Sydney--Shoe of Prey

The last station of company visit in Sydney is Shoe of Prey (SOP), a young but ambitious and successful company which implemented online shoe selling and 3D customised design People in Shoe of Prey are all stylish and fashionable, gilrls wearing high heel shoes, guys wearing colourful glasses. Our presenter Micheal Fox, who used to be a lawer but changed his carrer into shoe selling industry. He gave us warm welcome, and started to talk about Shoe of Prey history and selling concepts. Micheal analysed the reasons women love shoes can be expalined into three aspects: women love creative design, they pursue specific style, they think unique shoes match an outfit. Micheal continuousely introduced Shoe of Prey to us: SOP gained 60% sales outside Australia, 17 employees worked in China and Sydney, self-funded raising capital, customise shoes in SOP website, speical own-design experience in retail channels make SOP outstanding. ‘’SOP was born out of desire’’ Micheal said. Inspiring and educating customers are the main mission of SOP as company still in climbing stage. Therefore, quality messages is delivered via videos, pictures. Once customer put their experience in facebook, brand awareness increased by word of mouth. Customer will ask their friends opinions about the shoes, brand expose while customers sharing their experience in SOP. Micheal said SOP also used net promoter score to evaluate customers willingness to suggest repurchase. However, it did not show high NPS in research. The barriers to entry into shoe industry with a total online selling channel contain: Brand loyalty to other brands, community built by other brands, lack of trust and advocacy; mass customisation manufacture is difficult; 3D designer augmented reality; lack of partnership, such as department stores. Micheal also described SOP future to us. Micheal said SOP will operate stores with digital screen, 3D mirror which allow customers to see whether the shoes is fit without actually put it on. SOP committed to be unique, interesting and special, like the purple cow standout in a group of black and white cow. Hence, SOP managed all customer touch points in a unique and special way. SOP also noticed the importance of social media, which considered as another tool of word of mouth. Engagement created by interactive communication with customers. Trust built by conveying genuine messages through facebook. Other social media SOP used include youtude and fashion blogs.

After Micheal finished his presentation, I went to talk to him as I am still curious about SOP distribution channel. Micheal told me, all the shoes materials come from China, and once they receive customer offer, they will inform Chinese supplier to make shoes according to customers’ design. High margin can be gained because the cheaper labour and materials price in China. When I asked whether SOP has the intention to sell customised clothes, Micheal said now their main focus still on shoes. It is a bit risky for them to move into another area.

 

Several things that impressed me during the visit:

a.       SOP gained huge revenue within 2.5years operation

b.       The ’Jessica, would you marry me?’ story created a positive WOM for SOP without any advertisements expense.

c.       The sophisticated distribution channel in SOP is one of the major reasons that SOP accessed.

d.       The 7-day refund policy reduce risk for customers. And it really works!