Footwear Insight

THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE THE FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY WILL DEAL WITH IN 2018 IS BRAND management. What does that mean? With all the avenues open to them, how will brands grow their business and at the same time maintain profitable relationships with retailers? Of course, brands want to sell direct to consumers. The temptation is overwhelming. Brands love all their SKUs and want to offer the consumer their full array of product in all sizes and colors, not just the limited selection available in most multi-brand retailers. And then there are the margins, especially for the larger publicly traded brands. If they sell direct and do it well, they can make 70, even 80 percent margins. And those projections always look good on paper even if they don't come to fruition. But business isn't done on paper, it's done in stores by real people with real lives and pressures of their own. Most retailers are accepting of the fact that their suppliers will sell online as long as it doesn't hurt the store's ability to sell the brand at full price in their stores and on their own websites. So, here's what I see happening in 2018: Both brands and retailers will make choices that are in their best interests. Brands will commit to retailers who buy broader selections and support them at the store level with events, marketing and maintained prices. Retailers have already begun to focus on brands that support them with clean distribution, solid segmentation strategies and clear direction. Brands that know where they are going, share that strategy and live up to it inspire confidence in their retail partners. Brands that change direction and executives on a regular basis will be hard pressed to gain traction i n 2018. Brands that discount on their own websites are undercutting retailers and will suffer as a result. The market is too competitive and there are too many brands that are executing at a high level. It's no longer a matter of "go big or go home." It's now a game of "play it smart or look stupid." The folks who can figure that out will be invited back to play in 2019 and beyond. For those who can't, you'll go to the discard pile and look for another job, another brand to mismanage or maybe even another industry in which to work. Not to be overly dramatic, but the stakes are incredibly high. O THE CRITICAL ISSUE FOR 2018 TIMEOUT | MARK SULLIVAN It's now a game of "play it smart or look stupid." the healthiest shoes you'll ever wear ® Featuring Lynco ® or thotic suppor t and memory foam cushioning for superior comfor t

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