Nike is exploring a new way to get limited edition shoes directly to their fans without the madness of an in-store shoe sale. Through a partnership with Snapchat, they are now able to sell their shoes through the app, opening up a new world of social media shopping opportunities.

The attendees of the Jumpman All-Star afterparty following the NBA All-Star Game had the opportunity to scan an exclusive snapcode and purchase the pre-release Air Jordan III ‘Tinker’ shoes that would be delivered at 10:30pm that night. Through a partnership with Darkstore, Snap, Shopify, R/GA and Nike’s Jordan brand, the shoes sold out in 23 minutes.

Dan Harbison, global senior director of digital at the Jordan brand said: “When we look at doing digital marketing, we really want to make sure we engage the community with something the consumer has never seen before.”

Snap added to the experience of purchasing the shoes at the event with 3D augmented reality Michael Jordan lens that fans could access within the geofenced area of the party. Encapsulating the fans experience of the event and purchasing the shoes while directly involving their social media for brand advertising, Nike is moving forward into this new era of creating an experience for customers during shopping to keep them involved with the brand.

This campaign represents Snap’s moves to enter the e-commerce market and increase users by creating an increasingly fun involvement in shopping and communication.

This is not Nike’s first foray into finding new ways to sell their shoes to give fans the ultimate experience but through Snap they are looking to reach increasing numbers of fans. Selling this way also supports the brand’s goal to increase the number of shoes going directly to fans and not getting snatched by bots and resellers.