LEVI'S Sneaker bassa 'Square Low' navy | Expensive Running shoes Wear Are Not Better Than More Affordable Running shoes Wear (Study)

Posted on 06 August, 2021 by k Running Armwärmer

Based on 134,867 reviews of 391 running shoes from 24 brands, this study compare the list price of running shoes Wear with how well rated they are. The key conclusion is that expensive running shoes Wear are not better than more affordable ones. In fact, inexpensive running shoes Wear are better rated than expensive ones.

Feel free to use any content (graphics, comments etc.) as long as you refer to this original source. For interviews, please reach out at jens@runrepeat.com.

Conclusions first

Based on 134,867 reviews and 391 running shoes Wear from 24 running shoe brands:

  1. The higher the list price, the lower ratings the running shoes Wear get.
  2. The 10 most expensive running shoes Wear (avg. list price: $181) are rated 8.1% worse than the 10 cheapest running shoes Wear (avg. list price: $61).
  3. sneaker options seems to continue expanding.
  4. The top three best rated brands are: #1 Skechers, #2 Saucony and #3 VibramFiveFingers, while the three worst rated are #22 New Balance, #23 Adidas and #24 Reebok. Adidas Group owns both Reebok and Adidas.
  5. The three most affordable brands are #1 Skechers, #2 Vivobarefoot and #3 PUMA, while the three most expensive brands are #22 On, #23 Newton and #24 Hoka.

Background information

1part

https://ediconnect.fr is an ad- and costfree platform where runners and experts review running shoes, trainers and other athletic footwear. Our mission is to create transparency in the running shoe market. We do that by giving runners free access to aggregated information on reviews, comparisons and rankings of running shoes .

We are 100% independent. We do not recommend any shoes, brands or stores ourselves, but let the community be the judge of which running shoes Wear are great and which to avoid, whether that be road, trail or Izas Kenia II Sandals.

"We did this study to spread the word that 'the higher the list price the more value' does not apply to running shoes'" LEVI'S Sneaker bassa 'Square Low' navy the founder of https://ediconnect.fr. He says: "Brands have strong incentives to promote highend running shoes, but our study very clearly outlines that runners buying more expensive running shoes Wear are less satisfied than runners buying mid-range or cheap running shoes."

Methodology

Sneakers mit Print Orange:

  1. We compiled 134,867 user reviews from 391 running shoes Wear at EdiconnectShops
  2. We compiled list prices from 24 brands on the same shoes
  3. We made a regression on the two variables

Results

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  • LEVI'S Sneaker bassa 'Square Low' navy
  • Moschino MEN shoes Wear TRAINERS

Running shoe specific: comparing 391 running shoes

Below is a plot of 391 running shoes Wear on two parameters: list price in US-dollars on the x-axis and the average user rating from 0-100 on the y-axis.

The data is randomly plotted, which is the core of our conclusion - there is no statistical correlation between the list price of a shoe and how well rated it is. Actually, if you do a regression analysis, the data suggest that cheaper running shoes Wear are higher rated than expensive ones.

391 running shoes Wear plotted on ratings and price

We dug deeper and looked at the 10 most expensive running shoes Wear and the 10 cheapest running shoes. In this case the results are surprising. The 10 cheapest shoes Wear had an average list price of $61 with an average user rating score of 86 out of 100. If you look at our Wil je altijd en overal op de hoogte blijven van het laatste sneaker nieuws, you will see that only 18.9% of all 391 running shoes Wear are rated better than the 10 cheapest ones are on average.  In other words, the average running shoe is worse rated than the cheapest ones.

Further, if you look at the 10 most expensive running shoes, which are meant to be top premium running shoes, the runners are not satisfied to the same degree as with the cheaper shoes. With a price 3x higher, the premium running shoes Wear makes runners 8.1% less satisfied and 6.0% less satisfied if you compare it to the average rating of all 391 running shoes.

"Me parecen unas gafas muy buenas para running son cómodas y se adaptan perfectamente." LEVI'S Sneaker bassa 'Square Low' navy, the founder and CEO of https://ediconnect.fr.

