Upstart online shoe-seller SHOEme has doubled its brand selection and now claims to be “Canada’s largest shoe store” based on selection.
However, the Vancouver-based company will have to deal with heightened competition from the likes of Ohio-based Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW).
DSW opened two 20,000-square-foot stores in suburban Toronto (Mississauga and Newmarket) earlier this month as well as a Canadian e-commerce site.
“There will be a lot more competition in Canada,” Retail Insider analyst Craig Patterson told Business in Vancouver. “DSW is huge.”
Indeed, analysts expect DSW’s revenue to increase 2.7% to US$2.4 billion in the current fiscal year. That compares with an estimated $200 million in sales for SHOEme.
DSW reports its second quarter earnings before the market opens August 26.
DSW’s new Toronto stores are the largest stand-alone footwear outlets in Canada and are part of the company’s $62 million planned rollout across the country in conjunction with Toronto-based Town Shoes Ltd.
SHOEme’s claim to have the largest shoe selection in Canada is based on its 350 shoe brands and 35,000 different shoes. The company noted August 25 that it expects to have 1.5 million customers this year.
Coastal Contacts founder Roger Hardy’s Hardy Capital Corp., along with a small group of unnamed Canadian investors, bought both SHOEme and Seattle’s OnlineShoes.com in July.
He told BIV at the time that the combined 250-employee company would be headquartered in Vancouver. So far, SHOEme’s 50 employees are based in Vancouver although Hardy said that he expects to double that number by next summer.
“It’s a risky deal,” Patterson said. “DSW could be a nightmare for SHOEme.”
SHOEme’s other competition includes privately held Montreal-based shoe-seller Aldo Group Inc., which reportedly generates close to $2 billion in sales from 1,600-plus stores branded Aldo, Call It Spring/Spring, Little Burgundy and GLOBO.
Hudson Bay Co. is also a large shoe retailer in Canada, Patterson said.
As well, Vancouver’s Army & Navy annually hosts what owner Jacqui Cohen dubs “Canada’s largest shoe sale” each April.
