Kurt Geiger's Shoeaholics to open physical stores

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 15, 2020

Shoeaholics, the footwear outlet e-tailer owned by Kurt Geiger, is bucking the general store-closure trend and will open a number of physical stores in the UK this month.

Two of the new pop-up shops will be on London’s Oxford Street and in Glasgow’s Silverburn mall. Other are at Dalton Park in County Durham and Swindon, plus Cheshire Oaks and Birmingham NEC, those last two already being open.

The website has over 12 million customers who buy its branded products that range from Kurt Geiger itself to Uggs, Birkenstock, Superga, Skechers, Steve Madden and more than 140 other brands.

And it has enjoyed surging sales during lockdown, despite footwear overall having been one of the most challenged fashion categories as consumers have found themselves with few opportunities to don a pair of outdoor shoes.

The site, which typically sells shoes for prices around 30% to 40% lower than RRP, saw customers doubling their regular spend during the period of enforced non-essential store closures and its discount positioning likely helped it as consumers reined-in their spending overall.

Brand CEO Gareth Rees-John said the business saw a clear trend of consumers of saving money due to being unable to go out and spending it on bargain shoes. “Individual consumer spend was in many cases three times the norm,” he said.

He added that the firm wants to “build on this momentum at a time when other retailers are leaving the high street. This is a confident move that reflects both the UK’s continued obsession with shoes and consumers' focus on value in these uncertain economic times”.

He thinks there remains a market gap for a one-stop shop for branded shoes at low prices.