Integrated Shoe Retailer Case Study

The Integrated Shoe Retailer was losing market share in many of its highly competitive channels. They were having difficulty aligning evolving consumer style requirements with product design elements. For some of their nameplates, this limited their ability to sell into new retail channels or expand market share in existing channels causing downward pressure on margins. The Integrated Shoe Retailers’ current in-store testing method was expensive and largely dependent on sales-only feedback in a limited store setting. The company did not do any consumer testing for some nameplates. Where consumer testing was done, it was inconsistent due to the nature of testing in different stores, different ways. The company wanted to select the “right” assortment that resonated best with specific customers, enabling the Integrated Shoe Retailer to achieve higher channel penetration. They aimed to identify design elements that were saleable to customers identified with a specific channel because they understood that not all channel customers were the same.

The Integrated Shoe Retailer is a large company with over 1,000 employees, specializing in the design, production, and sale of footwear. The company operates in highly competitive retail channels and has a diverse range of nameplates. They have been facing challenges in aligning their product design with evolving consumer style requirements, which has impacted their market share and sales. The company has traditionally relied on in-store testing methods that are expensive and inconsistent, leading to difficulties in making accurate product development decisions. They sought to improve their product development cycle by integrating real-time consumer insight data to better understand customer preferences and increase channel sales.