You are in:
We champion the independent retailer
The brand has an interesting history doesn’t it?
It certainly does. As a shoe manufacturer, Saucony has been around since 1898. Even our running shoe pedigree goes back several decades. More recently,we’ve merged with the Stride Rite Corporation, which brings together brands such as Keds, Pro Keds and Sperry Topsider.
Whilst these are new to the UK, they’re massive in the US, and our joining with such an organisation is beginning to bear fruit with regards to the backing and economies of scale we can enjoy being part of a larger,multinational corporation.
What would you say defines Saucony as a brand today?
Today Saucony is defined by what it does. We exclusively manufacture technical running products. That’s it. We’re not into other markets; we simply produce the products that people need for running. The Saucony brand stands for runners.
Talk us through your product categories.
Saucony is known worldwide for its running shoes, and its current position is built upon the fit and feel of the range. The Jazz series is probably the longest surviving style of shoe in the market and we have customers who simply buy a new pair each year, knowing they can trust the shoes implicitly.
However, in the last ten years or so,we’ve added more to the range, so whilst products like the Jazz continue,we have new styles which have become favourites themselves. Shoes like the Omni, which is now our best seller, offer market leading technology with the traditional Saucony fit. Even the new ProGrid Triumph 4, launched in December 2006, which really breaks the mould as far as a typical Saucony design is concerned, is based on the core Saucony principles of fit and feel.
But we’re not just about shoes. In the last three years, new emphasis has been placed on our apparel range, and we’re beginning to reap the rewards of this,with order books doubling in size over subsequent periods. Productwise, the apparel ranges are again built on simple foundations; we use technical fabrics throughout and ensure our styles fit the size and shape of the typical runner, rather than the size and shape we all might hope to be!
How does the brand position itself within the UK sports market?
From the points we’ve discussed above, the Saucony brand clearly fits in the specialist, independent market. We wouldn’t go anywhere else. We don’t plan to go anywhere else. Our constant growth over 20 years in the UK market is based on providing the independent store with the product and service they need. Saucony is unique in recognising that to turn our backs on this sector would be commercial suicide. Every aspect of our business plan is to drive trade through the independent specialists, and we work exclusively to develop this area of the market.
We use our marketing budget to link ourselves with events and individuals who represent this goal. We’ve been supporting the English National Cross Country Association for nearly five years now, attending their major events to cross promote ourselves and local retailers. Many enthusiasts will know that we back the biggest Triathlon events in the country with Ironman UK and Ironman 70.3, but they may not know that we also support and attend a smaller series of triathlons, which are aimed at beginners and age-groupers. This is all part of our brand positioning.
Have your competitors mostly overlooked the idea of offering something similar to the Fuelbelt range (vital to any runner)?
The running market in the UK is changing, from it being dominated by the male athlete who runs for his local club to the now booming numbers of charity 5k events, where you see as many, if not more, female runners. The successful manufacturer and also successful retailer has adapted to this with the products they offer and the services they provide.
We’ve developed the Saucony Fuelbelt range in conjunction with a market leading brand (Fuelbelt), and added in our own fabric technologies, such as Drylete™. These products are amazingly popular, as they range from the simple Boulder Bottle belt to the modern Wave MP3 belt which carries two small bottles, but also has a pocket for your MP3 player, alongside a zipped security pocket. These products have been thoroughly thought through to ensure they provide for the demands of the current running market.
The Saucony ShoeLab looks interesting. How does it work and how can it be accessed?
We’ve already discussed the specialist market several times, but once again, the Saucony ShoeLab has been put together to support our retailers and to educate both retailer staff and our end-users, the runners. The ShoeLab is a digital video studio and treadmill which we take around the UK providing gait analysis. Not so long ago this was the domain of University laboratories, or podiatrists, but we can now provide expert advice at your local running store, not for the purpose of selling the runner orthoses, but simply to advise them on their choice of footwear. We have a consultant podiatrist working with us who trains our technical staff, which means the ShoeLab not only provides a service to the customer when it is in their local store, but it also helps us pass on our knowledge to shop staff, raising the quality of service our retailers can provide.
The simple ethos behind the ShoeLab is that if the customer is given the right advice and buys a shoe they are ultimately happy with, they’ll come back to that retailer again and again. We don’t want customers to just buy any Saucony shoe; we need them to buy the correct Saucony shoe for them. A happy customer will become a regular customer.
The brand operates the Sports Medicine Specialist Programme (SMS). What does this involve?
