The Walking Company, a comfort-footwear retailer, has acquired online retailer FootSmart from Benchmark Brands.
Founded in 1989, FootSmart, who recently fell under financial distress, is a direct retailer of foot and lower body health products that sold their products through an e-commerce site and mail-order catalog operation.
The Walking Company will rebuild FootSmart “to offer customers a more compelling product assortment and a more advanced online shopping experience,” officials said. The catalog program will immediately be suspended and excess inventory liquidated. The e-commerce site will be relaunched in spring 2017 on an updated platform with improved mobile capabilities and a customer loyalty program.
“We are excited to expand our business and confident this will accelerate our growth, build our omni-channel selling strategy and provide significant benefits to our customers and vendors,” said The Walking Company CEO Andrew Feshbach. “There is a strong alignment between our companies and customer bases, and this strategic acquisition will allow us to offer the most comprehensive product assortment and shopping experience in the comfort footwear category.”
FootSmart will operate as a distinct business within The Walking Company portfolio, positioned as “the complete online superstore for comfort footwear and accessories.”
