Running Insight 1.15.18 by Running Insight

THE NEWSMAGAZINE FOR RUNNING SPECIALTY RETAILERS / RUNNINGINSIGHT.COM

GETTING A

GRIP ON 2018 THE ONLINE SHOPPING BATTLE A RUNNING START JOINS FORCES WITH FLEET FEET

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RUNNING INSIGHT

THE BATTLE WITH ONLINE SHOPPING ONLINE SHOPPING

BRICK & MORTAR

BY DANIEL P. SMITH

52 PERCENT of shoppers research footwear and apparel items online.

Source: PwC 2017 Total Retail Survey

RUNNING INSIGHT ® is a registered trademark of Formula4Media, LLC. © 2018 all rights reserved. Running Insight is published twice each month, is edited for owners and top executives at running specialty stores and available only via email.The opinions by authors and contributors to Running Insight are not necessarily those of the editors or publishers. Articles appearing in Running Insight may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the publisher. Formula4Media, LLC, P.O. Box 23-1318, Great Neck, NY 11023. Tel: 516-305-4709.

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or Kathy Gates, the e-mail’s subject line said it all: “Friends don’t let friends buy running shoes online.” Battling the increasing thrust of online shopping, Gates, owner of The Running Well Store, went on the offensive with an email to customers highlighting the differences between shopping online and visiting one of her two stores in metro Kansas City. Gates noted the hassle of online shopping, citing research from the University of Regensburg that found 30 percent of shoppers returned items purchased online, before underscoring the expertise of her staff and the ability of the stores’ training groups to boost athletic performance. “At The Running Well Store, we believe in the perfect fit through a stride analysis, having top-notch customer service, excellent product knowledge

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RUNNING INSIGHT The Battle With Online Shopping (continued)

“Everybody has an online horror story and can relate to the pain of shopping online... we will send you out with the right product and back it up with a no questions asked return policy.” KATHY GATES, OWNER THE RUNNING WELL STORE, KANSAS CITY, KS

“Competitive pricing is the single biggest factor that will get those customers to put their phones away.” BRENT COMPTON, OWNER PACESETTER SPORTS TERRE HAUTE, IN

“Same-day delivery has helpen a ton. People are amazed by it and it makes them feel that we care and want to earn their business.” ANN RINGLEIN, MANAGER LINCOLN RUNNING COMPANY LINCOLN, NE 4

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and developing a supportive community helping our customers achieve their goals,” Gates’ e-mail said. To hammer the point home, Gates also invited customers to share their best online shopping horror stories on the company’s Facebook page. The social media post reached more than 2,800 people and generated 22 comments as people relayed tales of weeks-long shipping delays and exorbitant fees, products not matching their online descriptions, shoddy packaging and ordered items wiggling into others’ hands. “Everybody has an online horror story and can relate to the pain of shopping online,” Gates says. “We wanted to highlight that we will send you out with the right product and back it up with a 30-day, no questions asked return policy.” With e-commerce currently accelerating at an 8-12 percent annual clip according to the National Retail Federation and 2017 sales estimated to approach $450 billion, online shopping has emerged as a grave concern among the nation’s brick-and-mortar retailers, including run specialty shops facing stiff competition from the likes of Amazon and Zappos as well as manufacturers’ own websites. “Ten or 20 years ago, you could just hang out your ‘Open’ shingle and people would beat a path to your door, but that Golden Age of run specialty has passed and retailers have to get better at what they do because online is here to stay,” Running Industry Association executive director Terry Schalow says. Taking online shopping to task Messaging, like The Running Well Store’s e-mail, is one way running shops have worked to extract customers from the tug of e-commerce. From spotlighting the value of genuine human interaction inside a brickand-mortar store to identifying the economic benefits of shopping local, many run shops are putting a full-court press on online shopping by trying to appeal to customers’ hearts and minds.

