Fast Five Shorts | Do You Agree With Hibbett’s Decision To Create A Standalone Kids App?
This segment on the Retail Fast Five podcast, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Simbe, Mirakl, Infios, Clear Demand, and Ocampo Capital, examines Hibbett's kids-focused digital strategy.
Hibbett launches a standalone kids app and website under new owner JD Sports for ages 13 and younger. Both Chris and Anne question this approach, suggesting resources would be better spent on TikTok influencers and content creation where kids actually discover products, rather than building separate apps.
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/-J5sCVAKsfQ
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#hibbitt #kidsapp #JDsports #athleticretail #mobilecommerce #retailapps #kidsecommerce #influencermarketing
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
Hibbit has debuted a Kid Kiss app and e commerce site, according to retail dive.
Speaker A:Hibbit, the Birmingham, Alabama based athletics apparel and footwear company, has launched an e commerce website and mobile app dedicated to selling products for kids, the retailer announced last Wednesday.
Speaker A:The app is available on Android and iOS devices.
Speaker A:Hibbit kids offers apparel and footwear for kids ages 13 and younger from brands like New Balance, Jordan, Nike, Crocs and Adidas.
Speaker A:The e commerce platform features installment payment options, a customer service chat feature, access to its rewards program, new product release notifications and personalized content.
Speaker A:The retailer also said it plans to release new products on a daily basis.
Speaker A:Hibbett is executing this digital push with a new owner at its helm, UK based JD Sports, which bought Hibbett last year for $1.1 billion.
Speaker A:And do you agree with Hibbett's decision to create a standalone kids app and website?
Speaker B:I mean, I don't get it.
Speaker B:I don't understand.
Speaker B:I, I feel like there's something that we don't understand here and that is like what the condition was of the Hibbett platform before JD Sports bought it.
Speaker B:Because to me like filtering by product type, new arrival, size, gender, like that's just best practice for an e comm site back in, you know, even 10 years ago or whenever.
Speaker B:I mean I, if I were Hibbett, I think or JD Sports in this case, I think I would be focused on not just this, but how do I invest that money instead of building an app, how am I investing that money into content creation media buys that get them front and center in front of with influencers on TikTok, on Snap and other platforms and then, you know, how am I also integrating this into how I show up in large language search across, you know, Gemini and Chatbots.
Speaker B:That's where the traffic is coming.
Speaker B:Like this just feels very old school.
Speaker B:Like oh.
Speaker B:And so that's why I guess I'm wondering like, did they just have to revamp the site because it was so bad before that in order to drive any traffic they had to just set up a basic taxonomy here.
Speaker B:But the app to me, absolutely not.
Speaker B:No kids are going to that.
Speaker B:They're on tick tock, they're on Snap, they're finding new products that way and the their parents who are trying to figure out what the best shoes are for them or you know, parents of a toddler trying to figure out what the best shoes are that will hold up to a summer program for a toddler.
Speaker B:Like those questions are going to Chatbots.
Speaker B:The kids are on Snap and TikTok.
Speaker B:So, like, that's where I'd be focusing right now if I was trying to go after those audiences, not.
Speaker B:Not on building a standalone app that I don't know how they're going to get traffic to.
Speaker B:But that's just me.
Speaker B:You're the E Comm expert.
Speaker B:What would you have done if you were Hibbett or JD Sports?
Speaker B:Chris?
Speaker A:No, I mean, it was like I was talking to myself there.
Speaker A:And, I mean, you're.
Speaker A:You're coming in hot and strong on this podcast.
Speaker A:No, I mean, I 100% agree with you.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, generally speaking, I hate moves like this.
Speaker A:And it goes to what you said.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's about traffic.
Speaker A:Like, now you've got to market and operate two distinct properties.
Speaker A:Like, you know, one should be able to do that job if you're doing it well, to your point.
Speaker A:So, like, you know, but the only conceivable rationale I can give for this is, you know, why would JD Sports take this approach?
Speaker A:The only rationale is maybe they got, you know, they bought Hibbit and they're like, they got into it and they're like, oh, my God, this is going to be really hard to replatform this website to the degree that we want to.
Speaker A:And it's probably even an impossibility.
Speaker A:So, you know, that's the only answer I can give.
Speaker A:And so they're like, okay, let's create a kids website so we can understand if we can do it better and then we can migrate the adult business onto that platform over time.
Speaker A:That's the only conceivable rationale.
Speaker A:Otherwise, this is, I think, an insanely dumb idea.
Speaker A:And wouldn't you agree?
Speaker A:I mean, it sounded like you did.
Speaker B:It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker B:It does not make any sense to me.
Speaker B:That's why I'm like, there has to be something that we don't understand about what the pre and post conditions were to make this decision.
Speaker A:But are you surprised even talking about it, or are they talking about it because they have to get traffic to it to see if it works?
Speaker A:If that is the rationale, I don't know.
Speaker A:I just can't.
Speaker B:Again, I wouldn't be paying the PR agency to talk about this.
Speaker B:I would be paying somebody to get my product on TikTok.
Speaker B:I would be paying an influencer money so that they can start talking about, I go to the Hibbett app to do X, Y and Z. Yeah, I. I do not understand this at all, Chris.
Speaker B:At all.
Speaker B:I have to.
Speaker B:I have to move on to the next headline because I don't even know what else to say.
Speaker A:I can't.
Speaker A:I can't wait to hear what you say about the next headline because you keep growing here in.
Speaker A:In.
Speaker A:In.
Speaker A:In.
Speaker A:Hot takes.
Speaker B:Let's do this.
Speaker B:Yes.
