On a note of customer interaction.
Way back, on March 9th, I sent a note to the folks at Airwalk. Their website gave details of a shoe I wished to purchase. It was called “The Vic.” It was evocative of the skate shoes I remembered when I was a kid. I wanted them immediately. The website provided almost no information regarding availability, pricing, or well, anything for that matter. I checked their linked retailers. Nothing. So, I went back to the source. I let them know that I very much wanted to purchase their shoes. All I needed to know was where to send or spend my moneys. I heard back, nothing.
Today however, I got an email back. It copied the initial text of my email, and gave me a one sentence answer.
“They will be available at www.airwal.com this fall.”
Okay, so they’ll be available at an incorrect website this fall? Right. But, lets assume for a moment that the person meant airwalk.com. Gotcha. Wait, you have no online store, only links to dealers. Will you be rebuilding your website this year? I dont know.
I would assume that if a manufacturer is getting unsolicited and excited requests for their products, they might show a little enthusiasm themselves. Now, of course I appreciate the reply, but a one word, misspelled reply conveying no return contact info, and even less information regarding my request, might be interpreted as not caring, or having little interest in their customer base at large.
Now, bear in mind that Airwalk was at one time one of the premier skate shoe companies. They attempted to reach a broader market by using stores like Payless Shoe Source as an outlet for their wares. Time has shown us that this plan didnt work, as Airwalk has in time, lost the skate shoe market, and at this point, is carried by very few retailers. None of these are outlets for skate shoes. Given this, I would hope that Airwalk considers their retail options carefully. If they wish to trade on their skateboarding heritage, it would be smart to earn back the loyalty of those of us who once bought and used their products. I say this in that it might help them to regain the brand loyalty of other skateboarders, and such, in the long term.
But, thats just me, and I could be wrong.
Cross-posted specifically for Zula, The White Grace Jones.