Hush Puppies' brand manager, Charlene Perera, discusses marketing strategy, shuttering retailers and where the brand sees the biggest opportunity for growth.
What strategies and developments has the brand been using to fuel growth over the past 12 months?
So I guess the biggest thing we've done in our brand is work on our points of difference. Technology in our products is a big point of difference, so we've really been showcasing them to the customer and talking about them in the marketplace.
The other side that has been the biggest growth area for us has been really getting back to our core customer, focusing on career shoes and looking at that kind of true core footwear– true essential footwear. That's probably the biggest increase.
What does that core customer look like?
We are a dual gender brand so we've got a pretty even 60%-40% in terms of women leading the sales charge. But [we've] got 40% of our sales coming from men and that's really stable as the men's side of our business has been consistent with growth over the past four or five years and it's really been the women's side of the business where we've recently seen the big increase.
In terms of other key things about our customer, look we really say the shoe's anywhere, 35-40+. It's comfortable, wearable footwear...I think this brand did go through a phase where we were growing old with a lot of our customers and that's where we've really refocused things.
What are the upcoming plans for the Australian market over the next 12 months?
The next 12 months are going to be our biggest 12 months in a very long time. So the first thing we've got is this year, we're celebrating our 60th birthday, so the backhalf of this year, we are extremely heavy from a marketing front where we've really invested in the brand.
Everything from pop-ups and interactive locations to fostering the Million Paws Walk to working with Nova 100, the radio station and the Casanovas, so there's big interaction there. And then we're doing some television stuff with Channel 10 and then further from that, we're absolutely looking at new retail locations, standalone locations and obviously working with our major department stores on how we re-energise the brand in that space as well.
What are the key challenges that you are seeing in the market?
The biggest challenge and the scary thing when you look at the market at the moment is how many people are closing doors. So, you know, there is fear amongst retailers if you look at the Airflex brand we had, that shut down. If you look at Diana Ferrari and how they've closed down stores, not to mention the numerous apparel retailers.
That is a scary thing to look at but I think the advantage that we have is that in this tough climate we're performing [well]. So as a business, we're willing to invest and know that this is the time to invest in our brand. As the market starts to contract, if we can keep investing in our brand, long-term, it's going to have a really great result for us.