**Official Nike Lebron IX Thread** MVP's 8/4/12

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Exclusive: Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite (The $250 Shoe! And A 1000+ Word Essay On The Future Of Pricing)



Nike LeBron 9 PS Elite ($$$$$$).

This was a difficult title for us over at CounterKicks. After staring at the whopping $250 catalog list price, there were a number of ways we could go. “Refinance your home! LeBron 9 PS is coming!” “Nike Basketball Clerical Error Adds $100 To Shoe.” “Holy ****. The Newest Nike LeBron Shoe Is $250!”

But we’re classy folks here so we’ll deliver the rest of the news to you straight:

The Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite, designed as LeBron James’ next playoff shoe and the third “Post Season” model in the Nike LeBron series thus far, is set to retail at a whopping $250 price point. Holy ****.

This isn’t to say we’re necessarily against (or for) the inflated MSRP cost, and certainly Nike Basketball has a right to price their products as they see fit and let the consumer decide whether they ultimately want to spend their money or not. What we’re going to do here is walk you through some overarching discussion points and extrapolate some ideas on what this all could mean for the future…

# 1) At $250, the Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite instantly becomes the highest price point product introduction to the Nike Basketball line ever. It’s instant sticker shock. Production numbers on the shoes will clearly be reduced in reflection of the elevated retail asking price. So, how many pairs is Nike planning to manufacture? How big of a consumer market does Nike really see for $250 performance basketball shoes?

Athletic Propulsion Labs has already set the bar at $300 for the market last year and on the brand’s 1-year anniversary in March, APL pruned the price down of its Concept 1 shoe to $195. The LeBron 9 P.S. Elite would come flush into that $200+ niche range territory now. For a smaller startup company like APL, high price points can be brand badges and a status symbol. They also don’t have thousands of shareholders to worry about. Nike on the other hand is a huge company with high stakes and a worldwide public perception on the line. Will they be able to push a brand new $250 shoe on the mass market with decent sell through that’s not a pre-existing, established silhouette? This remains to be seen.

# 2) In the previous two years, LeBron’s post season shoe model was priced below the regular season signature version, with the LeBron VII P.S. at $140 and the LeBron 8 P.S. at $150 respectively. Both the standard LeBron VII and LeBron 8 models retailed for $160.

This year, the Nike LeBron 9 model adds $10 to the package and comes in at $170 MSRP. The LeBron 9 Low is priced at $150. Taking the LeBron 9 P.S. Elite from the regular season $170 price point to the $200 watermark would seem to be the most expected generous price level jump, if one were considering notching up the price. But $250 essentially equates to slapping an extra $100 Benjamin bill on the shoe in the minds of most consumers, above an already high-priced signature model which is sure to be balked at in many circles. Is the price progression too steep? For one, we know that lead Nike LeBron designer Jason Petrie penned a shoe in the previous LeBron 8 that’s sold over 500,000 pairs and probably grossed over $100 million dollars by now in its various incarnations and colorways to date. The marketing heads in Nike Basketball have perhaps made the calculation that the coming year is an opening, an opportunity, a slice in time to expeditiously expand their market presence to an ultra high-end price scale and gauge the elasticity of the LeBron brand for the coming years ahead. It’s a gamble, but one with converging retail, cultural and global economic factors mixed in that could make the effort worth the attempt. That leads us into some final thoughts on what’s ahead…

# 3) The Future. 2010-2011 may have been one of the biggest resets seen in recent memory across the athletic footwear industry with old brands reformatting marketing plans and retaking market share while new brands take foothold and come after their piece of the pie too.

For Nike, Inc., this means their previous basketball dominance over a decade is going to get a lot tougher over the next 10 years. Add in an NBA lockout which potentially could wipe out a large chunk if not the entire 2011-2012 season. Then blend with an aging Kobe Bryant who won’t be on the Swoosh basketball marquee roster through another decade (there’s always China, though).

Factor all of that and then consider what the heads in Beaverton do have running in their direction. Every four years Nike likes to push its own reset button, introducing brand new product and technical innovations around the Summer Olympic games. The 2012 London Olympics will be no exception. Perhaps we’ll see USA-based colorways of the $250 priced LeBron 9 P.S. Elite to carry through the summer, with or without an NBA Playoffs and another potential LeBron appearance in the NBA Finals. It’s the biggest sporting platform and a worldwide cultural event which brands can take risks with and reap the rewards. Nike Basketball’s biggest product intro during the 2008 Olympics was the original Nike Hyperdunk which has gone on to become its own franchise line and an established money making annual model in the Swoosh stable.

Then there’s the back end and global economics. Retros and inflation.

