Crocs : Comfortable, Ugly….and done
In July 2014, Crocs announced that it was closing 100 of its 624 stores and laying off 183 employees, 75 at the head office alone. Despite the recent addition of more than 300 new models – including golf shoes, winter boots and flats – sales and profits plunged.
The Crocs saga started in 2002, when three Colorado friends bought up an antibacterial plastic foam technology developed in Québec. Five years later, the brand had sold 50 million pairs of shoes and reported $850 million in sales. Yes, we’re talking about those ugly but oh so comfy clogs that everyone loves to hate.
The Failure :
One year and $200 million in losses later, they decided to focus on line extensions.
But the fashion shoe world is not an easy fit; it’s a whole new market and competition is stiff. And the fact that the Crocs name brought up the image of an entire family all sporting identical brightly-colored clogs didn’t help.
The Moral :
The Crocs brand was strongly positioned: they really were practical, comfortable shoes. But then they lost us by trying to get into every segment of the market ─ golf, fashion, sports and winter boots ─ under the same brand name. They should have used the Toyota – Lexus strategy to keep their core clientele and attract new customers.
Image Source : Crocs
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