But messaging is far from the only strategy run shops are employing to compete with e-commerce. This summer, Pacesetter Sports in Terre Haute, IN, began price matching, boldly sharing news of its new store policy on the shop’s highway marquee. Owner Brent Compton grew tired of seeing customers whip out their phones to investigate prices, some eventually leaving his store to have an item shipped to their home two days later for a $5 savings. “Competitive pricing is the single biggest factor that will get those customers to put their phones away,” Compton says. “This assures our customers that we do not want to be beat on price.” Though admittedly “scared to death” to initiate a price-matching policy, particularly in the age of liquidation and flash sales, Compton says he has only felt burned a “few times” since unveiling the store policy. “Most often, customers are pumped that we offer this and that’s making them more loyal to us,” he says, adding that the pricematching risk further dwindles if – and, admittedly, a big if – brands enforce minimum advertised pricing (MAP) on current models. “Competitive pricing is such a big deal and I feel we need to embrace it,” he continues. “We’re going to get through it by communicating with our customers and staying transparent rather than fretting about it and looking backwards.” Stores like the Lincoln Running Company in Nebraska’s capital city, meanwhile, have turned to offering free shipping as well as same-day delivery of products to local customers. “This has helped a ton,” manager Ann Ringlein says of same-day delivery. “People are amazed by it and it makes them feel that we care and want to earn their business.” Similarly, Fleet Feet Chicago debuted its “shoe valet” service, a fleet of vehicles, bikes and employees running product out to local customers within a certain radius, about four years ago. Fleet Feet Chicago senior

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RUNNING INSIGHT The Battle With Online Shopping (continued)

Fleet Feet Chicago’s shoe valet service delivers product to local customers within a certain radius. It is a first step to tackling the convenience so many of today’s customers want. “We should be focusing on connections and relationships with people at all levels of our businesses.” NICHOLAS STANKO, OWNER, ANN ARBOR RUNNING COMPANY, ANN ARBOR, MI

“It goes beyond a well-merchandised store with great product selection and service. It’s about servicing customers after the sale to make the next sale.” TERRY SCHALOW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RUNNING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

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vice president of sales and marketing John Moloznik describes the shoe valet service as “a first step to tackling the convenience so many of today’s customers want.” As another convenience play to counter e-commerce, the Lincoln Running Company is readying plans to hop on Locally.com, the online channel that provides information on where specific goods are available in a given community. “We believe this will send people to us,” Ringlein says of Locally. “I do think this younger generation wants to buy local, but it has to be convenient for them.” Inventory stands as another piece in the battle against e-commerce. Compton says he has partnered with vendors to make sure Pacesetter Sports has key sizes and styles in stock so people can “touch it and feel it,” while Ringlein has had conversations with staff about bringing out footwear that’s not as easy to purchase online, such as Altra and Hoka One One. “We have some built-in defense [in the run specialty channel] because many people want to try on shoes first before dishing out $100,” she says. “Still, we have to bring out footwear they have to think about.” Cracking the code When it comes to pricing and shipping, Ann Arbor Running Company owner Nicholas Stanko isn’t convinced brick-and-mortar run shops should be trying to directly compete with e-commerce. Instead, he contends that running stores should be focusing on things online outlets can never do, such as making real, authentic connections in the communities and putting people before product. “We should be focusing on connections and relationships with people at all levels of our businesses,” Stanko says. The RIA’s Schalow echoes that sentiment, urging shops to double down on community and helping customers feel like a part of the club with training programs and by creating social context for customers. Such

connections, he contends, are crucial to battling e-commerce. “It goes far beyond a well-merchandised store with great product selection and service,” Schalow says. “It’s about servicing customers after the sale to make the next sale.” Though Compton unveiled price matching at Pacesetter Sports, he, too, sees a “best friend” relationship with customers – a longstanding differentiator for the run specialty channel – as vitally important to competing with e-commerce now and in the years ahead. “We have to provide an intimate experience filled with positive energy and genuine communication each and every time, which is not something customers are going to get on a device,” he says. “The service, the relationship, the affection, that’s how we win this battle in the long run.” That said, Compton’s still hedging his bets because “even in the most intimate and seemingly loyal of relationships, customers can still have their phones out.” Great in-store service alone, he says, can’t be the sole play. To that point, Compton plans to increase Pacesetter’s online presence in 2018. If not directly selling online, he will at least have information available on pricing, recommendations and availability as customers are researching their purchases. According to PwC’s 2017 Total Retail Survey, 52 percent of global shoppers prefer to research their clothing and footwear purchases online. “Upping our web presence keeps us in the process instead of getting left out of that equation,” Compton says. Ultimately, Ringlein says, independent run shops must stay actively engaged in their business, which means consistently looking to strengthen their customer service while also taking some calculated risks to bolster convenience, accessibility and their competitive standing in the marketplace. “We have to keep doing what we do and doing it better,” she says. “I don’t know if we can crack the code, but I know we need to continue to work at it.” n

