Crocs insight to $2.3 billion annual revenues 💸
In under 2 minutes understand category creation, wedging & upselling.
Welcome to the 87th edition of the GrowthX Newsletter. Every Tuesday & Thursday I write a piece on startups & business growth. Today’s piece is going to 94,400+ operators & leaders from startups like Google, Stripe, Swiggy, Razorpay, CRED & more
Have you ever bought Crocs? 🐊
Fact : Crocs made $2.3 billion revenue in 2021 💰
Here's how Crocs is nailing category creation ⬇️
Quick context 🗓
Started in 2002 in Colorado state in the US, Crocs has an interesting set of footwear line. They are called "Crocs Clogs" - not a chappal, not a shoe, not a sandal.
So what's the big deal, you ask? 🤔
Crocs has a deeper understanding of what it really is selling. clogs aren't the most stylish footwear out there. But they are the most comfortable every day footwear I have ever worn. (I am legit typing this wearing the classic white stripe Clogs)
Second, footwear is bought for a purpose 🎯
Chappals for typically homes or that grocery run, Sandals for everyday walks, burgan shoes for parties, Nike for sports shoes & so on. Clogs are for everything except parties. Wear them at office, stroll walks or that grocery run, hell use it on a trek, arguably.
Third, the price point & longevity ✨
Typical Clog would cost you Rs. 2.5K per pair & would last atleast 4 years if not more. That's crazy steal if you think about how much do you spend on everyday casual footwear.
Fourth, a strong upsell 💰
This is where Crocs really nailed it. They made sure clogs have holes onto it and a personalisation could fit in (Jibbitz charms shown in the image above). Each of these customisations come at a Rs. 250 price point. Yes, you read that right. Go to a Crocs store and try to resist the urge to buy these charms.
But they haven't stopped at just the classic crocs 🙏🏼
They keep selling all other category now. A user typically enters the ecosystem with the classic Croc but then goes onto buying flip-flops, sides, sandals, shoes.
Crocs is using the wedging strategy 🧠
Footwear is a brutal market across the world. Crocs strategy is to win a large market by initially capturing a tiny part of a larger market (using Clogs) & then a large part of a small adjacent market (for example, flip-flops)
Why you need to understand this?🚦
Even at GrowthX®, we go deeper into building growth strategies for category creating products vs "me-too" products. It's a decision, the sooner you take, it helps you distribute your product & with a right product feature. If you are building for category defining products, you might want to checkout the GrowthX Experience on how you build the science behind category creation, wedging & upselling the right product features.
That’s all for now ✨
Happy Diwali for everyone who is reading this from India 💙