About
An American Shoe Story
Red Wing Shoes has been making high-quality work shoes for over a hundred years. The company’s commitment to excellence is reflected in their business model, with a fully-integrated supply chain to maintain quality control over each step of the process – from leather tanning all the way to retailing. As Red Wing Shoes began its second century in business, the company looked to expand their reach through both new retail and wholesale distribution outlets.
The opera’s marketing team, working with Behavioural Economy, realized their insights weren’t translating into meaningful change. They knew there were untapped audiences out there but they lacked the tools to find and connect with them.
“Buxton became a partner in our business.”
Marisa Wilson
Sr. Director of Global Revenue Operations Strategy at Red Wing Shoes
Challenge
Wanting more
Red Wing Shoes didn’t just want to expand; they wanted to understand where the market is for their shoes. Although the company had used another analytics provider in the past, they wanted to take a more granular, science-driven approach to understanding market potential, one that included actual customer data in a predictive model. Knowing that there is enough of the right customers in a trade area to support a store would help to justify the investment, leading to greater confidence in decision-making.
OUTCOME
Winning combination
When Red Wing met Buxton, the company knew it had found the partner it was seeking. Red Wing was impressed that Buxton’s team understood their business model, since it was different from that of many other retailers. They also appreciated Buxton’s hands-on SCOUT platform, which provided Red Wing with the granular data they needed to make quality decisions. Buxton’s US potential analysis for Red Wing confirmed that there was a need for the brand and showed previously untapped opportunities. When Red Wing examined the year one performance of the first three stores opened based on Buxton’s location recommendations, they found that two of the three stores exceeded internal year one projections.
“We wanted to understand our targeted consumers’ behavioral traits — where they live, where they work, where they shop. That triad of information, we felt, would change how we choose our sites.
Marisa Wilson
Sr. Director of Global Revenue Operations Strategy at Red Wing Shoes
It doesn't stop here
Red Wing continues to work with Buxton to identify distribution location opportunities for future growth. The company is focused on maximizing overall market share in existing markets, through both Red Wing stores and independent retail outlets. They also are focused on optimizing and expanding their multi-channel distribution strategy, and rely on Buxton’s analytics to provide the knowledge they need to be successful with traditional brick and mortar locations.
