Lild is changing its brand image through its partnerships with people like Heidi Klum Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP
Pairs of €12,99 ($16) sneakers, which went on sale in November across France, are now changing hands for almost €5,000 ($6,151) on Ebay and other online auction sites.
It was a similar situation in Belgium in July, when the shoes went on sale; many turned up online, reselling at high prices because people were desperate to own a pair.
The Mirror reported that when they went on sale in Finland, shoppers queued for hours to get hold of a pair. One customer stated that, “everyone lined up normally” but then everyone ran to the shelves which were “emptied in less than 10 seconds.” Another person described the scene as people being “on top of each other” with the Lidl workers shouting, “remember social distancing.” A pair was later listed on Finnish auction site Tori for $7,322.
However, it’s all part of a carefully cultivated strategy by Lidl, the German discount supermarket operating across Europe, the U.K. and the U.S.–to take its brand image from a cut-price outlet to a more upmarket, cool brand, as reported in Les Echos .
Michel Biero, Lidl France’s purchasing manager, was not a fan of the ready-to-wear range when it was showcased in 2019 and he decided not to buy it for France; he quickly changed his mind when he saw celebrities sharing images of the sneakers on social media in Belgium.
Biero decided to release items in France in limited quantities at reasonable prices to encourage demand. Only 75,000 pairs of sneakers were put on sale in 1,500 stores, which amounts to 50 pairs for each store.
Lidl also sent several pairs of the sneakers to celebrities such as French footballer Djibril Cissé, who liked them, wore them on talk shows and created a buzz.
Lidl’s association with fashion began in 2017 when Heidi Klum did a fashion show in a Lidl supermarket–socks were created with Lidl’s logo and colours as freebies but they were so popular they caught on; people wore them and a small buzz began.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2021/01/07/the-cut-price-16-lidl-sneakers-now-selling-for-6000-on-ebay/

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