Durban-born Wandile Sibisi (pictured here) has capitalised on his love of sneaker culture to set up his own online store which sells both new and pre-owned limited-edition sneakers. In the first four months after launching, RareStep has doubled its turnover and appears in luxury shops around South Africa. We spoke to Wandile to find out more about his digital entrepreneurship journey.

If there’s one thing that entrepreneur Wandile Sibisi won’t allow you to do, it’s to call the shoes he sells on his online store tekkies. They are sneakers – and luxury sneakers at that. Although they are pre-owned, most of them have never been worn before. They include the likes of Air Jordan 1s and Yeezy Drops, allowing you to look like your favourite celebrity – if you’re willing to pay the price tag.

Wandile has known all along that he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but he thought he needed to be a chartered accountant first. “I won a scholarship through the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation and decided to do a BCom at Wits University,” he explains. Although he firmly believed he was going the accounting route, he realised along the way it wasn’t a pre-requisit to be successful in business.

“We concluded the business deal online. The first time we met each other was at their Sandton City store after the deal had already been signed!”

The first forays he made into entrepreneurship were while he was still studying. “In 2017, I imported wireless Bluetooth earphones from China and sold them using social media marketing,” he says. “I saw the potential of scaling a business and getting angel investors on board.”

His next business venture was handrail advertising on escalators in malls, which had taken off in Europe, but didn’t really catch on locally. Next, Wandile distributed digital advertising charging stations to restaurants. “The idea was that customers could charge their cell phones, while ads displayed on the charging stations,” he says. “The business model was that the restaurants got to use the charging stations for free, which was paid for by the advertising.”

Though he eventually gave it up, Wandile did meet older, more seasoned entrepreneurs through this venture. “It made me realise how possible it was to earn a living from starting your own business and fuelled my desire to continue,” he says.

“It was wonderful to have all the support I needed to start up my own business. I’ve always sought out mentorship and ways of short-cutting your jourey through life.” 

Having grown up in Umlazi, sneaker culture was part of Wandile’s DNA. “Whenever I turned on the TV as a child, I always saw my favourite musicians, actors and influencers rocking the latest Air Jordan and Yeezy drops,” he remembers. “I saw soccer players wearing Air Jordans before matches, basketball players always dripping in the latest Js and YouTubers wearing hyped sneakers and luxury streetwear.”

He thought of starting his own sneaker brand, following the likes of Bathu’s Theo Baloyi and Lekau Sehoana of Drip, but realised it would be best to sell the established brands. While he was researching the market, he stumbled across Luxity, another South African seller of pre-owned luxury brands, such as Gucci, Chanel and Prada. “I reached out to the two founders of Luxity, Michael Zahariev and Luke Calitz on LinkedIn, and we had an online video call,” he says. Michael and Luke asked Wandile to prepare a go-to-market strategy, financial projections, an operational model and a scaling model. “After they looked through all the plans, they agreed to come on board as equal partners and we concluded the business deal online,” Wandile shares with a wry smile. “The first time we met each other was at their Sandton City store after the deal had already been signed!”

Wandile then had three months to set up his RareStep website with BOnline, another of Michael and Luke’s businesses. “It was wonderful to have all the support I needed to start up my own business,” Wandile shares. “My website was really based on Luxity’s – it was a tried-and-tested model and I used all their learnings.”

Humility is definitely a hallmark of this 24-year-old CEO. Rather than starting a business on his own, he saw the benefit of having partners. “I’ve always sought out mentorship and ways of short-cutting your journey through life,” he says. “The expertise and experience that Michael and Luke have brought has been invaluable.” 

When the RareStep website launched, the response was lukewarm. “Sales were trickling in, but we realised we needed to try the omnichannel approach instead,” Wandile says. A small section of Luxity’s store space in Sandton City was then devoted to our sneakers. This helped reassure customers that the shoes were authentic and the brand could be trusted.

“We are  working with an influencer who is doing photo shoots and posting content for us. This is driving lots of traffic to our site.”

RareStep later spread to other Luxity stores in Pretoria, Durban and most recently, the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. In just three months, turnover doubled and customers are increasingly seeking out the sneakers which Wandile sources from his team of 400 suppliers. About 70% of sales still happen in-store. “This uneven split is because customers are very wary of fake sneakers being sold online,” Wandile explains. “It will take time to establish more trust in the market.”

Many of his customers are teenagers who go shopping with their parents for sought-after sneakers which their friends won’t have. “There are also many 30-somethings who are earning well and can afford splashing out R10,000 on a pair of Nike Travis Scott Air Max 1s,” he says.

The business is growing through lots of online marketing via Google ads, social media ads and sponsored posts. “We are currently working with an influencer who is doing photo shoots and posting content for us,” he says. “This is driving lots of traffic to our site.”

The next step in his digital progression is setting up a database of high-end sneakers from the past two decades to help customers when they search on the RareStep website. “There is no analytics for the SA sneaker market,” acknowledges Wandile. “We’re after the data.”

His focus is differentiating his offering from others and giving his customers the royal treatment, so they’ll keep coming back for more. 

Wandile’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is simple: “Don’t fear the unknown. Your ideas and your approach may change, but it’s important to believe in yourself and hone your skills, so you can maintain your edge.”

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Written by Katherine Graham for DigiBiz Programme

© 2023 Entrepreneurial Planning Institute

  

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