Longtime retailer Dan Ungar shares his digital strategies.
As Ohio’s Mar-Lou Shoes marks 60 years, its owner and president is moving forward with an eye on the digital experience.
1 After assuming leadership of the business in 2014 upon your father’s passing, what initiatives have you focused on? “We [want to] become savvier with digital marketing and providing an experiential visit to our customers. For instance, we’re developing a ‘trial’ path for our customers to experience the footwear in a real-world setting. Outdoor and running stores use boulders and treadmills. Ours is a cobblestone surface and other real-world textures. Additionally, our social media and digital strategies are paramount to stay not just relevant but to plan ahead with customer data acquisition. No matter a retailer’s size, it’s imperative to not just stay in the game but ahead of it.” 2 In an era of online shopping, how important is your e-commerce business? “A website is critical to stay in business, let alone thrive. But if you boil it down, it’s merely today’s Yellow Pages. There’s not an independent or mass retailer who can truly beat the behemoth online shoe businesses. Can large and small retailers get their slice? Sure. Can they beat it? Not a chance. However, can the e-commerce portion of a [brick-and-mortar] business be profitable? Of course it can, depending on the owner’s desires and acumen.” 3 How do you curate your brand offering to distinguish your store? “Branded goods are still the lion’s share of our business. These companies spend vast sums of money promoting their names, and we would be remiss to ignore that equity. However, there’s no such thing as exclusivity with name brands any longer. While there are special makeups, by and large, anything core brands offer is available to the world on the web. Independents and even department stores need goods that are as unique as possible. This is why big companies cultivate their own labels. Smaller companies have this ability on a more limited basis. Any attempt to do so is good as long as the product is right for their customer.” 4 Do you feel a need to cater to a broader customer demographic? “Our female customer is 55plus, and that’s fine with us. When 25-, 30- and 40-year-old women hit that age, we’ll be here for them with fashions they want. The number of retailers and manufacturers that have gone belly up because they think they have to attract [young shoppers] is staggering. Why is it necessary? We all get older. There are tens of thousands of customers in our demographic in Northeast Ohio that we’ve yet to attract. We know our customer, and our job is to provide the product they want in the size and width they need.” 5 What advice would you give someone considering opening a comfort shoe store? “In today’s environment, it takes millions to do it right. However, for a businessperson with a dream to be in the niche size-and-width business, I say go for it. Be prudent and plan to keep a very heavy inventory in basic shoes. Trying to be uber-fashionable in that market is a kiss of death. Footwear is not like wine. It doesn’t get better with time.”