Pace has developed a cost efficient program whereby apparel, specialty and department store retailers can easily add footwear departments, convert leased operations or improve performance of existing footwear operations. Depending on the needs and wishes of the client, Pace provides a range of services from consulting to total outsourcing. In every engagement, sales, profits and ROI have improved over existing footwear operations or exceeded plan in new departments. Traditionally, retailers have used the leased-department model to manage footwear operations. Outsourcing is growing rapidly, replacing leased departments because it provides the same simplicity as leasing but improves profits from 60-300% above leased formats.
Total store profits improve dramatically from the combination of footwear sales plus additional store sales being driven by new footwear traffic. Adding sales with fixed expenses have the greatest impact on the bottom line. Also, increasing sales in existing locations is often a more profitable and always a more risk free growth strategy than opening new locations.
Outsourcing for Footwear Retailers
Pace also has programs for footwear retailers who wish to improve profits. In addition to services that improve inventory and sales associate productivity, Pace combines orders with all clients to achieve across the board full current line-price reductions on all future and at-once orders from leading vendors. For more information, see Footwear Consulting.
Outsourcing: Growth
For years, only the largest companies had access to outsourcing solutions. The most progressive of these, such as GE and IBM, used outsourcing extensively to achieve superior performance, cost reductions and improved business focus.
In a study conducted by Dun & Bradstreet in 2000, outsourcing was increasing at all corporate size levels with the highest growth rate, 25% annually, occurring in the smallest companies. Many larger companies, in fact, have created executive management positions known as CRO (Chief Resource Officer), a professional outsourcing-centric manager.
What is Outsourcing, how does it work?
Outsourcing involves transferring designated responsibilities to another company. Most companies already outsource certain accounting and payroll functions. These practitioners are highly skilled in their area of expertise. They deliver improved performance at a lower cost. Outsourcing consolidates costs for many retailers and eliminates duplicate expenses each retailer would incur with individual in-house operations. Moreover, management is free to focus on their core business with less distraction of overseeing fewer processes and responsibilities. The alternative would be for each of our clients to build an in-house staff.