Will Last-Minute Shoppers Boost Holiday Sales at Independents?

With less than a week until Christmas, shoppers will need to head into physical stores to grab those last-minute gifts — or shell out more money for expedited shipping from online retailers.

And that’s what independent footwear stores are banking on to help boost revenue as the year comes to a close.

“So far, [our holiday] sales have been even with last year, but this next week should be a big one for us with all the last-minute Christmas shopping,” said Alicia Murray, co-owner of Murray’s Shoes in Littleton, Colo.

And Bruce Wesley, owner of Wesley’s Shoes in Chicago, had a similar prediction: “We anticipate an onslaught of last-minute shoppers right before Christmas,” he said.

Nearly 142 million consumers plan to shop on Super Saturday, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. That’s significantly higher than the last time Super Saturday fell on Dec. 23, in 2017, when 126 million consumers were expected to shop that day, according to the NRF.

A revenue bump would be good news for retail after a sluggish fall. In the third quarter, several department stores and footwear chains such as Macy’s, Kohl’s, DSW and Shoe Carnival reported lagging sales.

Wesley said that his business during the holidays has been “good but way down from last year. We were having another extraordinary year until November hit. Things started slowing down in November and December. Overall our walk-in business is down and online continues to grow.”

Snyder’s Shoes, which has two locations in Michigan, reported similar results. Jill Snyder, president of Snyder Shoe Co., said, “Sales for the holiday season have been good — not bad and not great.” She credited that in part to staffing issues at one of the stores, which prevented it from being able to open on Sundays. “I was hoping customers would shop us on the alternate days but that has not been the case.”

Additionally, the company is up against tough comparisons, explained Snyder, as 2022 was the company’s best year.

What’s Selling

For independent shoe stores, the warm fall weather delayed demand for boots and other seasonal footwear – as it did at many major retailers.

In Michigan, Snyder said the weather has definitely impacted the business. “Today, we are finally having a snowfall — one of our first. The sales on insulated product along with winter accessories have been very soft,” she told FN on Monday.

Murray said that in Colorado, it wasn’t until mid-October that her store finally started to see boot sales.

And for Wesley, the mild weather in Chicago has been a double-edged sword. “The warmer temperatures allow our mature clients to travel about easier, but of course it’s much harder to sell seasonal product when it’s 50 degrees outside,” he said.

As for what is selling well now in their stores, the retailers all gave high marks to comfort and athletic looks from brands such as Birkenstock, Ugg, On, New Balance, Remonte and Dansko.

Wesley also highlighted demand in the men’s category for Samuel Hubbard dress casual styles.

Overall, Snyder said that sales of loafers have been strong. “I think our customers own a lot of boots from these past years and were ready for a new look and an actual shoe to wear,” she said.

Seasonal Promotions

To help drum up business during the holidays, Wesley said he’s being more aggressive with email blasts and social media posts, rather than discounts and promotions. “We typically work within the MAP [minimum advertised price],” he said. But on Jan. 1, the store will kick off its end-of-season sale that will continue until the Super Bowl on Feb. 11.

Murray’s Shoes, meanwhile, is currently running a buy-three-get-one-free promotion for socks, as well as an incentive program to fuel sales after the New Year. “We are offering a deal for our customers — for every $100 they spend in the month of December, they earn $10 in Murray’s Cash that they can spend in January,” said Murray. “We are hoping to drive [people] into the store for the month of January, which can be a slower month for us.”

Murray added that she hopes the Murray’s Cash promo can help push back the start date for the store’s end-of-season sale, which runs through February. “We have managed our inventory well this year and we won’t have to mark down as much, which I feel will put us in a good spot for spring merchandise to start flowing in,” she said.

At Snyder’s Shoes, the owners have had to take more aggressive actions to move merchandise this season, such as marking down accessories and taking the loss. “We also have marked down product that we are not going forward with, along with athletics that soon will be going off MAP,” Snyder said.

She added that while the company typically waits until January to hold promotions, this year it started early in order to beat vendors to markdowns.