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RUNNING INSIGHT

solating graphene — an allotrope of carbon that is the thinnest and strongest material yet discovered — was a breakthrough that won researchers at the University of Manchester the Nobel Prize for physics in 2004. And for 2018, British brand Inov-8 is banking on it for footwear, infusing the material into outsoles in its new G-Series family of performance shoes. Inov-8 worked with a research team from the University of Manchester for the past year to create a footwear application of the material. And according to Dr. Aravind Vijayaraghavan, reader in Nanomaterials at the University of Manchester, the resulting compound is worth the wait. “Our unique formulation makes these outsoles 50 percent stron8

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ger, 50 percent more stretchy and 50 percent more resistant to wear than the corresponding industry standard rubber outsoles without graphene,” he said. For Fall ’18, the brand will use the compound in three styles: a trail runner designed for long distances on hard-pack trails; a style designed for soft, muddy surfaces or By 2020, 50 obstacle courses; and a trainer made for percent of the inov-8 footwear Crossfit or the gym. range will More styles will follow in 2019. Calling it be graphenea “key growth driver” for the brand, Inov-8 enhanced. product and marketing director Michael Price said, “By 2020, 50 percent of the inov-8 footwear range will be graphene-enhanced. The potential of graphene really is limitless.” n

RUNNING INSIGHT

New Location for Old Town Store

leet Feet Sports Chicago has moved its flagship store down the block from its previous location on N. Wells Street in the city’s Old Town neighborhood. The new location, which opened in early December at 1706-08 N. Wells is slightly smaller than its previous locale down the block, but owner Dave Zimmer says the square footage is still plenty big and offers a rent about 40 percent lower. “Landlords need to see what’s going on with their tenants,” Zimmer told Running Insight. “We saw this as an opportunity to reduce our fixed costs and maintain a great location in a community where we have been for 20 years.” The new location takes two storefronts and connects them to create a new space. “First feedback from customers is that the new space is much more intimate creating a more shopable experience,” said GM John Moloznik. “People are noticing apparel and essentials that we have always carried for the first time because now they are immersed in it.” n

The new location makes use of many of the design elements from the previous location, which was regarded as one of the best-looking stores in the country. That store was heavily damaged in a fire in 2015 and subsequently rebuilt. The new store design combines modern touches like numerous TV monitors and floating footwear shelves with reclaimed wood from barns outside of the city. The store also includes its customers in the design. Many of them sent in race bibs, which adorn the walls of the stores and dressing rooms.

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RUNNING INSIGHT

Running Shorts A Running Start Joining Forces with Fleet Feet

A Running Start in West Reading, Pa. has become a Fleet Feet franchise. The store will remain locally owned. Current owner, founder, and chief running officer of A Running Start Sorita Averill-Fitzgerald (pictured at left) will remain owner of the store, which she first opened in 2004. The store will offer its training programs for 5K and half-marathon distances under the umbrella of Fleet Feet’s new Fleet Feet Running Club program beginning this month. The store staff, which includes four full-time and seven part-time employees, will soon begin using Fleet Feet’s exclusive 3D foot scanning technology, fit id, with customers as part of a personalized shoe-fitting process. Averill-Fitzgerald says local planning will soon begin on Fleet Feet 2018 national initiatives, including the retail event “The Big Commit,” planned for March 2-4, and the national 5K race “The Big Run,” slated for Global Running Day on June 6. The store will incorporate the Fleet Feet branding into its own beginning soon. Averill-Fitzgerald began running at age 28 when she discovered that, despite her asthma, running improved her breathing and lung functioning. She started competing in short runs and eventually began running marathons. She has also overcome breast cancer and has completed several half and two full Ironman competitions Now a Road Runners Club of America certified coach, Averill-Fitzgerald directs several local races, including Fitzy’s Halloween 5K Run and Run Santa Run 5K, and serves on the board of directors for Girls on the Run in Berks County. Prior to founding A Running Start, AverillFitzgerald worked in pharmaceuticals and sales. She graduated from Cabrini College with a bachelor of arts and earned her master’s degree in organizational dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania. Averill-Fitzgerald says she plans to hold a celebratory event for customers later this month. For more information on all upcoming events and training programs, visit www.fleetfeetars.com With the addition of the West Reading location, Fleet Feet Sports now has a total of three locations in the state of Pennsylvania; one in Pittsburgh and one in Mechanicsburg. 12

