Efforts by brands and retailers to clear out aging inventory in the market has pushed discount penetration in the U.S. sneaker market up 9.1 percent year-to-date and up by an average of 29.5 percent over the last two quarters, according to the USA Sneaker Market Index from Centric Pricing. Discounting is currently at its highest average since March 2021.

The current discounting trend is offsetting steadily rising MSRPs for sneakers, which increased by 4.6 percent on average in 2022 and have rocketed up by 12.3 percent on average since Jan. 2020 to an average $126.89 per pair in March 2023, the competitor benchmarking, pricing intelligence and trend forecasting platform reported.

“The data throws up some interesting trends,” stated Centric Pricing expert Elizabeth Shobert. “Brands and retailers are pricing sneakers higher and higher, which is not surprising when we consider the wider context of inflation and its impact on raw material, shipping and energy costs. However, higher original prices are not being followed by sales at full price as consumers face discretionary spending pressure.”

Shobert continued, “The breadth and depth of discounting in the USA sneaker market is noticeably increasing. Brands and retailers are being pushed to drop prices in order to move aging inventory. To navigate the ongoing volatility, companies will need to do a better job at predicting trends and focus more on producing exactly the products that consumers want, and in the right amounts; planning more targeted assortments by channel and store; and using resources more efficiently to control design and production costs.”