2024 UK Footwear Market Performance Report

Getting ahead of the crowds isn’t easy in any industry, but in one as iconic and as competitive as footwear? It’s even trickier. That makes the moves that New Balance, Adidas and Nike have made even more impressive. Nike managed to race ahead to 1st place, with an outstanding 35% difference on the previous year, with Adidas not too far behind on a 27% rise.

New Balance, however, deserves a lot of praise. For being not as well known in the industry compared to these two, they’ve made their mark with a huge 49% difference on their performance last year, beating other footwear giants like Clarks to that sweet third place.

Now, while we love to laud a winner, we also need to look to those lagging behind. It’s important to see what they’re missing out on, what conditions can be improved, and how they can, perhaps, reclaim their standing in the next year.

Coming in dead last is, sadly, JD Sports. While they’re an icon of the UK high street, it seems online they’ve had a different experience, with a -27% fall from the year before. Not too far ahead is another giant, Sports Direct, with -26%. And then, just a little ahead of these two is Foot Asylum, with -15%.

If you’re one of these three, don’t let these downward swings discourage you. Instead, see them as a signal to shake things up, explore new opportunities, and challenge areas that haven't been utilised much before.

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Just like in other industries, having a strong online presence and digital reach is crucial in the world of footwear. It's about ensuring customers not only remember you but also rave about what you offer, making it essential not only to showcase your brand but also to generate buzz across multiple platforms. From TikTok to Instagram, a broad online reach is vital. By optimising your content and campaigns on search engines and social media, you can make a significant impact and gain much more recognition within the industry.

Because of this, we’ve taken up the task of making a digital reach league table as part of our reports. This comes together by taking into account monthly brand searches and social media engagement, creating a metric that helps track who is standing firm in the digital scene compared to their peers.

So, who’s the top of the pile? Perhaps unsurprisingly, once again it’s Nike. Look, there’s a reason they’re the icon of the footwear industry, and with over 10,000,000 X engagements (yes, we’d rather say Twitter, too) and astronomic numbers across other platforms like Facebook and Instagram, they’re blazing ahead of anyone else.

Usually, we’d talk about second place here. And to give them credit, that’s Adidas. But, no shade to them, it’s interesting to take a look into a slightly different part of the market with the third place winner, Converse. Their social showing is strong, with a total owned social score of 106002, but what’s interesting is how they’re using their organic visibility (with a combined volume of 396652) to help feed into this, and vice versa. Considering that their shoes are different from the other lead runners, it looks like there’s plenty to learn from their tactics.

If you want to see how your brand measures up, go ahead and download the free report now.

Those of you who’ve seen our past reports may know we love to talk about keywords. While eyes are often on the biggest search volume holders, it’s the smaller ops that often help brands make huge leaps ahead in the space. Less competition, but more conversion potential!

So, when it comes to footwear, what’s the situation? Which keywords hold the best opportunities? Are they big rollers, or is it more niche? Let’s take a quick look.

What’s interesting about the keywords this time around is the showing of specific terms. People want the trending footwear, or are looking for an exact shoe for their needs. It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Leading the way is “clogs”, with 24000 searches. This was a trending type of footwear for a time, and it seems people are still interested in modern takes on what many imagine as a wooden classic. More specifics include “wedges”, with 15000, “safety boots” and “work boots” (with 19000 and 18000, respectively), and “trail running shoes”, with 16000.

There’s also some variation for age, with “kids trainers” and “boys school shoes”, with 20000 and 17000 each, and then “mens sandals” sitting at a not too shabby 12000. All of these would be great options to target, with a lower general competitive rate compared to the big name keywords in the space.

The other one to note is the use of sales alongside these particulars. “Boots sale” has 20000 searches behind it, showing that with the way of the world at the moment, users are wanting to be a bit more frugal without compromising on what they need.

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