Where are your premises located and how many people do you employ? Do you have a high turnover of staff? Tell us about your shop(s), the local area, your customers and their requirements? We have 3 stores located in Cookstown, Dungannon and Magherafelt, which are all thriving country towns in Northern Ireland. We currently employ 46 people in the business and I am proud to say that they are a brilliant bunch of people. They work really hard and make the business the success it is. Fortunately, our staff turnover is very low. The most common reason given by a staff member leaving is the high cost of child care. It's always a real shame to lose good people for this reason.
Do you have an online shop/website and do you use social networking for business? We opened our webstore and online business in 2012, which now has a turnover the size of one of our stores. Alongside this we have developed a more modern marketing strategy. We moved away from print and paper marketing, to using Facebook. We now have over 36,000 followers and we use email and text to communicate with our customers.
How are you finding the footwear market currently? The current trading conditions are challenging as always. I think we complain more about the weather than the local farmers. However, year to date our bricks and mortar stores are up 3% and the web business is up 25%, so it is looking like a good year.
What’s selling well? Any particular trends? Which are your best selling footwear brands – and why? I think the modern footwear market is very broad in its tastes and so trends are less mega than perhaps they once were. In general, there is an ebb and flow between more casual and smart footwear from year to year. Men's smart brogues have been really strong for us recently, with brands like Paolo Vandini and Justin Reece, but the trend is starting to slow a little now. Brands are a little bit the same, 2 years ago it was Converse that was really strong. Last year it was Mustang and this year Xti and Caprice are selling really well. Skechers is currently flying out in kids. Our Core suppliers, such as the Wortman group, Reiker and Clarks are all performing consistently well, with some great product coming through for next season.
How important is shoe fitting to your business? Are you or any of your staff members of the Society Of Shoe Fitters? Kids shoes make up a 3rd of our turnover, so fitting kids shoes is very important to our business. All our staff are trained fitters, and they attend a Clarks fitting course. In the two years after the 2008 recession our adult business dropped 20%. In the same two years our kids' business grew by 6%. It sustained us through some tough years and gave us a steady stream of young mums and dads coming through our doors. Yes, we are registered with the Society of Shoe Fitters.
Do you use an EPOS (retail technology) system in your shop? I don't know how you could run a retail business without a stock control system. Ours is with K3 retail (formerly RTL). We do very little on the spot buying at shows or with reps. Most of it is done afterwards when we have Analysed reports of past performance in terms of numbers and margin.
Any tips on stock offers, novel ideas for clearing lines or advice for independent shoe retailers who might be feeling the pinch? All shoes you buy will eventually go out the shop door in some form or other, the trick is to do it with a healthy margin. We have a joke at internal buying meetings where the plan next year is to "only buy winners", which is easier said than done! The key to a healthy margin, in my opinion is to put a lot of thought and consideration into product selection and the numbers you put down. Sometimes you need to be brave and bet big on a style and other times you need to be conservative and keep it tight. But always keep your customers at the heart of what you buy and ask yourself 'who am I buying this for?' and 'how and when might they wear this product?'.
What is your favourite men’s footwear brand/manufacturer – ditto ladies/children’s brand – and why? My favorite brands are the ones the customers can't get enough of at any given time and these change from season to season. However, in general I like brands where you can get more stock in season. When a style starts to fly out the door and you can get more stock, that's the best feeling as a buyer and retailer, because you know you are onto a winner.
How do you select your products – which criteria do you use / what are your customers looking for? The buying teams do a great job selecting the ranges which is a tough job, given that as a family footwear store we are trying to suit everyone - from the cradle to the grave.
Which footwear/fashion shows do you attend, how do you rate them? At the moment we only attend MODA. It's a good show and its well organised, but I think that it has contracted in recent years, with less brands showing, which is a shame.
Do you have a favourite footwear agent you can tell us about? We are fortunate to have a lot of great agents that we work with each season, which makes the job of buying a lot more fun. One agent that we get on really well with and who works very hard at making his brands a success is Andrew Greenlee (Escape. Lloyd and Pryce, Kate Appelby etc.) We call him Mr G.
Have you always had a passion for footwear? How many pairs of shoes do you own? Do you have a favourite pair? Yes, I have always loved shoes, ever since my days working Saturdays for a bit of pocket money. I think you can tell a lot about a person from looking at their shoes. How many shoes do I own????.....well many more than I need, but a lot less than my wife. Choosing a pair of favourite shoes is like choosing a favourite food, there are too many different occasions and choices to choose from. I love them all for different reasons.
And, the next step? Any plans for the future, new lines, retail systems/new technology, etc.? We are always open to new opportunities. At the moment we are planning an extension to our web store warehouse so that we can increase our processing capacity. However, it is also important in retail to remember the basics. Fantastic customer service, great looking stores, happy staff and of
course.....only buy winners.
Andrew McConnell McConnell Shoes 10-12 William Street, Cookstown, BT808NB T: 02886762341 E:
Info@mcconnellshoes.co.uk W:
www.mcconnellshoes.co.uk
JANUARY 2018 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
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