Who Is Steve Madden's Footwear Industry?

Throughout the years, Steve Madden launched new brands and sub-brands in order to maximize brand equity covering a bigger portion of the market. The current brand portfolio of Steve Madden Limited consists of a variety of distinct brands, however seven are destinated to especific channels, and two of these brands are exclusively designed to serve major mass retailers, as seen on Appendix B. The company’s original brand Steve Madden is still the one that generates more revenue, and the one selected to be focused on to produce this brand audit report, along with its related brands, also sold in the compay’s retail locations (e.g. Madden Girl, Steven by Steve Madden, etc.). It is important to clarify however, that the company’s business

By 2014, there were approximately 10,000 wholesalers, and 285,000 retail outlets. (ACI, 2014) As the entry barriers of this industry are not very high, the numbers has been increasing despite of the number of businesses that fails. The industry is formed by different segments, and Steve Madden competes with specialty shoe and accessories companies as well as companies that offers a diversified mix of products including footwear product lines. Based on the targeted audience and style, the company’s main competitors are Guess’, Kenneth Cole, Skechers, Jessica Simpson, DKNY and Aldo. The competitors are financially strong and have distinct competitive advantages, such as a broader range of products that goes beyond accessories and shoes, crating thus a challenging environment for Steve Madden to compete. To succeed in this highly competitive environment, Steve Madden has been working strategically over the past decade increasing the brand equity, diversifying and finding alternatives to keep growing and increasing its market share.

Over the past ten years, the shoes market has grown over 32% in terms of spent dollars (Statistic Brain Research Institute, 2015), while the Canadian market grew 8.5% from 2003 to 2012 which is the last official year information. (GC Canadian Industry Statistics, 2016). Total year sales on both countries reaches more than $35 billion (American Dollars) and women’s shoes represents 41% of the North American shoes businesses, and 76% of it is divided in Dress and casual shoes, the main Steve Madden focus. That makes the sector very attractable and competitive, so the companies have to be up to the challenge of reinventing themselves through time, retaining their current customers and trying to capture new ones. Other than statistics, there are important aspects that impacts the shoes industry. The increasing number of discount retailers entering the market, adds some heat for the competition. There are also two major trends that seems to be opposite but are not, in terms of consumers’ behavior when it comes to shoes; the “stripped casual” or “casual cool”, and the growing demand for design and style. These trends only benefits the already fashion conscious Steve Madden brand and its