It’s perhaps a little counterintuitive to the over 9 percent of Americans out of work, to the rest of the nation in the grips of the Great Recession, to the whole of the world traversing over a fragile global economic frame, and then have price points across the entire footwear industry get significantly raised at the same time. All that said, freight charges have increased, commodities and materials going into the shoes have increased, and the production of shoes at the factories have increased. It becomes both a reason for footwear companies to magnify their model pricing and also a blatant excuse for brands to significantly mushroom the price of their top line products and franchise cash cows. Also, sneaker consumers don’t seem to pay attention too closely and/or have short memories when it comes to price selection and price discretion.

Take the Jordan Brand as one example. All of the retro Air Jordan models out on the market have been re-priced to a significant 15 to almost 50 percent mark up from the shoe’s original MSRP. The release this coming December of easily the most anticipated retro shoe of the year in the Air Jordan XI “Concord” comes with a hefty tag. Priced at $125 when the shoe first hit shelves for the 1995-96 basketball season, Jordan Brand raises the MSRP to $180 this year. The shoe has been paid for millions of dollars over at this point. There’s no research and development costs. No need to pay for expensive new footwear molds at the factory. No need for extensive product wear testing. No need for marketing. This is Nike/Jordan Brand printing cash in its purest form. It’s virtually all profit here, and consumers are willing to pay even more for it decades later.

Nike has to be thinking about the back end of LeBron’s line now as well. This is printing press profits long after LeBron hangs up his headband for the last time. This is what DVD sales, streaming video, and multi-channel syndication are to the television and film industry – making money long after the fact. Retro product is the footwear industry’s back end.

We’re witnessing the long term value and price elasticity of the Air Jordan catalog right now, we’ll see what Kobe Bryant’s retro line does in the years ahead, and the chips are stacking up on LeBron already as a giant bond note for the company. The Swoosh is paying Bron a hefty endorsement fee now, but once it’s all over, they still have this massive back catalog of signature product they can produce at a whim that’s already been ingrained in sports, sneaker, and popular culture.

So instead of waiting, Nike Basketball seems to want to press the issue of price now and see how far they can take it. Next year’s Nike Zoom Hyperdunk Elite is already scheduled for a double-take inducing $200 MSRP, which would have seemed a little crazy only a few years ago. Back when Michael Jordan came out of retirement in 2001 to join the Washington Wizards, Jordan Brand elevated the price point of that year’s Air Jordan XVII signature model to $200 and watched as sales softened. The Air Jordan flagship has yet to revisit that price since.

Nike’s original Air Foamposite One shoe flopped at $200 but is now doing gangbusters business as a fashion statement retro silhouette that’s been much more widely accepted over a decade later. The history isn’t good here at these high price point levels, but in the case of the Foamposite One for example, all the money is well made up for on the back end where Nike can reasonably expect to clean up strongly on LeBron James.

Could Nike attempt to put out, say, a price breaking $1,000 LeBron shoe on the market by the end of this decade? As fast as the price targets are moving now, anything is possible. $250 appears to be just the beginning.

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Official Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite colorways & technical specs:

- White/Metallic Gold (516958-100)
- Varsity Maize/Black/White (516958-700)
- Wolf Grey/New Green/Mint Candy (516958-001)
- Black/Metallic Gold (516958-002)

UPPER: Combination of Hyperfuse construction with reinforced low stretch Flywire cables and laces. Carbon fiber reinforced in mid-foot and heel.

OUTSOLE: Solid rubber outsole with modified herringbone traction pattern. Exaggerated flex grooves with exposed heel midsole and a forefoot outrigger.

The LeBron P.S. Elite is the pinnacle high-end performance shoe with the style and premium quality expected in LeBron’s signature footwear.

MIDSOLE: Cushlon midsole coupled with 180 Max Air unit in heel and Nike Zoom unit in forefoot. Modified exposed carbon fiber mid-foot shank.

SUMMER 2012 LAUNCH
RETAIL: $250

conterkicks.com

I didn't read cause I'll just be wasting my time trying to find one answer…..Are all the lbj 9's going to cost $250?

Thanks^

$250 ?  NO !

Oct 11, we can preview LeBron 9 iD online 1st
Oct 25, we can order through www.nikeid.com.

Other news
Oct 1 China Edition will release in China
Oct 15, Cannon colorway (limtied) will release in USA 1st

Taking a new approach to the theme, the "China" LeBron 9 concentrates on blue, known to be the hottest part of the flame. That flame is emitted from the mouth of a fire-breathing dragon, the mythical reptilian creature that will represent the next phase of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar.

The tongue of the "China" LeBron 9 features a dragon graphic, similar to the lion we saw used on the LeBron 8 V/2. Orange accents the Swoosh, LeBron logo and heel pull-tab, which features additional flame detailing. Speckle print appears throughout the midsole, which sits atop a light blue 180-Max Air bag and translucent rubber outsole to finish off the look.

Retailers in China currently have these slated to drop on October 3rd.