As sneaker culture advances to bigger and more mainstream levels, so are the tools becoming available to us to even be able to buy the kicks we love and line up for. However, Copdate is doubling down on the love while eliminating the lines altogether.
Acting as a digital middle man of sorts, the sneaker app was created in a way to make a super seamless interaction for both the sneakerheads and the sneaker sellers. What makes it stand out, you ask? We could break it down for you, but we’d rather give you the answer straight from the source — pun 100% intended! — by chopping it up with the company’s CEO Andrew Raisman. From the start to the current state, we got all the inside info on an app that will literally change your sneaker shopping experience for the better.
Keep scrolling to get a better understanding behind Copdate, the new sneaker app that will soon be your go-to for copping kicks — that is, if it isn’t already:
The Source: What’s the history behind Copdate and your reasoning for even starting the app?
Andrew Raisman: I’m an old, hardwired sneaker collector that’s been doing it for 25 years. I’ve seen the evolution in the market, from the old days where you could just walk into a Foot Locker and pick up whatever you wanted, to now where thousands of people could line up and sneakers are going for $5,000; I saw that evolution transform. Weekend after weekend, release after release, we saw so many customers ending up empty-handed or the problems that could come from violence at line-ups. However, where there’s a problem, for an entrepreneur there’s a solution. The idea was, if I can find a way to make this easier and “hassle-free” for the customer then this would be a game-changer. I came up with Copdate, and the whole premise was to partner up with stores and have them release the product through the app. Users would then get notified in real-time when reservations for certain products open. It’s at random times, so you don’t need to have a hookup or know the owner. Once you hit the “Cop” button, the reservation is on your phone and you come into the store on the release day. If 1,000 people are on line, all you have to do is walk in, show your reservation, purchase the shoe and you’re done. It’s hassle-free for the customer and the store.
“A store that can come up with activations that will penetrate and connect with the user will get a stronger connection from the customer that will lead to lifetime value…that person is buying from the store based off his past experience with Copdate. It’s about creating relationships that last beyond a single transaction.”
— Andrew Raisman, Copdate (CEO)
Whatever kind of release the store or brand wants — driving traffic to a location, managing line-ups, virtual line-ups, waiting lists, raffles, RSVPs, in-store events — we make it happen. We have the tools, bandwidth and expertise to do it in a couple of clicks. Since we started, there’s been tens of thousands of hassle-free cops on the app, from YEEZYs and Jordans to OFF-WHITE.
It’s so dope how the app even works! The current state of sneaker culture feels like it’s open to everybody — no longer reserved just for certified sneakerheads. Copdate makes it even easier for more and more people to get involved in the culture, whether it’s the mom getting sneakers for her child’s graduation or the child using the money he got from graduation to buy the sneakers himself. Was that intentional?
That’s why I always say hassle-free. If you had to go through a whole 20-step process with fingerprinting and DNA samples it wouldn’t be easy [Laughs]; it could become a real pain in the butt. We can’t guarantee a win for every single user and release. If there were enough shoes for every customer to get what they wanted, there wouldn’t be a Copdate or line-ups in general. The fact is, using the app feels like an “in-and-out” process. It’s just one tap, and whether you win or lose you go on with your life. There’s no anxiety or investment of your time, and definitely no waiting outside. Once you hit the button, it’s either “Congratulations!” or “Try again!” In this conversation alone I could’ve copped 10 shoes without missing a beat. Making it easy is part of the overall experience. You’re always one tap away from any hype release you want.
Apps nowadays are basically the new form of online shopping, but with buying things through the digital market there’s always that hurdle of not being able to physically see what you’re bidding on upfront. How does Copdate combat that and assure authentic and premium quality stuff?
We only release products through retail stores or the brands themselves. There’s no peer-to-peer releasing or individual people releasing stuff on the app. You’re buying product from Packer Shoes, BAPE, Commonwealth, Extra Butter, atmos — it’s coming directly from those brands or their stores. I’d say 95% of our releases are in-store pick-ups. You cop the reservation in the app, but then fulfill the purchase at the actual store. We sell the reservation, not the actual product, but even if we did it’s coming straight from the store.
When it comes to sneakers like YEEZYs and Jordans, the sneaker sites have made it to where you feel like you’ve already worn the shoe before you even go pick it up. Buying a wedding dress might be different, although not a lot of people are buying wedding dresses on Copdate [Laughs], but the app at its binary level is a pipeline that connects a brand to a consumer. The mechanics that the app uses are, while not infinite, very ample. We have many, many different ways to drive engagement and immersive experience between the brand and the customer. We even have this thing called “micro pop-ups,” where the user is forced to be at a specific location to access the release. For example, a store could say, “You can access the release through the app, but you have to come to the store for the release to be available. If you’re outside the store, down the street or down the block, the app will tell you that you’re too far away. Another way is like, the first 50 people to find the hidden pop-up in Manhattan will be able to cop the new OFF-WHITE release. Technology itself isn’t the endgame; it’s the experience that you can use the technology to create that matters. A store that can come up with activations that will penetrate and connect with the user will get a stronger connection from the customer that will lead to lifetime value going up. Even when there’s not a hype release or a line-up, that person is buying from the store based off his past experience with Copdate. It’s about creating relationships that last beyond a single transaction.
You guys are now working with the new Copdate 3.2 update, correct? Tell us a little more about what all comes with that.
There are loads of new features that are going into it. Most notably are the micro pop-ups, but there’s also insider drops, invitation-only events, and a waiting list feature that makes it so that in the event that winning reservations don’t get fulfilled, you get the first shot at claiming them. On a business level, one of the most significant updates is the revenue module. Historically, everything has been under a free ecosystem — all the transactions, reservations and raffles have been free. It’ll continue to be free in certain instances, but depending on the type of release certain drops will be required to be confirmed reservation. This is us telling the brands that these are reservations that are confirmed to purchase, because sometimes people enter many times and don’t claim it in the store. Our duty as Copdate is to make the process as seamless and high value for the end user as well as our retail partners.
It really seems like Copdate cares about the easiness and overall shopping experience for the consumer. How do you guys plan on keeping the momentum going as the brand continues to update and grow into a bigger platform for sneaker culture?
We’re pushing to expand the scope beyond footwear. Copdate as it is today is focused on the sneaker world, mainly because I’m a sneakerhead myself. I’m infatuated and know the market really well, but we realized really fast that if you look at the way sneakerheads react towards sneakers, it’s very similar to how a fan reacts to his favorite rock star; it’s a fan-based reaction. In regular retail, everyone’s competing toward one another — they’re putting stuff on sale, giving promotions, and doing discounts to attract customers. With fan-based interactions, customers are competing with themselves or other customers to have access to the store. It’s pretty much the inverse. Whether it’s a new YEEZY, a Hello Kitty, a Kylie Jenner lip kit, ComicCon — it’s all the same! That consumer behavior is what Copdate is all about, not just the product alone. All these different marketplaces and verticals that have this fan-based obsession with product is what we’re after. We’ll continue to expand and add on to what already exists in the sneaker world.
