Stevie Wander, owner of Stevie's Sneakers in Toronto, Ontario is trying to decide what he should do

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Stevie Wander, owner of Stevie's Sneakers in Toronto, Ontario is trying to decide what he should do with his retail business and how committed he should be to his current target market. Stevie opened his sneaker retail store, Stevie's Sneakers, in 2009 when he was 24 years old. As a former nationally ranked runner, Stevie saw the potential in the growing interest in jogging and wanted to provide serious runners with high-quality shoes and advice. His store quickly became successful, selling high-end running shoes and making a good return on investment for the first 10 years. From 2009 to 2021, Stevie focused on carrying Nike shoes, which were well-received and known for their top quality. Nike's strong promotion and reputation helped Stevie charge a premium price for their shoes and earn attractive profit through good volume and margins. t the time, it made sense for Stevie to heavily invest in Nike, as their marketing and engineering were top-notch. In addition to running shoes, Stevie's store also carried other Nike shoes for activities such as walking, aerobics, basketball, tennis, and cross-training. Stevie expanded his store to include more sportswear and placed a greater emphasis on fashion in addition to function. Although these items were not the primary focus of Stevie'sstore, he saw value in offering a variety of Nike shoes and sportswear to his customers. Even with this broadened product line, Stevie's Steviees flattened out in 2022 —and he was not sure what to do to get his business back in growth mode.

He realized that he was growing older and so were many of his longer-term customers. Many of them were finding that jogging is not just hard work—it is hard on the body, especially the knees. So many of his previously loyal runner-customers were switching to other, less demanding exercise programs such as low impact fitness and walking. Then there were many consumers who do not really engage in any serious exercise and buy running shoes as their day-to-day casual shoes. This especially grew with the rise of hybrid working as more individuals were dressing casual more frequently. However, when he tried to orient his store and product line more toward these consumers, he was not as effective in serving the needs of serious runners—still an important source of Steviees for the store - and saw a decline in Stevieesto these customers.He was also facing more competition on all fronts. As a result, many department stores, discount stores, and regular shoe stores have put more and more emphasis on general athletic shoes in their product assortment. When Stevie added products for more casual footwear, he found that he was in direct competition with other stores in the area, which put more pressure on him to lower prices and cut his profit margins. For example, in Stevie'sarea there are a number of local and online retail chains offering lower-cost and lower-quality versions of casual walking shoes. Wal-Mart also expanded its assortment of athletic shoes—and it offers rock bottom prices. Other chains, like Foot Locker, have focused their promotion and product lines on specific target markets, such as basketball and soccer players.In the spring of 2003, Stevie tried an experiment. He took on a line of high-performance athletic shoes that were made to order. The distinctive feature of these shoes was that the sole was molded to precisely fit the customer's foot.

A pair of these custom-made shoes cost about $250, so the market was not large. Further, he did not put much promotional emphasis on this line. However, when a customer came into the store with a serious interest in high-performance shoes, his Stevieesclerks would tell them about the custom shoe alternative and show a sample. When a customer was interested, a mold of the customer's bare foot was made at the store, using an innovative material that hardened in just a few minutes without leaving a sticky mess. Stevie sent the mold off to the manufacturer by UPS, and about two weeks later the finished shoes arrived. Customers who tried these shoes were delighted with the result. However, the company that offered the mold ran into financial trouble and went out of business.Stevie recently learned about another company that is offering a very similar custom shoe program. However, that company requires more promotion investment by retailers and in return provides exclusive Steviees territories. Another requirement is that the store establish a Web site promoting the shoes and providing more detail on how the order process works. All of the retailer's Stevieesclerks are also required to go through a special two-day training program so that they know how to present the benefits of the shoe and do the best job creating the molds. The training program is free, but Stevie would have to pay travel, hotel, and food expenses for his Stevieespeople. So before even getting started, the new program would cost his several thousand dollars, not including a revamp to the website.Stevie's recent trip to a tradeshow saw another opportunity present itself. A new up and coming streetwear running shoe was presenting to Stevie and looking for a partner in Toronto. The line of product takes more of a fashion approach to wearing sneakers. Every shoe designed was with the help of a famous influencer or artist that was well known, especially by Gen Z's. For example, the Weekend, Banksy and Mr. Beast all had their own signature shoe.

The company was looking for distribution in Toronto, and although they could not offer exclusivity, the company mentioned to Stevie that he would be first to sell this line and as long as Steviees targets were met, he could continue to sell the line.Stevie is uncertain about what to do. Although Steviees have dropped, he is still making a reasonable profit and has a relatively good base of repeat customers, with the serious runners still more than half of his Steviees and profits. He thinks that the custom shoe alternative is a way to differentiate his store from the mass merchandisers and to sharpen his focus on the target market of serious runners. On the other hand, that doesn't really solve the problem that the "runners" market seems to be shrinking. It also does not address the question of how best to keep many of the aging customers he already serves who seem to be shifting away from an emphasis on running. He also worries that he will lose the loyalty of his repeat customers if he shifts the store further away from his running niche and more toward fashionable athletic shoes or casual wear. Stevie is trying to decide if there is anything else he can do to better promote his current store and product line, or if he should think about changing his strategy in a more dramatic way. Any change from his current focus would involve retraining his current Steviees people and perhaps hiring new Steviees people. Adding and maintaining a Web site is not an insurmountable challenge, but it is not an area where he has either previous experience or skill.

Clearly, a real shift in emphasis would require Stevie to make some hard decisions about his target market and his whole marketing mix. He has some flexibility—it is not as he is a manufacturer of shoes with a big investment in a factory that cannot be changed. On the other hand, he is not certain he is ready for a big change, especially a change that would mean starting over again from scratch. He started Stevie's Sneakers because he was interested in running and felt he had something special to offer. Now he worries that he is just clutching at straws without a real focus or any obvious competitive advantage. He also knows that he is already much more successful than he ever dreamed when he started his business—and in his heart, he wonders if he wasn't just spoiled by growth that came fast and easy at the start.

What would you recommend to Stevie?

(Analyse 5C's, Key Issues & Challenges, and Recommendations for Stevie)