How Britain Shops for Footwear | Verdict Consumer Report

At 60.8%, footwear ranks in 11th place for conversion against all other retail sectors, and 4.2 percentage points behind clothing. Footwear conversion stands at almost 30 percentage points lower than food and grocery, despite the extensive choice and availability of footwear on offer due to retailer expansion.

Key Findings

– Use retailer ratings across eight key metrics to benchmark the performance of retailers in the footwear market

– Identify what factors footwear shoppers find important, and how well retailers satisfy the expectations of their shoppers

– Understand what channels shoppers are using to make purchases and see how this varies across regions and demographics to improve customer targeting

Synopsis

Quality is the top driver of footwear purchases among shoppers, rated at 8.7 out of 10 – 0.1 and 0.2 points above value for money and price. Consumers remain demanding of footwear retailers, and as disposable incomes increase, shoppers are striving for value for money, wanting to invest in quality footwear that will last longer.

Females account for 53.6% of footwear shoppers in 2015, while footwear penetration among females is 78.0% – 13.5 percentage points higher than males. Women’s footwear is highly fashion-led, with far wider product ranges, increased newness and outfit building helping to boost shopper numbers and drive the overall footwear market.

Just 7.9% of British footwear shoppers make purchases more than once a month, in contrast to 36.4% of clothing shoppers. While clothing players have become proficient at incorporating key catwalk trends to offer newness on a regular basis, footwear retailers still need to widen their ranges and introduce new styles more frequently to drive spend.

Reasons To Buy

– Which footwear retailers have the highest share of visitors and purchasers? Which retailer has the highest conversion rate in footwear?

– How many other stores do your shoppers use for footwear?

– What percentage of...