The Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Wisconsin reports, in an article titled, Sole Survivors, that Famous Footwear, a national discount shoe store, which retails reasonable priced footwear for the entire family, has recently adjusted its business plan to maintain its stake in the industry.
Some notable changes seen in the new Famous Footwear are lower shelves, wider main aisles, large graphics to “evoke warm feelings about footwear, and a more fashionable selection catering to women aged 25 to 45.
This demographic seems to be their original target market being that, according to the article:
"She's like the quarterback for the family," said Scott Cooper, the company's senior vice president of marketing, in describing the ideal Famous Footwear customer. "She not only shops for herself, but she shops for her kids and the husband."
But, it seems like a common trend for companies to try to embark on larger, more fashion-forward visions, although these plans can be detrimental to their primary, faithful target market that helped them succeed in the first place.
Many companies, like Gap, and now Famous Footwear, who are planning or have already began to offer a more trendy, fashionable (breadth) assortment, rather than the basic (depth) assortment that was more apparent in their origins, tend to fail.
Let’s take Gap as an example. The company began as a San Francisco basic t-shirt and khaki/jean clothing store. Then in 2002, after a corporate rethinking of their fashion assortment, the company hired Pina Ferlisi, who was the genius behind the launch of the bridge line of Marc by Marc Jacobs in 2000. Ferlisi turned the once basic assortment to a higher fashion level and smartly, the company hired Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of the HBO television showSex and the City as the company’s face for two full seasons. While numbers steadily rose, they soon fell once they alienated their older, more mature target market. Staggering numbers and inability to connect with their original target market has made them perform mildly in the past year, leading to another company brainstorm. ( San Francisco Chronicle Article)
The article continues:
Famous Footwear's shift in customer focus came after the discount footwear and earlier factory outlet models that served the company well during its first 30 years began breaking down. In the mid-1990s, department stores began offering low-cost shoes, and athletic specialty stores boosted their footwear offerings … When Wood took over in early 2002, Famous Footwear decided to offer trendy current shoes at value prices, but not at steep discounts.
As Famous Footwear continues such plans and possibly abandons their original target market in the near future, I hope they learn a lesson from Gap because once you leave the people that supported you in the beginning, its hard to win them back, and on top of that, develop new relationships with a new set of weary, flaky fashion consumers.
