Expensive running shoes are rated worse than cheap ones, according to a international survey. RunRepeat.com looked at over 130,000 reviews of nearly
ADVERTISEMENTExpensive running shoes are rated worse than cheap ones, according to a international survey.
RunRepeat.com looked at over 130,000 reviews of nearly 400 different running shoes from 24 brands.
It found that the higher the list price, the lower the shoes’ ratings, and the ten most expensive shoes rated worse than the ten cheapest.
“80% of all the runners buy the same five running shoes, even though there are better alternatives to them,” said RunRepeat.com founder Jens Jakob Andersen. We tend to buy what’s promoted a lot and not what other people actually like. So what we see is that expensive running shoes have so many extra-features that we might not need and that can be one explanation why they get worse ratings than the cheaper and more affordable running shoes.”
RunRepeat.com is privately funded and operates by selling reviews to online stores. It says the study is the first to compare the correlation between the list price of running shoes and and reviews.
Andersen claims the study aims “to inform consumers, not to promote or hurt any specific brands”.
On people’s apparent tendency to purchase expensive shoes, he says “people buy three times as expensive shoes to get eight percent less satisfied. This makes me question the consumerism we are experiencing towards premium running shoes”.
