Abstract
Footwear specialists growth has stalled: competing with the convenience of
non-specialists offers has proved a major hurdle in maintaining their customer
base. The need for every footwear shopper to purchase clothing at a potential
competitors store is detrimental to footwear specialist retailers. As a result
clothing specialists and grocers have increased their footwear sales by 60.6%
over 2000-2005 vs growth in sales via footwear specialists of 24.5%. Benefits
of footwear to non-specialists are immense Egenerating business growth through
higher sales densities, selling prices and average transaction values.
Therefore, non-specialists are aggressively targeting the footwear market,
increasing space allocated to it and driving product innovation. In 2005, we
estimate only four of 13 major footwear specialists will increase market
share, but profitability is improving.