Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1504453
relationships with vendors in an effort to max- imize the relationship. • is involves sharing information with the vendor, hoping in return that the vendor will understand your business model and what it takes to keep you as a customer. • Some retailers set goals for IMU and MMU and markdown control levels for each vendor they deal with. Some shoe retailers, oen multi location retailers, found some success importing shoes to augment their brand name collections. Advantage: Significantly increased initial profit margins. Disadvantage: Private and exclusive brands are subject to increased markdown rates. Smart retailers realized over time that well- known brand names already come with built-in marketing and customer recogni- tion and acceptance, so it is rarer to find a shoe store which carries only private or exclusive labels. Expand. In recent years, many small regional chains have found success by acquiring smaller operations and this has allowed them to spread overhead across a larger volume. A buyer or a bookkeeper can easily expand their efforts across one more store, for example. Tactics Plan to achieve increasing average transaction values through the strategy of employing ex- tremely competent full-service sales staff. My contention is that service still means something. • Which requires pushing out (over time) those salespeople who don't perform and that harms the important tactic of retailers to staff their stores with consistent and friendly faces that customers recognize. Increasing inventory turn, which reduces the cost of maintaining inventory. • Employed partially by hashing inventory (a "lost art" in many ways). Finding additional profit centers so that occu- pancy cost ratios are decreased. • Perhaps this means doing some e-commerce (which is hard and technology dependent). • It may mean expanding into additional product categories. Can you add a meaningful outdoor segment to your comfort and athletic business? Can you do a significant business selling appro- priate shoes for medical professionals? SUMMARY If anything in this column hints at some of the issues you, as an independent shoe retailer, are facing these days, I suggest it is time to consider your own financial formula to deter- mine if your gross profits are outpacing your operating expenses to an appropriate degree. While I believe there will always be inde- pendent shoe retailers, the financial issues facing those retailers are significantly im- pactful. Those who can understand and control their directions will be the survivors. Knowing your numbers will help to guide your strategies, tactics and solutions for the long run. n Alan Miklofsky is a semi-retired shoe industry veteran and contributor to Footwear Insight. is is his seventh article. Aer a 40-year award winning career as a retailer, long- term board member of the NSRA (which included a stint as its Chairperson), Alan is currently a business consultant. 1. 100% Sustainable Upper Materials 2. Antiviral Sole 3. Hybrid-Air Insole (Recycled & Removable) 4. Techno Elastic Upper 5. Twin Arch Support System 5 Pillars of Technology Available now at Simco Imported Shoes weloveshoes@simcoimportedshoes.com www.simcofootwear.com 1-800-536-5938 ARCOPEDICO 6-23-01.indd 1 ARCOPEDICO 6-23-01.indd 1 5/16/23 5:41 PM 5/16/23 5:41 PM footwearinsight.com July/August 2023 ~ Footwear Insight • 21