Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Marketing Case Study: Bombas Socks

Bombas Socks

Bombas is a company that sells socks. It was founded by in 2013 two guys, David Heath and Randy Goldberg, with a mission to create the world's best sock while doing good. They have an altruistic business model where one pair purchased = one pair donated.



Heath & Goldberg saw a statistic that socks are the number one requested and needed item at homeless shelters across the US. Because of the transient lifestyle, clean socks are really important to homeless people. Heath & Goldberg designed their business around this need, while also setting out to create the world's best sock. This past month, Bombas donated it's millionth pair of socks, which means they also so their millionth pair of socks. They created the below video to highlight their story and talk about the company. I saw this video on Facebook through a sponsored post from the company.


Bombas is a company selling a niche product to a clientele with an otaku. There are a lot of companies making socks at all sorts of quality and price points.  Bombas comes in on the high end of price and perceived quality. The average price for a single pair is $15. Bombas sells a lot of different sock varieties in a number of materials all at a premium price point (for socks anyway). People who care about socks are willing to spend money on Bombas socks.

Bombas' value proposition is making the world's best sock. They are doing good along the way, but I don't think that is necessarily part of their value proposition. I think that is a fringe benefit for the company and helps the consumer feel better about their purchase. I'd be willing to spend a little bit more money on a pair of socks for myself, if I knew the company was also donating a pair of socks to a homeless shelter for someone in need.

If I all of a sudden decided to get rid of all the socks I currently own and was shopping around for a new sock, I'd probably give Bombas a try. Right now though, I'm pretty happy with my sock drawer, but in the future who knows. Because I saw their video about giving away their millionth pair, I now know about this company and feel positively towards them. When I do need socks, or hear someone talking about how they need socks, I'll probably tell them about Bombas.

I find it interesting that I hadn't heard of Bombas until I saw their video on Facebook. I was targeted somehow, probably based on my age, gender, and region. On Facebook, I don't follow any clothing companies or celebrities, so I don't think I was targeted that way. I think the company could benefit from more outreach stuff like this. For the money spent to produce the video and sponsor it on Facebook, I think the benefit is worth it. They could also run ads on Instagram. They do have an interesting Instagram feed. They not only share photos of their socks and people doing different activities in their socks, but they also share photos of the outreach they do with the homeless community. Below are 2 examples of this.




















Link: Selling High-End Socks by Giving Them Away





No comments:

Post a Comment