Ecco

ECCO divided their products to 3 types: casual, outdoor, and semi-sport shoes, for men, ladies, and children. Their shoes also broke up into 2 different seasons – spring/summer, and autumn/winter. According to the sales in 2004, majority who bought their shoes are women (47%), and men (30%). ECCO expanded to golf shoes category in 2004, and 300,000 was sold. According to Rankmark, “ECCO Golf Footwear was preferred by more than 90% of golfers over their current brands.” ECCO’s main markets were United States, Germany, and Japan.

The shoes industry was driven by customer preference, and highly competitive. The footwear industry itself also had been fragmented; there’s no distinction between athletic and lifestyle casual footwear. Every company sought to find ways to be the most cost effective, with new technologies. They tried to streamlined production, automated their production, invest in R&D for new technologies, improved customer service, and market knowledge. The retailers also added some pressure by establishing their private labels. However, ECCO observed that their main competitors worldwide were Geox, Clarks, and Timberland.

Geox, the Italian shoemaker, was a competitive threat in the casual lifestyle footwear segment. They had amazing growth rate; the increasing sales from €148 million in 2001 to €340 million in 2004. Their success was because of their perforated runner soles, technology that prevent water from entering the shoes. Geox’s distribution was also identical with ECCO’s business model. Geox was a threat for ECCO’s because they had been trying to penetrate the U.S. market and had increased sales from $4 million in 2002 to $14 million in 2003, which was 250% sales increased. While in the same year, ECCO’s sales were only increased by 4.5%. (Exhibit 10)

Clarks, the English shoemakers, was the biggest player within the casual lifestyle footwear segment with global sales of $1,534 million in 2003. Their slogan was “from career wear to...