By Nivedita Bhattacharjee
NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Shoemaker Crocs Inc hopes to
attract those aged 13 to 30 as it launches its spring/summer
collection featuring heels, boots and wedges.
The new designs as well as Retro clogs – higher priced but
still made with its signature resin Croslite – are part of the
company’s plan to expand by reinvesting the money it makes from
selling the bright and chunky clogs for which it was originally
known.
Crocs customers currently range from kids below 12 years on
one end to their parents on the other, leaving a gap in the
middle.
“Now, the original clog is 46 percent of overall sales; the
rest of the 54 percent of our sales (comes from) rain, winter or
boat shoes,” Jeff Lasher, Crocs’ chief financial officer, said
at the Reuters Retail and Consumer Summit in New York.
About three years ago, clogs still made up more than half of
the company’s sales, Lasher said. The company’s average selling
price has risen over the years as it moves into more fashionable
shoes, said Lasher.
Crocs’ clogs, like its stock, were a fad in the early 2000s,
but the popularity of the colorful shoes faded, forcing the
company to grapple with declining sales and excess inventory.
Crocs was investing heavily in Asia, which is set to become
its biggest market by the end of next year, Chief Executive
Officer John McCarvel said in an interview in February.
The company had also said it was betting on newer designs to
double sales in less than five years.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for us to go directly to
consumers in China,” Lasher reiterated on Tuesday, adding the
company was also looking at Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and Russia for direct selling opportunities.
Crocs, which sells its footwear in more than 90 countries,
said its internet business in the Americas and Europe did not
grow as a percentage of sales this year. E-commerce in the
United States makes up about 10-12 percent of overall sale,
Lasher said.
Asia now competes with the Americas for the top market spot
for the company, he said, speaking at the summit.
Lasher said Niwot, Colorado-based Crocs is also investing in
e-commerce, especially in China and other parts of Asia, as it
tries launching local language websites.
Asia’s warmer weather gives Crocs an added opportunity in
those markets, Lasher said, as does its expanding middle class.
In Asia, China is a major focus for 2013, and will stay that way
in 2014.
The company, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this
year, has about $300 million in cash and cash equivalents,
Lasher said, and is not looking to spend that money in
dividends, buybacks or acquisitions in the immediate future.
“We’re a relatively conservative management team… who went
through the 2009 period,” Lasher said. “At this point
…(the)approach is leaving that money in the bank and not
repatriating it.”
(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in New York; Editing by
Matthew Lewis and Phil Berlowitz)
