It’s often been said that truly listening to others is a real skill -  something not many of us have the ability, time or even inclination to do. At Tribe Sports, we strive to do things differently. As a small, nimble brand, one of our key strengths is the ability not just tosay we’re listening, but totruly listen, learn and adapt based on your valuable feedback.

In July, we received a fantastic response to our Product Survey, which has helped to shape our upcoming collection. But we didn’t want it to stop there. We wanted to know more about whatreally made you tick. What did you love about what we were doing? What would you change? How could we give you even better value? Amongst the stacks of data and sprawling spreadsheets, there was one obvious solution - to ask you directly. To give our Tribe the chance to speak - and for us to truly listen.

So in September, we sent out our Promotion Survey to understand more about how you like to shop, what incentivises you and the things you can take or leave. We were delighted to receive an even greater response than we did to our Product Survey (seems you have a lot to say about your shopping habits!). Your comments were insightful, thought-provoking and at times unexpected - but every single one was incredibly useful in guiding our next steps.

Now, we’re pleased to be able to share those insights with you and explain more about how we’re going to be using your feedback to drive tangible actions over the coming months.

No thanks fast fashion

We truly believe it’s time for fast fashion to be left behind and it appears the feeling is mutual, with the vast majority of you opting to purchase new kit once your old kit has well and truly done the miles. A change in season is the next most common reason you’ll be heading to the checkouts, as you stock up on seasonal gaps in your running wardrobe (bring on those thermals!).

Of course, there’s always going to be the excitement of simply trying out something new or different - be it an old favourite in a jazzy new colour, or that new technical piece you’ve had your eye on. As a Tribe who loves to run, keeping your finger on the pulse of the latest product developments ranked highly as a reason you choose to upgrade your kit.

Incentives and blockers

It didn't come as a surprise that price reductions were your biggest buying incentive (who is going to say no to a discount on their favourite kit?!) - with discounts of around 20% being the general sweet spot for a majority of you. Environmental incentives were also hugely important, with big support for sustainable, community driven initiatives such as our Buy One, Get One Tree pledge.

You’re clearly a community who values each other's opinion, as product reviews and personal recommendations were cited time and time again as a key reason you choose to purchase from us. To our surprise, very few of you were interested in a specific rewards programme (back to the drawing board for the marketing team on that one!), preferring for loyalty to be rewarded in alternative ways.

In line with the feedback that discounts provide the biggest incentive for you to purchase, many of you told us the biggest blocker to purchase was that you considered our prices to be too high as a casual shopper - although those of you who had purchased were keen to highlight our products were exceptional in their quality, performance and fit, so therefore represented great value. 

So what next?

We understand that 2020 has been a year like no other and that times are challenging for everyone at the moment. We want to find unique ways to continue to bring you high quality performance kit at exceptional value - and to reward our loyal Tribe members, many of whom have been with us since the very start.

As part of our mission to always truly listen to our Tribe, there are a few things we'll be changing going forward - and some things that we’ll keep doing more of.

• Rewarding your loyalty - Whether you're a recent convert or a long standing member of the Tribe, we want to say a BIG thank you to each and every one of you. With one off treats for new customers and lifetime rewards for our wider community, it's our way of continuing to bring you high quality, sustainable, performance kit at the best possible value. (Insider tip: keep an eye on your inbox and our website for more details).
• Delivering the kit you love - Regular product surveys will help shape our collections going forward, ensuring we are producing kit powered by our Tribe, for our Tribe.
• Putting our best foot forward - We’ll be putting our customer reviews front and centre to ensure you can continue to make informed decisions about the products you love, based on real feedback from our community.
• Driving positive change - We'll continue to support the environmental issues you care most about, giving back to the running community and the environment we all love to run in.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in our survey. We look forward to taking these next exciting steps forward with you.