In this era of old school shoes and jerseys its great to find a company that is both old school and successful. Brooks Sports, Inc. is on a big roll right now, after returning to that time honored tradition: focusing on the end consumer.
The 90-year old company, with sales estimated around $120 million, has returned to its roots — taking care of technical runners — and is reaping huge rewards.
Backlog is up more than 60%, as the company is delivering on its heritage. Specialty running is now 80% of total sales mix , up from more 40% only 3 years ago. And Average Selling Price for its footwear is climbing each year.
Brooks CEO Jim Weber, in an exclusive interview with SPORTS EXECUTIVE WEEKLY, noted that the U.S. is in the midst of a new running boom. Calling running “a convenient and inexpensive form of exercise”, Weber notes that todays runners are focused on “health and wellness and staying young” and that “community running and cause events” have been a huge part of the running boom. Weber credits Brooks success due to the Focus on three initiatives: Product Leadership, Customer Service and Marketing Energy.
In terms of Product Leadership, Brooks has shed its price point business, which formerly had been the majority of the sales. Brooks is now focused on “gear that keeps you running”, viewing the “long term opportunity of putting the right shoe on the true runner”. Weber believes that “statement product will lead the brand”. The company is enjoying tremendous success with their Adrenaline, Trance and Epiphany models, all aimed at the upper end user. Weber estimates that there is a $700mm to $800mm U.S. business in specialty running. And Brooks intends to get a big piece of that market.
Tom Raynor, CEO of Fleet Feet said, “The Brooks product development team has put together a great selection of footwear for the specialty running store.” Fleet Feet selected Brooks as their Footwear Vendor of the Year last year, as sales grew a whopping 56% against company growth of 15%.
In terms of Customer service, Raynor notes that Brooks “was an early adopter of the concept of doing business with specialty running retailers”. Raynor cites the fact that Brooks has assigned one customer service rep that “has been our single point of customer service contact since we initiated the program six years ago.”
Weber states that “the business model is set up on a tight product line for smaller retailers, which allows the company to respond to immediate customer needs.” Brooks percentage of at-once business has grown from 20-30% to 30-40% in a short period of time based on this commitment to the small running specialist.
Webers marketing background at Pillsbury is also evident in the companys promotional strategy. While recognizing that cosmetics are always important, Brooks is more focused on “function first”. The marketing strategy is based on the same principles. Brooks marketing is positioned for “relevance” rather than mere “exposure”. The companys efforts are spent at the grass roots level where contact with the end user in a relevant environment is most fruitful.
David Jewell, Director of Merchandising at multi-channel running retailer, Road Runner Sports, sums it all up, “A key to the success of our business is the partnerships we build. It is our belief that if we build a strong partnership with the vendors, the customer wins. We feel we have strong partnerships with all of our top vendors but there is no equal to our partnership with Brooks.
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is but one of the main reasons is that we both have an overriding goal to satisfy runners. Building great product, always having it in stock and giving the customer a reason to come back is why we do so well with Brooks. A key customer measure we use for all of our vendors is return rate As a vendor Brooks has the lowest return rate for us. When you think of all the powerful brands we sell, that one statistic may be the most powerful statistic for long term success. There is nothing more “grass roots” than putting the right shoe, with right fit on a runner and letting them run.”
Jewell gives us a little history of the relationship between Brooks and Road Runner Sports: “On Sunday Road Runner Sports will celebrate its 20th Anniversary. Just over 20 years ago the owner, Mike Gotfredson walked into a retail store to buy his first pair of running shoes. It was time for him to get fit and he knew running could get him there. His first purchase was a Brooks running shoe.
From there the idea spawned to get into the Direct Mail business of selling running shoes. Of course one of his first calls he made to get the business rolling was to Brooks. Twenty years later they continue to play a key role in the success of Road Runner Sports.”
Raynor notes the “great relationship” Fleet Feet has had with Brooks as well. Hinting about the future, Raynor said, “our relationship is poised to do things even more contrarian than before.” The old fashioned way.
>>> The turnaround here and the success of Performance Running and increased Average Selling Price is in sharp contrast to the talk in the Spring/Summer of the categorys demise for a number of brands at retail. Perhaps its the right product at the right price in the right place at the right time after all…
