Payless Problems

genebujold · 12th January 2004, 15:05

Anyone visited Payless these days? Still have larger sizes, but NO heel heighth to any of them!

Looks like Payless is discriminating against higher heels for larger-footed individuals!

Bubba136 · 12th January 2004, 15:16

I've never really liked Payless. Less expensive, not so good quality shoes that are "wearable" for one season, if you don't abuse them. Like most multinationals, bottom line is what's important. Fashion trends and sales figures are closely monitored and what sells best gets stocked. Sell more shoes in larger sizes and the company will stock them.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the unsold shoes that are returned to the warehouse after they are removed from stores? I guess you can find a large number of them for sale on eBay.

hoverfly · 12th January 2004, 23:55

The trend for this year is low heels, not high heels. Also last year it was printed that many stores are no longer carrying large sizes because they don't create a singnfaint profit margin. It this Bad or good news? Time only will tell. Maybe the market is just big enough for a specialty producer/marketer on line or small chains. Down side you will probably pay more and get less quality. But I don't think customers will let that go for long. Or if the economy improves maybe they will start producing large sizes in numbers again.

Payless is just fallowing a trend. How ever they don't get away with out any complaints. Their server screw up a lot, slow downloads and one time it would not take any of my credit cards that I used before. Large sizes are more available online then at the stores now. Now as for the quality? For the price, what do you expect? It's not called Payless for nothing.

bootluvr · 13th January 2004, 00:56

if you don't find what you're looking for at payless, try wal-mart as they've been carrying up to 12's (wides a rarity) the past 2 or 3 years. :)

hoverfly · 13th January 2004, 01:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by bootluvr

if you don't find what you're looking for at payless, try wal-mart as they've been carrying up to 12's (wides a rarity) the past 2 or 3 years. :)

Ha!!! Not any more where I live.

bootluvr · 13th January 2004, 01:07

sorry to hear hoverfly, and or course you can't buy any apperal from their web site either. :( not even in surrounding neighborhoods either??

hoverfly · 13th January 2004, 01:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by bootluvr

sorry to hear hoverfly, and or course you can't buy any apperal from their web site either. :( not even in surrounding neighborhoods either??

There are many Wal-mart in my area that are 15 to 30 min drive to each one. Guess what!!!?? Nothing!!! They had them in on or two, but like I said not any more. I even checked other Payless and Wal-Mart when I travel and if I am lucky I might find 11's but that's it.

Oh well, these days I have enough shoes to keep me happy to wear out in public so I will just keep watching my sources.

genebujold · 14th January 2004, 15:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoverfly

The trend for this year is low heels, not high heels. Also last year it was printed that many stores are no longer carrying large sizes because they don't create a singnfaint profit margin. It this Bad or good news? Time only will tell. Maybe the market is just big enough for a specialty producer/marketer on line or small chains. Down side you will probably pay more and get less quality. But I don't think customers will let that go for long.

I think you hit the nail on the head!

If someone were to come along and market expressly to men in fashionable styles (vs the cheap patent leather club yuk that proliferates the market), I strongly believe the sales of the junk would rapidly diminish and his/her store would flourish while simultaneously priming the pump by ratcheting up demand from the suppliers.

Going a step further and working with suppliers to provide between one and three or four styles particularly aimed towards men (foot geometry), as well as to slightly differentiate the style for guys (required to prevent market fall-off in the ladie's styles that men would wear), this business model could really take off!

loveheel · 14th January 2004, 23:50

A place where I still find larger sizes (at least up to 11) is Nine West. Sometimes their 11 even feels like a 12. I think many regular shoe stores never carried many large sizes. From talking to the sales people, it seems like many get one 10 and 11 per shipment. So once that pair is sold, you are out of luck. I used to go to a Baker stores where the highest I could get was usually a 10. Then I once met another of the sles girls there and she told me she always bought the size 11 (her size !) as soon as they came in. Mystery solved of why there were no 11's available !

genebujold · 16th January 2004, 08:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by loveheel

A place where I still find larger sizes (at least up to 11) is Nine West. Sometimes their 11 even feels like a 12. I think many regular shoe stores never carried many large sizes. From talking to the sales people, it seems like many get one 10 and 11 per shipment. So once that pair is sold, you are out of luck. I used to go to a Baker stores where the highest I could get was usually a 10. Then I once met another of the sles girls there and she told me she always bought the size 11 (her size !) as soon as they came in. Mystery solved of why there were no 11's available !

Ahhh... I believe you're right - so long as manufacturers continue shipping larger sizes of real higher-heeled shoes to everyone, they'll never profit.

The thing of it is, though, there is a market! But it's a niche market. And you don't get rich trying to mix niche market apparel among those designed for the masses.

Consider how many outlets you find for shoes like Timberland. Pretty much every shoe store in the world seems to carry a pair. They're "mass market" shoes. Now compare that with Bacco Buchi, Donald J. Pliner, DKNY, or Bruno Magli. You're not going to find those at Walmart!

The fact of the matter is, there is no good way to make a profit on larger sizes, as the current market outlets are spread too thin for manufacturers to make any money off onsies and twosies of larger sizes to the thousands upon thousands of their retailers.

Enter the niche market!

All it requires is a wholesaler/retailer who will direct market larger size heels (much like Zappos) to those who want them. In so doing, manufacturers don't have to worry about sending large size heels to retailers only to have most of them returned due to non-sales. Instead, they can send to one place, preferrably under an appropriate market-demand inventory model which allows certain styles and sizes to be more stocked than others, but with enough flexibility to rapidly manufacture and stock hot items. Done the right way, using both sales, market analysis and surveys, that wholesaler/retailer could make an incredible fortune selling the right sized shoes to the right people, while significantly increasing the profits of larger-sized manufacturers to the point where they would be happy to make mainstream shoes, sandals and boots in significantly larger sizes.

And when the availability problem is solved, you'll see a lot more men wearing higher heels, which will then solve the "critical mass market" problem, thereby ushering us into a new era of styling!

All it takes is an entrepreneur with enough cash, market savvy, and management skills to turn tech-savvy individuals into an online website similar to Zappos.

But what to call it? What would be a good name for this business???

Quote:

I used to go to a Baker stores where the highest I could get was usually a 10. Then I once met another of the sles girls there and she told me she always bought the size 11 (her size !) as soon as they came in. Mystery solved of why there were no 11's available !

This also underscores why it's necessary to increase the number of styles and sizes available to meet market demand. Once that's done, the market will take off. So long as it continues to be piecemeal, it's like a 747 trying to get off the ground using a 737's engines. It'll move, but it'll never fly.