top Boot using the internet. At completion of engagement, al berrios & co. associates
used our innovative methodology to analyze the responses of 6.6% of the 149,440
consumers reached. Every interaction was conducted online. The Timberland Company
did not sponsor this Analysis.
CONTENTS:
1) METHODOLOGY
4) COMPETITION
2) POPULATION
5) RETAILERS
3) PRICE
6) PREFERENCE
7) EFFECTIVENESS
METHODOLOGY
By locating preferred chat and forum communities, al berrios & co. leverages the
power of the internet to effectively interact with large numbers of consumers
simultaneously and at random. Once these consumers were located, the goal of al
berrios & co. associates was to generate interest within the entire community. (al
berrios & co. defines interest when at least 25% of consumers within a community
engages in the same discussion as the al berrios & co. associate). Once interest has
been achieved, associates proceeded to generate awareness and ask questions, the
answers to which would ultimately be analyzed by al berrios & co. Individual answers
were considered as representative of the entire community. As this was neither an
engagement to survey, nor a planned survey, al berrios & co. associates did not make
consumers aware that their commentary was going to be analyzed in any way. This
approach is comparable to observing thousands of shoppers around a store as they
select items to place in their shopping carts.
POPULATION
al berrios & co. did not collect specific demographic information however, based on
communities selected, we assured a representative sample of ages (from 12-39),
lifestyles (gay, hiphop), ethnic groups (Asian, Black, Caucasian, and Latino), and
geographical locations (only geographic boundary was U.S.)
PRICE
Without historical data and a fully transparent or owned production, distribution, and
retail system, it is almost impossible to accurately forecast price points for new
products that consumers would be willing to pay for, that also takes into account brand
equity. al berrios & co. discovered:
> 34.67% of the total consumers reached discussed some sort of pricing for the new
Timberland Roll Top Boot.
> The average price consumers were willing to pay is $129.59.
> 7.5% of total consumers reached expressed interest in some kind of reduced price
offer from Timberland.
> 7.46% of consumers demonstrated intent to buy Roll Top Boot.
COMPETITION
During our interaction with consumers regarding the release of a new Timberland
product, 17.39% of total consumers reached discussed another brand (unprompted by
al berrios & co. associates and not related to the non-athletic footwear segment. This
response may be indicative of the consumers’ lack of differentiation between athletic
and non-athletic functionality, along the trend of using SUVs for non-SUV purposes,
such as going to the mall.) Of notable mention was that every single consumer that
mentioned Nike Airforce Ones preferred to purchase AF1s only, or before Roll Top.
COMPETITION
Vans
6 .3 5 %
3 .7 9 %
Uptowns/Adidas/Akade miks/Polo
O siris
Nike Jordans
Nike (all brands)
Manolos
2 .2 7 %
1 .8 6 %
2 .6 2 %
2 .9 1 %
5 .2 4 %
Lugs
Jordans
Gucci "Timz "
2 .9 1 %
2 .0 4 %
4 .4 3 %
Gore te x
GBX
1 .9 8 %
1 5 .4 4 %
FUBU
Dr. Martins
2 .9 1 %
6%
Dolomite s
Die se ls
1 .9 2 %
5 .7 7 %
Conve rse *
2 0 .8 0 %
Nike Air Force O ne s
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
*The Converse “Chuck T” was
specifically mentioned, but not by
entire group.
Note: Figures do not add up to 100%. These
calculations tabulate brand mentions.
% of Consumers
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
RETAILERS
For manufacturers planning an effective distribution plan that aims to reach the
consumers most likely to purchase your product, visibility has been relegated to
historical data and/or prior relationships. Upon learning other footwear brands
consumers were likely to wear other than Timberland, 2.62% of consumers told al
berrios & co. the channels they frequent for their footwear.
RETAILERS
46.33%
Black Marke t
16.99%
Payle ss
12.74%
Finish Line
23.94%
FootLocke r
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
% of Consumers
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
50.00%
PREFERENCE
al berrios & co. recommends to manufacturers without Timberland’s brand equity to
gauge consumer sentiments pre-production. al berrios & co. associates discovered that
although 35.82% of consumers thought the Roll Top Boot was “nice”, “cute”,
“interesting”, or “cool”, 13.05% thought the Roll Top was either not their style (with
comments like “ghetto”, “hideous”, and “ugly” used frequently) or because of a
perception of high price. A common request were blue Timberlands, with 2.33% of
consumers bringing it up without prompting. Other colors mentioned were black,
brown, gray, and white. At time of engagement, 6.56% of consumers reached already
owned a Timberland product.
Keep in mind, this kind of feedback about a new product was achieved because
78.97% of consumers reached visited or expressed intent to visit product website.
TRENDS
> Music preference at time of this engagement: Hip Hop, with artist 50 Cent
dominating discussions, and Ja Rule losing street credibility.
> Gender most likely to purchase non-athletic footwear: Males
> Female consumers have expressed interest in this footwear segment that traditionally
under serves them. al berrios & co. recommends that future non-athletic footwear
designs interested in capturing this market should contain elements of dress shoes (i.e.
high heels), with narrower designs.
EFFECTIVENESS
Finally, in order to present to Timberland the effectiveness of using our methodology,
al berrios & co. gauged pre-awareness, with post-awareness being the total 149,440
consumers reached for during this engagement. 4.73% of consumers reached were
pre-aware of the Roll Top Boot. This group was among those that visited the product
website, which either means that we effectively located trendsetters, who are typically
aware of new products several years in advance, or that they reside in markets where
Timberland had previously marketed the Roll Top Boot. This group was not among
the group that acquired footwear through the “black market”.
To engage al berrios & co., contact Al Berrios at al@alberrios.com or (917) 744-6579