One Foot Locker, Inc. Store.
Courtesy: Foot Locker, Inc.
a new and better foot Locker It debuted at a New Jersey mall on Wednesday as the sneaker retailer looks to reverse declining sales, keep brand partners loyal and Win back the trust of Wall Street By improving the accessibility of all your important stores.
New concept bills itself as Foot Locker The “Store of the Future” replaces the retailer’s tired mall format through a streamlined layout that is more extensive than the usual format, with a middle section used for trying on sneakers that features two shoe stores. There are walls. The new format also includes a “Drop Zone” that showcases new sneaker releases, a communal try-on area, upgraded brand product displays and a “Sneaker Hub” for customized options like exclusive lacing.
Even the stripper uniform, the iconic black and white striped outfit worn by Foot Locker’s store associates, is being revamped, Foot Locker chief commercial officer Frank Bracken told CNBC in an interview.
“They’ll be familiar and recognizable; I’d say they’ll be modernized in a really delicious way,” Bracken said. “We worked on the details between our men’s and women’s tops and bottoms so that the fit and choice of putting the uniform together could really personalize it to their body and their style preference.”
One Foot Locker, Inc. Store.
Courtesy: Foot Locker, Inc.
The new store, located in the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, about 20 miles west of Manhattan, is the first of five stores to open this year. CEO Mary Dillon said it is an important part of the retailer’s “lace up” strategy Unveiled at its Investor Day In March 2023. Similar concepts are set to open at Foot Locker’s 34th Street flagship store in New York City, in Paris ahead of the Summer Olympics, as well as in Melbourne and Delhi.
Since the retailer derives about 80% of its revenue from its more than 2,500 physical locations, Dillon has focused on revitalizing Foot Locker’s store footprint since taking over in September 2022. He plans to build new, off-mall locations, close underperforming stores, and refresh existing locations.
Dillon and his team are betting that the new store designs will attract customers who are shopping outside the mall and give sneakerheads a reason to come into their stores instead of going directly to a brand’s website or store.
One Foot Locker, Inc. Store.
Courtesy: Foot Locker, Inc.
In fiscal year 2023, Foot Locker plans to spend $242 million on remodeling and construction of new stores, in addition to other capital expenditures. The company plans to spend an additional $200 million on real estate projects this year, according to a company securities filing.
In addition to the five “Store of the Future” stores Foot Locker plans to open this year, the retailer is using the concept to inspire 900 store redesigns in 2024 and 2025, about 100 for each quarter, Bracken said. Has been planned.
“All the standards around the storefront, the fixturing, the storytelling, the merchandising standards that we’re going to rapidly deploy across 900 stores, and there’s a real kind of symbiotic relationship between those refreshes and then the ‘store of the future.’ So they Will look very complementary,” he said.
Foot Locker, Inc. Frank Bracken, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
Courtesy: Foot Locker, Inc.
Foot Locker’s changing real estate strategy comes as the retailer continues to grapple with declining sales and a stock price that is down nearly 6% year-to-date as of Tuesday’s close, compared with the S&P 500’s gain of more than 6%. 29% less.
foot locker is Struggled to increase sales Partly because it now competes against its own brand partners, which have spent the past few years building out their own websites and stores and reducing their reliance on wholesalers.
like keeping brand Nike And Adidas Happiness isn’t just important to Foot Locker’s top line, it’s essential to the company’s survival. That’s why enhanced brand storytelling and enhanced product showcase – two central requests from Foot Locker’s partners – are integral to the retailer’s new store concepts.
One Foot Locker, Inc. Store.
Courtesy: Foot Locker, Inc.
Foot Locker, Inc. An overall view of the store.
Courtesy: Foot Locker, Inc.
“When we think about this, it’s not just Foot Locker thinking in isolation from what’s important, or what we want,” Bracken said. ,[We’re] “Partnering very closely with our brand partners to bring digital storytelling and then product merchandising and storytelling to another level.”
Luckily for Foot Locker, its store redesign plan comes at a time when sneaker brands like Nike are rethinking their sales strategy and realizing that wholesalers, especially those with large footprints, have their own Are necessary for development. Earlier this month, Nike CEO John Donahoe acknowledged the company Gone too far from wholesale partners in its quest to increase direct sales and has since “got it right” by reinvesting with its retail partners.
The “change in the tide” has not gone unnoticed, Bracken said.
“We have the support of our brand partners in a way that is refreshing and perhaps not as obvious and transparent as in years past,” he said. “We think we are very well positioned to be an important, strategic retail partner in the future and now it is upon us. [2024] There’s definitely an inflection point.”