Most of the time, if you create a product, you have a very specific customer in mind. And that was exactly the case with Brooklyn shoe company GREATS. They honed in on men, aiming to design higher-end footwear (more specifically, sneakers). As expected, men bought. In fact, men were so psyched that Greats gained 10,000 Instagram followers even before the first shoe launched, and the company sold out of their entire inventory in just 90 days. But then the Greats team, led by CEO Ryan Babenzien, noticed something they hadn't planned for: Sales of size 7 shoes well outpaced predictions.
The source of the unexpected buys
Turns out, men weren't the only ones buying. Women had noticed Greats' designs and subsequently started purchasing the company's men's shoes for themselves. More specifically, ladies were snapping up the Royale and Wooster designs, each priced at $179. Babenzien hypothesizes that, while many of the female buyers initially checked out Greats hoping to purchase shoes for a male relative or friend, these designs fit the style and luxury women couldn't find easily from competitors that offered ladies' options.
"[Women] were emailing us, DM'ing on Instagram and every other social channel," Babenzien says. "It got to the point where if we didn't start making women's sizes, we were going to have a riot!"
So Babenzien took the collective messages seriously. Rather than dismiss the ladies' requests and inquiries, he ran with the feedback and decided to expand, creating a new line just for women. The evidence that his company might be able to move beyond their initial target group had fallen into his lap, and he seized the opportunity.
Taking a chance yields reward
Of course, the decision still wasn't without some risk. The company is relatively young, having launched just a few years ago in 2013. In this sense, there was still plenty of room to dig their heels into the initial brand identity and earn a bigger share of the men's market. To invite women to the table, the Greats team had to gamble that their male customer base wouldn't feel betrayed by the shift, and that they'd end up selling more overall if they created the new line.
In Greats' case, the gamble paid off, but the dilemma of whether to expand in ways that run counter to an initial vision doesn't always have such a positive ending. The key might be to pivot when the consumer asks you to, rather than when you feel the need to change or innovate. Their situation also demonstrates just how important it is to dig a little deeper into available metrics, as looking just at the overall number of sales didn't tell the whole story. With that in mind, Babenzien says that, be it through surveys or social media, his company strives for a constant dialogue with buyers that can help foster improvements. He sums up the situation with the following advice:
"Make the best possible version you can. Listen to your customer, but listen to your gut, as well. Too many options can be just as bad as not enough."