The SMS programme has been going for some time now, and on its simplest level, provides a link between medical professionals, such as Physiotherapists, Podiatrist and Chiropractors with our network of retailers. We found that often a customer would go to their Physio (for example) who would recommend a certain type of footwear to aid recovery or to prevent further injury, but they wouldn’t know what that recommendation actually translated to on the shop floor, leaving the customer/patient confused and at risk of inadvertently ignoring the advice they had just paid for. By providing information on product and technology,we can help the medical professional give clear advice to the patient, who can then visit their local store armed with all the information they need.
Conversely, there are occasions when shop staff, or our ShoeLab team need further expertise and advice. If a retailer has a relationship with a local professional, it’s easier to seek that advice. The process is mutually beneficial to the retailer, the medical professionals and the customer/patient. The SMS programme is the conduit to the process.
How do you make the distinction between fashion and function?
A good question and one we’re probably happier to answer now than we would have been in the past. We have to admit that a few years ago Saucony shoes weren’t quite at the races in the looks department. People bought our footwear on the fit and the feel and from recommendation; often they would put up with the looks because of these other factors! Happily, our footwear designers are still producing shoes which retain their technical merit, but have upped their game on the cosmetics. Whilst we’d still much rather sell a shoe which does what it’s supposed to and looks awful, as opposed to looking great but offering no performance, a combination of the two is certainly ideal.
Any planned launches?
We’ve just come through the two biggest launches in the history of Saucony; the ProGrid Triumph 4 and the ProGrid Omni 6, launched in December and February respectively. We took more advertising space, and sent out more trial pairs during this period than ever before. We’re glad to say that our campaigns have worked on all levels. The Omni has long been our top selling product, but thanks to the launch of the Triumph 4,we now have two shoes competing closely for the top-spot.
The addition of the ProGrid technology has really lifted sales in 2007. We released the ProGrid Hurricane 9 at the recent London Marathon Exhibition, and the feedback on the three shoes has already been very positive. The foot-in-feel of all three has been improved, which has made a significant difference to new customers who have never tried the brand before. As we discussed earlier,we have our loyal Saucony following,who we continue to work hard to retain, but the growth of the brand is built around attracting new customers to Saucony products. With the next ProGrid update coming in August, to the Trigon range, all our top-end shoes will have our premium technology.
How important is online retail as a source of revenue?
Many of our retailers have invested in online shops, and several are reaping the rewards from doing so. However, we would always recommend that the first port of call for buying a running shoe is your local store. There is simply no substitute to putting a new pair of shoes on your feet and testing them out in person,whilst taking advice from trained staff. To say otherwise would be to contradict all we have talked about before.
That said, several of the online stores out there offer fantastic service. Often it’s simply a question of convenience, if getting to your local store isn’t an option, but placing an online order is, if your new shoes or kit arrive in time for your run tomorrow evening,we’re in favour of that!
What is the brand's relationship with the independent retailer?
Relationship is the key word here. As I’ve said before, the success of the Saucony brand is built on dealings with the independent retailer. We can only succeed if they do, so we run our marketing campaigns not only on improving awareness of the Saucony brand, but also awareness of the specialist retail network.
We know that if a customer goes into one of our specialists looking for a running shoe, there’s a good chance they will try and buy a pair of Saucony’s. If they go into a high street chain, there’s no chance, because our products aren’t in there.
Our relationship with the independent stores is based on the knowledge that the success of either party is intrinsically linked to the success of the other. This equal partnership is critical.
What makes Saucony stand out from the pack in terms of your interaction with the independent retailer?
We also pride ourselves on the service we offer. Our operation is entirely UK based, giving us great flexibility and an efficient order process. Our sales HQ in Portsmouth take at-once orders throughout the day, with a standard 48 hour service despatched from our Southampton warehouse. Usually orders submitted before 2pm will arrive next day. We know our retailers rely on this feature from Saucony, as an increasingly rare service.
Do you offer technical and merchandising support?
The Saucony ShoeLab is the frontline of our technical support, and is backed up by a team of technical representatives who provide staff training, advice and the first point of contact for store owners, managers and staff alike. We have stocks of merchandising material to support stores displaying our products, and are continually looking for new ways to improve in-store presence.
What advice can you offer the independent retailer trying to compete in such a fierce marketplace?
I’m not sure it’s right for us to offer advice to what is, in general, a very successful marketplace, despite the competitive situation here in the UK. Our aim is to align our commercial goals with those of our retailers. Hopefully the points we’ve discussed above will highlight how we, as Saucony, are trying to do this.
If retailers acknowledge the brands who are working in the same direction, and with the same ideals as their own, we believe that the independent sports trade in the UK can continue to provide high quality products and high quality service at fair prices.
