Footwear Insight

16 • Footwear Insight ~ July 2020 footwearinsight.com including shields to protect cashiers and greater visualized cleaning frequency, contactless payment options, curbside pickup availability and digital are growing in importance. Global sporting goods retailer Decathlon, for example, recently launched a mobile checkout solution in conjunction with retail-tech startup MishiPay where customers scan a code on the app to pay for selected products, simultaneously disabling any RFID security tags on the items, and leave the store without touching anything expect the purchased products. Caleres executives recently disclosed that its Famous Footwear chain would offer a curbside pick-up option to customers at 500 locations by June 30. And Dick's Sporting Goods, which recently launched drive-up service for its customers and fulfills more than 40 percent of online orders from stores, said the feature's adoption by customers has already surpassed its 'Buy Online, Pick-up In Store' (BOPIS) option. "I think we learned a lot throughout April to make us a better omnichannel retailer, and clearly as we think about social distancing and how we utilize our digital presence to launch product, et cetera," Foot Locker Chairman and CEO Dick Johnson said in late May. "We expect our digital penetration to continue to expand." Given the recent acceleration in digital, the NPD's Powell now predicts the athletic footwear sector's e-commerce penetration will reach 50 percent of total sales from a current 30 percent over the next two to two-and-a-half years, ahead of a prior projection of five years. The trend could prompt some smaller footwear retailers without online scale to consider joining a marketplace to obtain more exposure on the digital frontier. With 2020's Summer Like No Other headed into the dog days of August, The NPD Group thinks brands and retailers alike needs to consider 10 actions as they work harder to "Embrace Change." Beyond preserving liquidity, maintaining brand equity and the aforementioned embracing change, the list includes brand purpose, empathy, e-commerce, rationalizing the store base, remembering the customer is always in charge, marking down adverse products and remembering this Summer Like No Other is a "time for transformation." n BESIDES RUNNING, THERE IS MORE U.S. CONSUMER INTEREST TODAY IN RVING, CAMPING, AT-HOME FITNESS AND FAMILY BIKING. A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER

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