Keeping footwear moving
When Arnold Wittner set off from Romania in the late 1800s, he got on the wrong boat. “He didn’t speak or read English so, even though he had a ticket to join his brother in America, he got on a boat to Australia,” says his great-grandson and Wittner CEO International Michael Wittner. That lucky mistake led to the Wittner shoe empire that now includes 100 doors in Australia and New Zealand and more than 500 staff. As the company has grown, it’s expanded from solely bricks-andmortar shopfronts to a thriving eCommerce business based on delivering product to customers when and where they want it. And in order to do that, it has worked with Australia Post and StarTrack to put in place innovative delivery solutions to ensure it always stays a step ahead of customer expectations.
MAILBOXES TO INBOXES
The Wittners got into the shoe business in 1912 when accidental immigrant Arnold, a merchant with a horse and cart, set up his 17-year-old son, H. J., in a shop in Footscray, Melbourne, to offload a troublesome consignment of shoes. H. J. was a natural entrepreneur and, in the 1920s, began Australia’s first mail-order shoe business, which took off despite the Great Depression. “He had 32 people packing orders. By 1929 it was so successful that Australia Post increased the size of the local branch to accommodate the Wittner mail-order business,” says Michael of his grandfather’s nous. For much of its history, Wittner was a traditional retailer of shoes made by others but in 2000 it took a leap into manufacturing, with factories in China now making shoes exclusively for Wittner from designs created by its Australian team.
A POWERFUL PAIR
Since the brand took its first steps into to-your-door delivery, Australia Post and, later, StarTrack have been key in getting products to customers in a timely and efficient manner. As the eCommerce side of the business has grown (Wittner launched its first full eCommerce site in 1999 when most Australians were still on dial-up internet connections), StarTrack and Wittner have teamed up to ensure that the delivery – the last mile of the transaction – exceeds customer expectations so they can receive shoes when, where and how they want them. “We can deliver direct to our customers from any of our 73-plus Wittner locations in Australia and New Zealand and we have a few stores that specialise in fulfilment, too, all going out through StarTrack,” says Michael. “Getting the logistics right is hugely important. All the improvements in
logistics are about a better experience for the customer.” In fact, it can be easier to have a driver deliver a pair to a regional location in Australia than it is for that customer to get to a shopping centre.
SKIPPING THE MIDDLE MAN
As well as working with Wittner to provide businessto-consumer solutions, StarTrack also plays a key role in getting new stock on the shelves. Wittner has largely eliminated the need for third-party warehouses, with all indent stock delivered from factories to stores, rather than first going through a distribution centre. Goods are packed and labelled before leaving China so that once they arrive in Australia, they go directly into StarTrack facilities for delivery to Wittner stores via its premium and express services. There’s some warehouse space for overflow stock but that’s it. “We’re told it’s a pretty innovative way to manage stock delivery,” says Michael. He also hints there will soon be another leap forward in customer service: “The industry is aware that with Amazon coming to Australia, there needs to be a lift in capability to distribute in a way that the customer requires.”
TOMORROW, THE WORLD
Wittner shoes are now winging their way across the world, too. Recently, in just one week, Wittner shoes ordered via its eCommerce site were delivered to California, Singapore, China, England and New Zealand. Sweden, Argentina, Iceland, Russia, South Africa and Hong Kong are also on the frequent destinations list, with this uptick in global shipping made easier through Australia Post’s international outbound services. Wittner has also taken an exploratory step into the Canadian and US markets, “which is a challenge as a Southern Hemisphere business”, says Michael. “But we feel we have enough unique design, manufacturing and delivery capability to do it.” As well as the new export push, Wittner shoes have become popular with the growing Australian daigou trade – personal shoppers sourcing goods to onsell to customers in China.
THE FASHION FORTUNE TELLERS
The Wittner family, which now has three generations active in the business, is proud of the craftsmanship of the shoes and is confident it has the expertise to continue to grow the business. Wittner is a brand you can trust but Michael is pragmatic about the industry. “In fashion, if you get more right than wrong, you’re doing well,” he says. “My grandfather had a saying: ‘A buyer or designer who never got it wrong never bought or designed anything.’”