Footwear Insight

Xelero "What's so important about independent retailers to Xelero is the sense of community that can be garnered," says Dan Werremeyer, president, Instride Footwear (Xelero). "It's a great thing when new people find out about our shoes and give them a go, but what's really important is the relationships from customers who keep coming back for our shoes. Those relationships are possible with our independent retail channels." Over the past year-plus, Xelero has done its best to keep retailers informed, says Werremeyer. "We are in the process of rolling out a B2B portal so retailers can check inventory availability in real time. Most importantly, we support our retail partners by allocating their future orders and our full inventory is available to them. Many of our larger competitors are taking a different approach by giving inven- tory priority to their B2C business. Thankfully, most of our retailers understand the supply chain challenges and are placing more future orders, which helps us service them better." Having a shared understanding of customers is crucial to good brand and retail relationships, believes Werremeyer. "Many of our customers buy our shoes for the orthopedic benefits because they aid in recovery from common ailments. It's important our retailers understand our brand and how our shoes are different from others in order to market them correctly." n Naot "We started in the independent retail channel, and still maintain that as the heart of our business," says Ayelet Lax Levy, CEO, Naot USA. "I truly value my relationships and friendships." Of this past year, she says, "As everyone else has, we have prob- ably faced the most challenging year in the company's history. We had retailers and friends close doors overnight. We had to come up with creative ways to help our retailers continue to receive product and pay their bills. Employment in certain areas of the company has certainly been challenging, especially in the factory and warehouse sides. Shipping has been a struggle and is now starting to right itself. Sourcing from small family owned European companies has also been hard as many of those shut down for months." However, Lax Levy says, "During times of struggle you see people's true colors. Those that failed to show up when you need them most are not true partners. As soon as things opened, demand for our brand grew in huge numbers and we sold through our inventory extremely quickly. Trying not to disappoint our retailers with inventory and flying goods in was our number one priority. Luckily we own our factories and were able to replenish weekly." Regarding the key elements of a successful brand and retail relation- ship, Lax Levy says, "I believe it has to be a win- win. When one side is strong arming the other, then the relationship will automatically fail. If we can help our retailers win, I feel it's a win for us. I expect when our retailers help us win they feel the same." n Arcopedico For Arcopedico, independent retailers account for 95% of the brand's overall accounts, according to Sydney Simas, Vice President, Simco Imported Shoes (Arcopedico USA). "So I would say they're critical to our business model," she notes. "We rely on retailers to bring our shoes out to the customer to try on, and ultimately build brand awareness. We are in business today because of our retail partners." With both brands and retailers currently facing similar challenges, Simas believes that what separates Arcopedico from most brands are the sacrifices made by the brand to help its retail partners. "For example, in 2020 we halted all collections because we understood retailers were having a hard time making ends meet when stores were facing mandatory closures," she says. "And we have chosen to absorb the cost of rising shipping because we never want to decrease the margins retailers count on to survive. In a partnership, sometimes we have to take a little less for our partners to survive, and hopefully this loyalty is rewarded when things start to turn around." As a family owned business, Arcopedico has flexibility when it comes to offering solutions to retailers, says Simas. "We have the ability to come up with creative solutions if a retailer needs something specific, including but not limited to, taking product back if it doesn't work, additional dating, contests for the employees, and pre-season discounts," she says. "Additionally, we never offer discounts on our Direct-To-Consumer website. These are just basic concepts that help maintain the integrity of our brand and hopefully make us one of the best vendor partners to independent retailers." n 24 • Footwear Insight ~ September/October 2021 Xelero makes sure its full inventory is available to its retailers. footwearinsight.com POWER IN PARTNERSHIP Naot Okahu Arcopedico "Crayon Box" display created specifically for independent retailers.

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