SALES STRATEGY

The Group is also faced with the major challenge of expanding its brands on the international market. Here too, its knowledge of the market means that it can take the specific needs of each country into consideration. For example, while parents in France are most concerned about how a children’s shoe cares for the foot, in Spain, the price is the key factor, and in Italy it’s quality and style !

All the Group’s brands can be found in the major children’s shoe distribution channels, but to meet the expectations of consumers, children, and especially the needs of parents, the Royer Group opened a network of multi-brand children’s shoe shops in 2017 under the name "Kickers and Co”.

Through this concept, the aim is to offer a selection of brands in a single retail outlet, thus facilitating what is a complicated buying decision in this market segment, as parents and children do not necessarily have the same approach to shoe products. Children, especially the older ones, will look at the style and the brand, while the parents need to be reassured about the fit, the foot care aspect and the value for money of their purchase.

This new store chain provides them with a single destination that takes these different aspects into consideration through a very broad offer in terms of style, price and technical sophistication. A customised service that has been unanimously welcomed in the market since it was launched.

Each brand has a dedicated design team made up of product managers and designers who create their collections with the support of style consultants and trend agencies to ensure that they are close as possible to customer expectations.

“From design to distribution, in a harsh competitive environment, we make every effort to emphasise the identity and personality of our brands by giving them a clear positioning. Each brand has one or more types of clientele who choose the same brand for different reasons. Kickers is a good example: it attracts a fashionable Parisian clientele for its vintage aspect and provincial mothers for the solidity and style of the models. It’s up to us to provide the experiences that match their needs and surprise them!  

We’re now operating in an omni-channel market that’s developing at high speed.

The customer needs to be able to find the same clear offer and message in our stores, our distributors’ stores, or on his computer or smartphone. That’s why we’re pursuing and intensifying the 360° development of each of our brands,“ said Anthony BUNN.

Because feet are not always the same and expectations are different in other countries, the Royer Group relies on its team of shoe specialists and is innovating by setting up a committee responsible for optimising "fit“ and an R&D unit to develop the products of the future. Quality remains a key component for the adult target, even for the fashion brands.

Concerning purchasing and sourcing, the fashion brands rely on a sound knowledge of the best production sites worldwide so that each brand has the right supplier in terms of quality and style.

“Our aim is to develop our activities in France – where we have an extraordinary heritage – and abroad – where the Group has a solid expertise  - with Kickers as the spearhead. We are also looking to better exploit certain categories of products such as comfort through the Hush Puppies and Luxat brands, particularly in the countries where we already have subsidiaries (Germany, Spain, Portugal).

Our development can also be seen in the acceleration of our retail activity, via our Kickers network. This acceleration is both physical, with store openings, and digital, through our e-commerce sites for all the fashion brands”.