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RUNNING INSIGHT Running Shorts (continued)

Renouf Joins Motiv as President

Sam Renouf has joined Motiv Sports as president. He had previously been General Manager, Sports at ACTIVE Network. Renouf previously worked at ACTIVE in several different roles and has a long history in the endurance community. He represented Great Britain as an elite triathlete, Ironman and commentated at major events including ITU World Championships and as race announcer for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Prior to his role as GM of ACTIVE Networks global business, Sam was VP, Emerging Markets and the GM of Asia Pacific. Sam takes over the role previously filled by Chris Colón who recently left the position of President of Motiv Sports for a role on the Motiv Sports board of directors.

WANT TO TAKE YOUR STORE TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

Kaplan Joins Ragnar as Executive Vice President

Doug Kaplan, a 30-year veteran of the endurance sports, media and events industry, has joined Ragnar Relay as Executive Vice President of Partnership for Ragnar Relay. In this newly created role, Kaplan will oversee sales, development and activation for the large global running relay series. “Doug rounds out our senior team with his energy, creativity, track record, and a lifetime of experience in the field.” said Ragnar CEO Chris Infurchia. “Doug’s strategic vision will help us grow the company and brand as we continue to promote popular events like our innovative trail series and expand to scenic locales around the world.” “The heart and soul of Ragnar is team work,” said Kaplan. “Joining the senior team of a company I have long admired is a dream come true.”

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RUNNING INSIGHT Running Shorts (continued)

During three decades in the industry, Kaplan has served as a CEO, publisher, senior vice president of sales and national sales manager. He is known nationally for his leadership at Windy City Publishing, GenA Network and GenA Marketing, Competitor Group and Ironman. Kaplan has engaged countless national and regional partners including Gatorade, Geico, Maui Jim, Quicken Loans, Reebok and United Airlines, among many others. Kaplan is a founding board member of Running USA. He has participated in more than 25 marathons, numerous triathlons and relay races, running in nearly every state in the U.S. and dozens of countries around the world. SPIBelt Acquires Nite Beams; Launches SPIBeams Collection

Austin, TX-based SPIbelt has acquired the running gear division of Nite Beams LED safety accessories. Now being marketed under the name SPIbeams, this collection of light-up wearables is also adding several new products to its lineup. SPIbeams was officially unveiled during The Running Event in December. The acquisition enables SPIbelt, best known for its SPIbelt

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RUNNING INSIGHT Running Shorts (continued)

running belt, to continue expanding into new categories. The SPIbeams line includes both USB rechargeable and batterypowered headwear, shoelaces, and wristbands as well as LED spurs, arm and leg bands, and gloves. Internet-Connected Barefoot Shoe Coming in Q2

The barefoot shoe company VIVOBAREFOOT has teamed with Sensoria on the new VIVOBAREFOOT Smart Shoe, powered by Sensoria. The product, which was previewed recently at the CES tech show, is a concept the companies have spent the past year bringing to reality. The shoe, with one layer of fabric thin pressure sensors, enables users to record natural movement without any underfoot padding or interference. It will be available for purchase in Q2 2018. The shoe comes with embedded Sensoria technology in the form of what Sensoria says are the thinnest pressure sensors in the world, localized in the plantar area. The sensors are detachable, rechargeable and reusable. The Sensoria Core hardware collects data and streams to the user’s mobile phone. The connected devices detect forces, such as impact score, foot landing and contact time metrics with extreme precision. The collected data will allow for a step-by-step natural

running transition training plan with artificial intelligence technology delivering real-time audio and visual feedback via both a mobile app and web dashboard. The system monitors speed, pace, cadence, GPS track, foot landing technique, ground time, impact score and eventually, asymmetry and toe engagement. The shoe could help in educating people about natural movement, believes Galahad Clark, VIVOBAREFOOT founder and MD. “Through our partnership with Sensoria, we’re able to offer realtime transition advice and visual proof of the incredible sensory feedback loop between feet and brain.” Sensoria CEO and co-founder Davide Vigano says, “Sensoria’s proprietary sensors, microelectronics and the new Sensoria Run 2.0 app make it easy for runners to identify bad habits and correct them, helping to improve running form and minimize the risk of injuries.” n

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