Loving my TOMS!

I’ve been hearing about TOMS shoes for a while now.  I was never very interested in buying a pair though.  I love the idea of the company donating one for one, but they aren’t exactly what I would call fashionable.  I also figure I can donate money on my own, and I don’t need to do it through buying a pair of shoes.  Despite all of this, my mom bought my brother and I TOMS shoes last Christmas.  They were the typical, plain black ones.  I didn’t care for them much at the time, and they sat in my closet unused for about a year.  This winter, I was in desperate need of closed-toe shoes so I gave them a try and boy was I pleasantly surprised.  They are so comfortable!! Why had I waited so long to try them on? Why in the world wasn’t I told in the past few years how comfortable they were?  On the website, the “one for one” movement, but their comfort is not advertized at all.  If I had known, I would have used the pair much earlier. 

Now I see these shoes in a whole new light.  I notice many people wearing them on campus, and I appreciate seeing them.  They have recently come out with new and fun prints, which I think will help with more sales.  They have become a fashion statement, but instead of saying, “I love fashion”, they say, “I love helping others.” This Christmas my grandmother asked me what I wanted.  I thought TOMS would be a perfect gift.  Sometimes people want to buy you something even when you insist it is not necessary.  Receiving a pair of TOMS, as a gift, is the best of both worlds: you receive new shoes and so does someone in need!  I also bought a pair for a friend of mine.  :) 

TOMS have become very popular.  My question is what has lead to this success? Like Coke, is the story behind the brand the main factor? OR is it  the look or comfort of the shoe? What types of people buy TOMS? Is there anything that could have made the business even more successful? What price would have been too high?

What other products will this idea work for?  Does the item have to be something that is publicly seen? For example, would consumers pay an inflated amount for furniture or kitchen appliances that only a few people would notice? Or are consumers drawn to the fact that people will know they own the item? When I see someone walking around in TOMS, I definitely have a good impression of them, and I know people feel the same about me when they see me in TOMS.  Does this play a part into why consumers buy them?

It is my understanding that using a different business plan probably wouldn’t have worked as well. For example, if people were given the choice to buy a pair of TOMS for $35 (another pair would not be donated) or buy a pair for $50 and another pair would be donated, I believe people would not spend the extra money. The fact that they are not given a choice makes this successful. Other people wouldn’t know whether a consumer bought the TOMS for $30 or paid extra to donate another pair.

Like I said, if I had known these shoes were so comfortable, I would have used them a lot earlier.  This reminds me of the Aeron chair we read about in Chapter 5 of Kenna’s Dilemma. The chair was built to be comfortable but the look was so different and new that people had a bad first reaction to it. Should TOMS have advertised the comfort of the shoes more to combat the “dull” look of the shoe? On the other hand, would advertising their comfort take away from the story behind the product?

As I explained in my first blog, I am very interested in nonprofit organizations.  I want to either start my own nonprofit organization or play a very important role.  For this reason, this company is of great interest to me.  Maybe one day I can duplicate this idea and build a similar business (for a different product, of course). 

"The Business of Giving: TOMS Shoes" explains some answers to the previous questions and gives customer insight. The article explains that TOMS has proven to be “recession-proof.” They are not losing business during the recession. In fact, they are hiring. Why? The article says, “Consumers are now conscious about where they put their dollars. A product like TOMS that gives to others is appealing to people more than ever.” I think the price is perfect. They are not too expense. For a comfortable pair of shoes, someone with an average salary would not think twice about buying them.

Another reason, the article says, that people buy TOMS is because of the story attached to the product. “Buyers feel so good about their purchase they want to tell others about it.” There is a ‘how-cool-is-this buzz’ and the news spreads like wildfire through word-of-mouth.

The TOMS business plan was a great idea and has proven to be very successful. I want to discover everything TOMS did right and everything they did wrong (if anything). I also hope to discover what other products this idea could work for. I believe this business plan is worth pursuing for many different products in the future.