Review: Getting your Kicks on . . . ShoeKicker!

For a simple hobby, running can be expensive. The latest models on running shoes cost well over $100. If you’re a dedicated runner who is serious about training, it’s not enough to have a single pair. Being more on the frugal side and not concerned about having the latest model, I exclusively shop for running shoes on the internet. I used to love using Google Shopping to do comparison shopping for older models because it would find the lowest price on the internet. It was a great search engine. But then some time last year or two years ago, Google Shopping changed so that they only displayed products from companies who advertise with them. Google Shopping stopped being a great search engine and I had to do the tedious ask of spending hours scrolling through various online stores to see if they carried the model and size that I was looking for. I lamented and missed the old easy days of online shopping.

Now thanks to ShoeKicker (shouldn’t it really be ShoeKickr?), it appears as if the easy days of online shopping are back! The site is a massive search engine for running shoes that finds the lowest price for the model and size that you’re looking for. I did a search on various shoes that my husband and I would buy. After a few hours of exhaustive testing, I came away rather impressed and pleased with ShoeKicker.

The Good

The website is a clean simple design. It’s very easy to use.

ShoeKicker does a very good job in finding the lowest prices. There were many times I thought I had beaten it by finding the shoe cheaper using Google, but it turned out that the size I wanted was no longer in stock. ShoeKicker has much more accurate inventory of the available shoes. For all the shoes that I would actually buy, ShoeKicker came up with the lowest prices.

It tells you what the shipping will be.

It tells you how much that shoe costs with the different competitors (and it even tells you where your shoe is NOT available so you know that it’s not because ShoeKicker forgot to look there).

You can create a price alert so you will receive a message if the cost of the shoe falls.

The Bad

My quibbles with ShoeKicker are honestly minor and I trust that these will get worked out in the future.

It’s in beta, so it’s still working out the kinks. Most shoe models are there, but not quite everything (this affects racing flats). If you’re not looking for flats, then you’re fine. There are a few flats missing, but they’re working on it!

ShoeKicker searches most of the online stores (including, but not limited to Amazon, 6pm, Running Warehouse), one online store that I often check is not included because ShoeKicker and that store haven’t reached an agreement yet. It’s being worked on. Because that store is not yet included, it is possible to find a few certain shoes cheaper outside of ShoeKicker. I specifically found those shoes because I was testing for weaknesses on ShoeKicker not because I would ever buy those shoes (wrong size, wrong model). This being said, chances are ShoeKicker will still be the one to find the cheapest price.

I wish there were buttons for selection of Mens and Womens. Currently it must be typed.

The Ugly

None!

The Verdict

While at this point, I wouldn’t rely exclusively on ShoeKicker, it definitely saves me a lot of time because it cuts out a lot of the individual searches that I had done in the past. Definitely use ShoeKicker to find your next pair of shoes and it will very likely save you some greenbacks.

Now, excuse me, I gotta buy me a pair of shoes.