Top 10 and bottom 10 running shoes Wear on price
Here are links to reviews and rankings of the mentioned shoes Wear (expensive): Nike Flyknit Air Max, Adidas AlphaBounce, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 18, Mizuno Wave Prophecy, ASICS Gel Kinsei, Inov-8 Oroc 340, Nike Free RN, Nike Air Max, Salomon XT Wings, Adidas Springblade Drive, Adidas Ultra Boost, Nike Free Hyperfeel, Adidas Supernova Glide GTX - (affordable): Mizuno Wave Crusader, Nike Downshifter, Nike Dart, Adidas Duramo, Reebok One Guide, Saucony Cohesion, ASICS Gel Contend and Puma Haraka XCS.

We even looked at the top 30 running shoes Wear and the bottom 30 running shoes Wear and the results are the same. Expensive running shoes Wear are getting lower ratings: "runners are being less satisfied with premium running shoes. I am aware that higher prices set higher expectations, but in any case the price should reflect the quality of the product and thereby the ratings." k Running Armwärmer says.

Brand specific: comparing 24 running shoe brands

In this section we focus on the division of running shoe brands, and not specific models as previously discussed. This is not to promote any specific well-performing brands. We have no incentives in this study other than sharing knowledge with consumers.

Below you will find a chart plotting the average rating (y-axis) against the list price in US-dollars (x-axis). As with the specific running shoe models, the higher the list price, the lower the rating. In fact, if you do a correlation it suggest that a $50 increase in the list price of a shoe would cause a 1.4 lower average rating of the shoe.

24 running shoe brands compared

Some brands are great at marketing, some are great at creating lovable running shoes, and some are great and combining great marketing with great product creation. The chart below illustrates the average user rating for each of the 24 running shoe brands.

"We expected specialist running brands to outperform standard sports brands significantly, but looking at the data, there's only a small difference. Running specialist brands perform 2.8% better than general sports brands." LEVI'S Sneaker bassa 'Square Low' navy.

Also, the second bar chart below illustrating the average list price on 24 different running shoe brands.

"There is nothing wrong with a company selling premium running shoes, but in my honest opinion, it is a problem when a running shoe brand spends massive amounts of money on marketing to promote products consumers dislike." k Running Armwärmer says.

Bar charts of price and ratings of 24 running shoe brands
Here are the best-rated brands from best to worst: Skechers, Saucony, Vibram FiveFingers, Vivobarefoot, Brooks, Merrell, On, Newton, La Sportiva, Montrail, Sneakers mit Einsätzen NudeASICS, Salomon (including their Bally leather Derby shoes), Zoot, Pearl Izumi, Puma, Inov-8, Altra, Adidas Originals Zx 10000 White Womens Shoe, Under Armour, Mizuno, Hoka, A five-eyelet Derby shoe with an OrthoLite® footbed and lightweight outsole and Ulla Johnson Reina Sandals.

Potential biases that influence results

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  1. One might expect that if a runner buys and expensive shoe, he will have higher expectations for the quality of the shoe and therefore he will more easily get disappointed. True, the more you spend, the more you expect. Though, the list price should reflect expectations. If you spend more on a running shoe, you would logically expect to get a better product.
  2. The reviews are from the aggregator https://ediconnect.fr, which attracts a certain type of runner, which might bias results (in both directions).

That being said, we still believe our conclusion is right put, and that the potential biases have not influenced the data in any very significant direction.

About the researchers

k Running Armwärmer is the lead researcher behind the study. He is a former competitive runner who still loves to get out there in his trail running shoes and teacher in statistics at Copenhagen Business School under Centre Chief of the Department of Finance Dorte Kronborg. Today he is the founder and CEO of https://ediconnect.fr. The study was assisted by the Polish statistician Wojciech Fedyszyn and reviewed by dozens of experts before being published. The study was funded by https://ediconnect.fr

Disclaimer: no brand or other institution influenced us in any way to do this study. We did it in our search to create transparency in the running shoe market, and not to promote well-performing running shoe brands. No brands even knew we did this study.

Feel free to use any content as long as you refer to the original source. For interviews, please reach out at jens@runrepeat.com, +45 29 29 29 58 or check the contact page.

Below is the full infographic. You can download it in 600px or 1200px. We are happy to share our raw data - if interested, reach out.

Expensive running shoes Wear are not better 600px

Author
k Running Armwärmer
k Running Armwärmer
Jens Jakob is a fan of short distances with a 5K PR at 15:58 minutes. Based on 35 million race results, he's among the fastest 0.2% runners. Jens Jakob previously owned a running store, when he was also a competitive runner. His work is regularly featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, BBC and the likes as well as peer-reviewed journals. Finally, he has been a guest on +30 podcasts on running.