Footwear-APR-MAY21-P32-34 Retailer of the Month_Footwear_Jan10_p30 21/05/2021 10:02 Page 34
Q&A
How do you select your products – which criteria do you use / what are your customers looking for? When selecting products I want things that have a point of difference. Whilst we want function and beauty, function has to come first. As said earlier, we do work with podiatrists a lot so having footwear that accommodates orthotics is very important. Due to the impact of Brexit, brands that stock in the UK and offer direct fulfilment are very attractive to us. Direct fulfilment allows us to increase our range for our customers without having to have every colour and style in stock – it means we can offer the stock to customers without having to physically hold it.
Which footwear/fashion shows do you attend, how do you rate them? Are you planning to attend a Show next year, if so, which one? MODA and GDS were always crucial in the past but as the shows have become smaller and we have become more specialist these have become less important to us, as my decisions now are driven by the needs of our customers and not so much popular trends. I will always attend however to support the brands and network with the industry!
Do you have a favourite footwear agent you can tell us about? Tim Dowle from Golden Concept, who represents both Joya and Fidelio. Tim regularly updates me with stock availability and provides us with lots of marketing support for our website (banners, product images etc.) Plus he always brings me a cake – or a bottle of wine depending on the time!
Have you always had a passion for footwear? How many pairs of shoes do you own? Do you have a favourite pair? When I was 25 my then new employer in Australia, Caspar from Comfort & Fit, said to me if you can fit shoes you will never be out of a job and he turned out to be quite correct! There will always be troublesome feet to help people with. I own in the region of 30 pairs of shoes, all comfortable and complete with their own set of stories!
How do you think the Government could best help footwear retailers at this difficult time, i.e. lower business rates, rents, VAT etc? Assistance in negotiating with landlords would be a huge help – specifically larger, wealthier ones. Unfortunately we have found one of our landlords to be particularly unhelpful during a very difficult time for business. If there is ever a need to break a lease, there should be a period where small businesses should not be prosecuted for this as things have changed dramatically over the last 12 months, and many business have faced persecution as they cannot afford to pay large sums of rent due to the lack of trade. The money received from the Government grants we feel should not be lining the pockets of giant landlords as they were put in place to keep people in work and diversify the business.
Do you have any plans for the future? We safely reopened our doors in April and will be directing a large part of our marketing budget towards getting customers in the shops. We do still however recognise how valuable our website has been throughout this whole ordeal, and will continue to fund and develop it as having a large online presence futureproofs the business, protects us should something like this happen again, and allows us to reach customers where there is no ShoeMed shop – which is why we are pushing our online tools (video consultations, Messenger etc.) as we want to provide our service to as many people as we can, regardless of where you are.
Contact: Lisa Preston Address: ShoeMed, 45a Wood Street, Stratford upon Avon CV37 6JG Web:
www.shoemed.co.uk Tel: 01789 299103
34 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
• APRIL/MAY 2021
DOWNLOAD THE FOOTWEAR TODAY APP NOW SPONSORED BY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
