The US company StockX specializes in trading expensive sneakers – some shoes are offered for tens of thousands of euros. Investors are also increasingly interested in the business.
From Mark Ehren, tagesschau.de The company is located in a place that actually stands for old industry. The automobile company General Motors (GM) has its headquarters in the US metropolis of Detroit. The start-up StockX also resides on Woodware Avenue – whose business does not deal with tires, but with rubber soles. Among other things, sneakers are traded on the StockX Internet platform, sometimes at horrendous prices. The name of the roughly five-year-old company could suggest that it trades in stocks. In fact, it refers to inventory.
A kind of eBay for sneakers
However, StockX hardly has any shoes in stock, but functions primarily as a trading platform. Similar to eBay, the platform brings buyers and sellers together. But in contrast to the well-known auction house, StockX checks the offered goods for authenticity and condition before a transaction. Sellers have to send in their items, the company sends them to buyers after the authenticity and quality checks and processes the payment. At StockX, the motto is: the rarer and more unusual a model, the more popular it is – and the more expensive it is. The prices of some shoes run into six figures. But sneakers for just under 20 euros are also on offer. The price jumps can be enormous. StockX users can see the development in graphics that are confusingly similar to stock market charts. A model was recently offered with a surcharge of almost 30,000 percent compared to the recommended retail price. For its service, StockX collects a commission of three percent plus a transaction fee of almost ten percent for new users.
More than seven million transactions
The high fees apparently do not deter customers: In the past year, StockX processed more than 7.5 million transactions and posted sales of more than 400 million US dollars. More sneakers are now being traded on StockX than on eBay. Company boss Scott Cutler worked for the auction portal before moving to the start-up in 2019. Cutler also gained professional experience in management positions at the New York Stock Exchange.
Eminem and Mark Wahlberg on board
The boom in the sneaker business has long since attracted investors. According to its own statements, the company is now valued at $ 3.8 billion. In addition to traditional investment companies, two celebrities from the entertainment industry are also involved in StockX: the rapper Eminem and the actor Mark Wahlberg. The growth should continue. In addition to sneakers, clothing, handbags and watches, electronic items can now also be traded on StockX. And the company is now also considered a candidate for an IPO.
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