Footwear Insight

42 • Footwear Insight ~ September/October 2024 footwearinsight.com think and will continue off-pricing product." Adam Griggs, owner at Soft Shoe, Richmond, KY, highlights Twisted X as a "great partner" because they don't sell through DTC. Twisted X's site displays the full range of their product but directs consumers to a store locator app to make the purchase at nearby stores or buy the product through a list of "trusted online sites." Griggs said, "We have very successful fill rates with them as a result and are more eager to try new product because we are comfortable knowing they won't get in our way of success with their SKUs." Griggs also highlighted Brooks because they always offer independents a chance to purchase special SKUs and have ample fill-ins. Also, when Brooks marks down a product, independents have a chance to buy pairs at discount to maintain margin. By comparison, a few top athletic brands reserve "cool prints and designs" on some of their best SKUs for online selling, creating confusion with consumers. Griggs said, "When our loyal customers come to us looking for the appealing new design they saw in a social media ad, we have to dance around to avoid plainly saying, 'We don't have access to their best merchandise, sorry.'" Griggs did note that those same athletic brands do a capable job of holding MAP and policing discounts online, "so at least our margins are protected." Griggs said that while brand DTC expansion has created situations where his store will lose a sale to an online purchase aer measuring and fitting a customer, stores can benefit from the bigger marketing output coming from brands. He said, "As long as we're doing our job properly with customer service, we can knock a customers' socks off and build loyalty in ways that a mouse click could never compete with. If vendors hold prices well and don't gate keep fresh product, we have more opportunity and exposure with some of our DTC-using brands." Ted McGreer, owner of Ted's Shoe & Sport, Keene, NH, highlights Saucony, Brooks, On, Altra, Dansko, Merrell and Topo for their efforts to assist on "save the sale" situations, or when a style is out of stock on a brand's B2B inventory reserve but available on their DTC stock. He elaborated, "ese brands have allowed their reps to issue us DTC online coupon codes, to buy the product online between 30%-50% below retail, save the customer, and maintain some margin." He also said some brands, including Brooks, Asics and Hoka have partnered with Locally to create a BOPIS [buy- online, pick-up in-store] event for their wholesale partners. McGreer believes many people "realize how important a community is, and how important shopping locally (owned) is to building a better community." However, he believes brand's DTC pushes only compound the challenges independents face competing against the convenience offered by online shopping and the perception that in-store shopping, particularly at independents, is more expensive than online. McGreer said, "e footwear industry is one of the only industries I can think of where retail stores' main competitors are now their own brands. Can you imagine going to a car dealership and being able to pull up the manufacturers' website while there with the salesperson to compare color, price, availability?" "It is frustrating when retailers like ourselves help to establish and build the line to what they are and then the manufacturer decides to sell direct to the consumer," concurred Bruce Wesley, owner of Chicago-based Wesley's Shoes. Wesley contends a DTC-first strategy is flawed, citing Nike's recent lost market share as the latest example. He also pointed out that despite early hype, Allbirds has been challenged in securing a strong foothold for growth as a DTC-first brand while brands such as Hoka and On, legitimized by independents, continue to flourish. "e numbers don't lie," said Wesley. "Organic distribution through retailers is absolutely best for the consumer and for the suppliers." n "A healthy DTC business helps keep MAP price integrity and eliminates the need for whacky discounting like we see from some brands that have started circling the drain." JOHN LUCK, LUCKY SHOES "When brands go 'off MAP' on continuing product, then there really isn't any such thing as 'MAP pricing' and that behavior conditions the consumer to just wait and purchase when it's less expensive and skip brick-and-mortar altogether." BRENDA FELGER, FELGER'S FOOTWEAR

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