Nearly a year after opening its first brick-and-mortar store and dabbling in wholesale, hands-free shoe brand Kizik is launching its biggest marketing campaign ever, opening three stores this summer.
Shoes, like other products where fit and feel are important, tend to be sold directly. But Kizik CEO Monte Deere said the in-store experience in Salt Lake City, which opened last May, has proven to be a game-changer for Kizik. At least 7 out of 10 of his customers who try on Kizik shoes leave wearing them. For comparison, the average conversion rate for websites is 3% to 3.5%.
“You can see in their eyes that they are experiencing hands-free for the first time,” he said.
This success allowed Kizik to continue expanding its retail business. Kizik's next store will open in May of this year at Mall of America, and another in June at King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia. A store is scheduled to open on Newbury Street in Boston in August, and deals are underway in two other undisclosed cities. To further this initiative, the brand is launching a national marketing campaign consisting of online and connected TV ads, as well as inviting participants to try on his Kizik and walk through a colorful light display. Launch a sophisticated New York pop-up that inspires.
Last summer, Kijiku told Modern Retail that it was aiming to open four to five stores by the end of 2024. But this month Deer said Kijiku plans to open six stores by the end of 2024 and 15 by the end of 2025. In the wholesale division, the company has expanded its goal from 200 doors to about 500 doors by the end of the year. In addition to the ongoing Nordstrom pilot, Kizik is on the shelves of 74 Brown's Shoe Fit stores in the Midwest and will be available at Seals and Van Maur this summer.
Launched in 2017 as an online direct-to-consumer business, Kizik sells “hands-free” sneakers. Although they look like stylish sneakers, you can wear them while sitting, bending over, or without tying them. In 2023, the brand surpassed $100 million in sales through its e-commerce business, with net revenue increasing 44% year over year. Going forward, the company hopes to generate 20% of its sales through wholesale and 15% to 20% from its own physical stores.
But getting there requires intentional focus, and Kizik is selective about its locations, Dear said. “Location, space and co-tenancy are non-negotiable,” Dear said. That means focusing on high-traffic, premium locations, such as those where brands like Lululemon and Warby Parker have stores. Additionally, the new store will be between 1,500 and 2,200 square feet, making it slightly larger than the Salt Lake City flagship.
Deere said the company was able to make its way into prime real estate thanks to the success of its early stores and a recent national marketing effort called “Motion is Magic.'' “When you want a space like that, it's not ours. We have to show them,” he said. “But landlords are seeing our performance online, they're seeing our performance in the first store, they're seeing our brand, they're seeing the beauty of our brand.” [marketing] “We're launching 'Motion is Magic,'” he said. “It helps us get to where we want to go.”
When it comes to wholesale, Deer said Kizik wants to make sure its products are sold in stores where employees can support customers. “I think learning about our brand will work if people actually pull it off the shelf in shoes and other footwear,” he said. “It would be better if people didn't explore and discover things on their own, but someone says, 'Have you ever seen how Kijiku works?'” This is a must-try. Try it,” he said. In addition to the pilot at Nordstrom, Kizik has launched the service at his 74 locations at Midwest retailer Brown's Shoe Fit.
Roland Figueredo, director of business development at King Retail Solutions, says customer service is a key element to success in the retail industry as online brands build stores. In addition to helping customers understand your product, you also have the opportunity to upsell and increase ticket prices. “It's much more natural and natural for a salesperson to suggest, 'Maybe you need socks to go with those shoes,'” he says.
Additionally, with online customers accustomed to searching through a wide selection of products, ensuring reliable inventory levels is critical. If someone's chosen style or size isn't available and they have to order it, “that kind of defeats the purpose of going to the store,” he said.
But Figueredo said that as brands expand, brands like Kizik need to combine first-party data with broader cultural context. Opening stores in neighborhoods that align with the brand while having an aesthetic that fits the culture, like outdoor brands in Seattle and Portland, ensures that online startups bring their new stores to a wider audience. That's one way to do it.
“The key is to know the trends and know where the population is,” he said.
The “Motion is Magic” brand campaign aims to raise awareness of Kizik when planning future retail business developments. While previous ads focused on Kizik's technical suitability and accessibility, including being perfect for travel, the new campaign is more zoomed out and aspirational.
“We created a brand that speaks to technology and functionality,” Deer says. “But there's more to Kizik than that…It's meant to inspire the freedom to go, do, see, feel and explore.”
Kijiku has been running outdoor, radio and airport ads for three and a half months in Austin, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Maine. Deere said sales data from this campaign will be used to show prospective commercial property owners what Kijiku can do when competing for premium space in high-end shopping centers. said.
“We want to see the difference in what's happening in these saturated markets,” he says. “and [say] Here's the data to prove it. ”
