After debuting in Long Beach last November, online retailer Zen is officially going to launch its online platform during ComplexCon Chicago this weekend. But as anyone who attended 2018’s event knows first-hand, simply calling Zen an online retailer is an understatement. The brand has worked with Complex on its Sole Origins series, which breaks down the history of some of the most important cities in the culture, and hosted a Sole Origins-themed booth in Long Beach with giveaways of rare sneakers. This year, Zen plans to go even bigger by running two booths at ComplexCon Chicago along with the re-launch of its website (findzen.com). Ahead of the big weekend, Zen general manager Karim Wazani peeled back the curtain on the mystique surrounding the platform.
“I’ve used the tagline ‘the evolution of e-commerce,’” Wazani says when asked to break down Zen in layman’s terms. “While there’s been innovations in the sneakers themselves and even some of the stores have kind of evolved, there really hasn’t been huge changes made to the websites that handle this kind of product. And we really wanted to change that.”
An online retailer first and foremost, Zen is unique in that it also emphasizes real-life activations and events, although it does not operate a traditional brick-and-mortar store. In a time when many brands and retailers talk the “experience" talk and use it as a buzzword of sorts, Zen is actually prioritizing it with installations like a 20-foot-by-10-foot sneaker hologram fans can expect to see this weekend in Chicago.
“Rather than just having a bunch of shoes visible to a customer, we want to take the time to tell the stories behind the product, to really kind of celebrate the aesthetics of the product by having different functionality and ways to look at product—having some AR functionality and things like that. We're looking for physical experiences as well as kinds of digital experiences because we think that in order to be successful, in order to really interact or engage, you have to exist in both worlds. So we're creating a lot of partnerships and [doing] things like concerts and community outreach like that where we have more physical presence than a more traditional kind of commerce engine would,” Wazani said.
Beyond its efforts to engage customers in person, Zen has a few unique tricks up its sleeve for its website. Wazani touts the platform’s proprietary tech to combat bots, which he says takes into account everything from a user’s credit card information to their IP address to ensure real people are getting their hands on the product.
Despite Zen’s reputation for giving away coveted sneakers (ComplexCon Chicago attendees can expect a selection of super-rare Air Jordans including samples and player exclusives), one thing Wazani stresses is that it is not a resale store and that all of its product will be offered for retail.
Following its second ComplexCon appearance and the launch of its website this weekend, Wazani says readers can expect to see Zen “all over the place” in the years to come. Tentative plans include partnerships with sports teams and athletes, along with a continued presence at events. In addition to its Sole Origins booth paying homage to the city of Chicago, Zen will also be operating the official ComplexCon merchandise booth.
