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Hanwag
There's some great boots out there, synthetic and leather. It's almost hard for the end user to go wrong when buying, so manufacturers have to make something special to stand out. Andi Hayman - who is also Southern Area Sales Manager for Rosker - explained to SGB what makes them special, and a lot more besides.
SGB: How well known is Hanwag in the UK? I know in Europe they're a very well-known brand.
Andi Hayman: That's the main obstacle that we need to overcome; they've been distributed in the UK for more than 15 years; Rosker took on the brand a couple of years ago and one of the biggest jobs we've had to do is establish it as the quality brand that it is, within the UK. It is well known, but it's not as well known as we'd like it to be. We're engaging in a campaign of marketing, advertising and PR in 2009, and alongside that we're trying to establish a wider network of retailers for the core models so when people do see the adverts they'll have a dealer within a reasonable drive of them to go and try out the products.
It's a chicken and egg situation, if you put out the adverts and don't have the retailer network in place then people may phone up and have nowhere to try them on within a two-hour drive which is not good, but at the same time retailers need to know that there's an advertising campaign in place that will be getting people through their doors to try on Hanwag boots.
SGB: Hanwag produces a wide range of boots - do you supply the entire range for the UK market?
AH: They offer quite a diverse range of boots but at Rosker we don't hold all of the models as stock lines - but as long as they're in stock with Hanwag then they are available to special order.
As we grow the brand we're concentrating in the middle- to upper-end of the market as far as walking boots go. Our classic standard walking boots in the UK on the leather side is the Lima GTX, which is a Gore-Tex lined, Nubuck finish boot. On the fabric/ suede side it's the Banks GTX or the Mountain Light GTX as the core boots. We do bring the Super Fly and the Sky into the UK which are two air sports boots. Having researched the hang gliding/paragliding market; the Super Fly is the best boot in that category really. Hanwag also does a forest range which is quite diverse, we're just starting to look at it for some of our bush craft and survival customers but traditionally in the UK we wouldn't keep a large stock of those because it's not a big hunting and game keeping market in the UK for us yet, and then there is also the rock and the alpine range, which are very high-end boots.
We also do a boot which is called the Special Forces which is available with a Gore-Tex and or leather lining.
SGB: How are you aiming to get to new retailers, to go out and grab them?
AH: For new retailers, one of the key selling areas is the boot itself, the product is second to none, so as far as quality of product I don't think we'll have any issue. Then what we're looking to do is highlight individual retailers who I know from experience, offer a very good boot fitting service and to pick one in each county, or a couple depending on the size of the county, so they get some exclusivity with the Hanwag range. It's a case of identifying the good prospects of good boot fitters and then approaching them and then presenting the Hanwag proposition.
The selling features beyond the product is that they are going to be part of a limited group of people that will be retailing Hanwag in the UK and hopefully they'll have people flooding through the doors following the adverts! One of the key selling points, when I go and see a retailer with a Hanwag presentation, is that they're not going to be in competition and have perhaps an hour of their time wasted for somebody who's then going to walk around three other stores within 30 minutes drive and compare prices.
SGB: What is Hanwag's brand ethos?
AH: The ethos is still very much that of a family-based company, it's a very close-knit team concentrating, not on producing large quantities of footwear, but producing very, very good enthusiast-targeted, exceptionally comfortable, well-made and lasting footwear.
One of the benefits of the Hanwag range is the extensive range, even the low cut trail shoes are all pinch lasted so they can all be resoled; we recently found a recommended repair agent for Hanwag in the UK, and they will carry a range of all the bits and pieces - including all the original soles - for Hanwag, so if you buy a pair of Hanwag shoes or boots and eventually the sole unit wears through, which they do, you can get it re-soled with not just the nearest thing but exactly what it came out of the factory with. You can keep doing that as long as the uppers are looked after and stay intact. The ethos, the emphasis, is on quality.
SGB: What sort of form is your marketing campaign going to be taking? What are you putting the money into, how are people going to see it?
AH: We've got a number of adverts spread across, I suppose, the usual suspects - Trail, Country Walking - we've got a couple going in Soldier Magazine, so we've got an advertising campaign booked for the forthcoming year. Thanks to the PR campaign, we've had lots and lots of reviews, last year we sent out 46 pairs of boots to be reviewed in various different magazines and press marketing material, press releases are also being distributed on a regular basis to keep publications up to date with key models. We have a clear plan and it's constantly evolving and developing.
SGB: It's a very competitive market now, but outdoors folk are still buying - though they're being more considered in what and how they buy. How will you break into that and find new customers? Your boots are more expensive than many rival brands.
AH: There's a lot less money swishing around out there, but interestingly a lot of reports are saying that people are taking a great deal of care in spending their money but when they do they're actually - for the first time in a number of years - buying more expensive items. They're buying the products that they know will last longer, because they care a lot more now than they did about their money, whether it be from a financial point of view, on a certain degree it can be from an ecological point of view, therefore they don't want to fill landfill sites with stuff they're throwing away all the time. I think people are actually still spending the money, it's just taking them a lot longer to make that buying decision.
One of the keys to improving the sales of Hanwag next year for Rosker is establishing good consistency of stock available in the UK on a core range of boots that are already proven sellers in existing Hanwag retailers, and then establishing and discussing the range with more retailers in the areas that aren't currently covered.
