Richie Woodworth, president of Saucony, Inc., said the
company has three very distinct and main areas of focus for the future. First,
they will continue to focus on continued growth in the core running specialty
channel. Woodworth said they now hold the #3 share spot at running specialty
with 12.4% of the market, up from the #6 spot (9.3%) in 2005, and only 5.6
points behind the #2 spot currently being held by Brooks (18.0%). Second, they
plan to continue to focus on growing share in the sporting goods and athletic
specialty channels, primarily by leveraging their technical heritage and the
momentum they have in the marketplace in running, as well as their utilizing
their heritage in women's product. Lastly, Saucony sees the need to
“re-energize and re-establish” the Originals business.
Mr. Woodworth laid out Sauconys key goals for
market share growth across the three key areas in running footwear. The brand
is focused on achieving a 17% share in the Stability category, up from 14.5%
last year. They see doing this through continued improvements in the
Hurricane, Omni and ProGrid Guide products. In the Cushioning category,
Woodworth is working towards a share goal of 14%, up from 11% last year,
through growth in the Triumph and ProGrid Ride products. In Stability, the
ProGrid Stabil is expected to help drive share to 12% from 9.1% last year.
Saucony also plans to “elevate” the brand
in running specialty by extending it into apparel for the first time,
reiterating a decision made prior to the CBI acquisition when they announced
that the Hind brand would be de-emphasized and sold off in favor of Saucony
product.
“We need to capitalize, frankly, on the success
and the momentum that we've been able to generate in this trade channel,”
said Woodworth. “And we can do it and elevate and build our brand to a
new level by taking our loyal Saucony consumer, a woman that's just come in and
purchased a Hurricane 9 for $130 off the wall, and not walk them by the apparel
category or have them purchase a Mizuno or an ASICS piece of outerwear. We want
them to hook up.”
Woodworth sees a bigger challenge in sporting goods,
describing it as a “big dog fight.” He said they need to
“come off the wall in a really compelling way” in the channel where
they compete with the big boys. While Woodworth feels they can have an impact
in the top running doors at Dicks and TSA by leveraging the
“market momentum” they have in running specialty, he feels the
bigger growth opportunity in the channel will come in the “volume price
points” in the $50 to $85 range. He sees doing that by building a
“visually compelling technology story” into these price point shoes
where a younger, more male-dominated consumer is going to be attracted to them.
Woodworth also expects that the ability to leverage CBIs sourcing base
to produce better margins in the sporting goods and athletic specialty channels
will be beneficial.
In the Originals business, Saucony still sees the Jazz
as the cornerstone of the business, with additional designs coming out of the
Shadow 6000 and Courageous product. They expect to get a design lift out of
their relationship with the
CBI
Design
Center
in
New York
International group in
