How to Build a Better Shoe Store

Men, women, children—everyone needs shoes, so it’s a shame that so many people see shoe shopping as a hassle, a chore, a necessary evil. After observing how people shop for their shoes, I can see why. The process is clunky, inefficient, and often disappointing.

Technology has yet to save shoe shopping as it has for buying plane tickets, finding a place to stay, or hailing a cab. E-retailers like Zappos have introduced consumers to the concept of shopping for shoes online, but the majority of shoppers continue to prefer shopping in-store. According to research from the International Council of Shopping Centers, 73% of consumers want to try on or touch merchandise before making a purchase. This presents a challenge for pure online retailers. Indeed, my survey of 160 college-aged shoppers found that 69% of respondents had made their last shoe purchase in a physical store. When asked why they chose to shop in-store,

Despite this behavior, many shoppers remain dissatisfied with their in-store experience. In the same survey, in-store shoppers reported the following problems with their most recent purchase:

Only 34% of in-store shoppers reported having no problems with their experience. However, a closer inspection of the shoe store as an interface reveals additional challenges.

To see these problems in action, I observed and interviewed shoe shoppers at my local Macy’s women’s shoe department over the course of four two-hour visits. This department in particular is small, carrying only 300-350 styles, in comparison to larger stores such as DSW and Famous Footwear. A shopper can take a cursory tour of the entire selection within 10-15 minutes. Shoes are presented as single display pairs on various tables and shelves (compared to stores like DSW that have various sizes stocked beneath the display pair).

Macy’s Herald Square Shoe Department

From these observations, I was able to generalize a standard shoe shopping process:

However, there are a number of additional questions and annoyances embedded in this process. Let’s take a look at a possible scenario:

1. Tori needs to buy a pair of black heels for an upcoming job interview.
2. She can either go to the smaller Macy’s by her house or the larger store about thirty minutes away. Which store should she go to? She decides to go to the smaller store in the interest of time.
3. She goes to the shoe department and begins to scan the selection.
4. As she walks by the displays, she examines and keeps the shoes that might be possible candidates. She’s found three pairs of heels so far, but her hands are getting full.
5. Now that Tori’s ready to try on and compare these heels, she can’t find an available sales representative. After some hesitation, she finds a sales rep that has just come from the back room and asks for the shoes in her sizes. She waits for around five minutes for the sales rep to return. Finally back, the sales rep has some bad news.
6. The first pair that Tori wanted the most is out of stock in her size. She takes the shoeboxes to a chair to sit and try them on. The second pair is extremely uncomfortable, but the third pair is fine. She puts them on and looks for a mirror to see how they look, but the closest mirror is halfway across the department floor. Leaving her things by the chair, she goes to the mirror. The shoes are satisfactory. Slightly disappointed but pressed for time, Tori decides to buy the shoes.
7. Leaving the unwanted shoes by her chair, Tori picks up the winning pair and takes them to the cash register. She waits in line for about ten minutes, pays, and leaves the store.

As we can see in red, there are a number of problems that complicated Tori’s shopping experience. I boil them down to three key issues:

1. Lack of information transparency

Simply having access to in-store inventory online or through an app would have solved at least two of Tori’s problems. In fact, according to Forbes, 71% of consumers expect to be able to see in-store inventory online. Online information, however, is presented poorly by many retailers including Macy’s. Currently, the Macy’s website allows shoppers to check if a style available online is also available at a store nearby:

However, this information is not presented in both directions. A shopper cannot limit or filter the online selection to the available inventory of any given store. Considering that the Macy’s website currently features 4,860 women’s shoe styles compared to the ~350 styles available in my local Macy’s, online shoppers are unlikely to find styles that are available both online and in-store (only about 1 in 14 styles—that’s a lot of disappointing search results).

Solution

Allowing shoppers to filter online inventory by real-time store availability would help shoppers not only pick the best store but also find available styles more efficiently. Information regarding size and color availability would be made accessible to customers directly rather than through a sales representative in-store. In fact, during my observation sessions at Macy’s, I counted at least four phone inquiries asking if a certain style in a specific size was in stock.

2. Clunky shopping process

While observing shoe shoppers, I noticed that most customers bring the display shoe to a sales rep to get a pair in the right size. This process is problematic for two reasons. First, customers wanting to try on multiple shoes like Tori must carry these display shoes with them as they browse. Department stores like Macy’s do not offer shopping baskets or carts. During this process, customers are likely to pick up, carry, and then put down shoes when they change their minds, thus displacing the shoes and cluttering the displays. This brings us to the second problem: while customers are carrying these display shoes, other shoppers can no longer see them on the floor. When shoppers trade in the displays for their sizes, the sales representatives are also slow to put these shoes back in their proper places. Therefore, both the customer and the retailer are suffering because of this antiquated process.

Solution

Customers should not have to carry or displace the display shoes. A Macy’s app, for example, could offer customers the ability to scan the barcodes for desired shoes and enter the correct sizes using their smartphones. While scanning, the customer can also check in-store inventory. When the customer is finished browsing, the app can then send this information to the sales rep. Under this system, the customer benefits by not having to carry the shoes or find a sales rep. The retail staff no longer has to spend as much time correcting the displays or answering inventory questions. Both sides benefit!

3. Poorly organized floor design

This issue may be more relevant to the local Macy’s I observed, but the recommendations can benefit all brick and mortar retailers. When customers sit down to try on shoes, they usually like to see how the shoes look in a mirror. (This is why the mirrored shoe bench was created.)

In the Macy’s department, there were only two mirrored pillars available to customers, but seating was scattered throughout the store. This setup confused customers and made them feel anxious about leaving their belongings behind to go search for a mirror.

Solution

Rather than having scattered seating throughout the department, there should be one centralized seating area located near the mirrors. With one seating area, the sales representatives can focus on a single area rather than servicing customers at various locations. During my observations, I noticed that there were abandoned shoeboxes scattered throughout the floor when sales representatives were busy. Once customers leave behind unwanted shoes, this setup also makes for a more efficient restocking process as all the shoes will be in one place. This centralized area should ideally be located near the cash register as well since this is the next destination in the shopping process.

For the average reader, this may have sounded like a colossal exercise in nitpicking. But I disagree. Everyday processes like shopping for shoes affect millions of people. At this scale, even small improvements have a huge impact on customers’ experiences and sales. Disciplined observation and awareness are the first steps toward identifying the issues that really matter to customers. A culture of listening to customers and taking action is what sets apart retailers like Nordstrom from the rest of the industry. So whether it’s shoe shopping or doing laundry or buying a car, next time challenge yourself to observe, identify, and solve problems. It’s fun, I promise!

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Thank you for taking the time to make it to the end!
I would appreciate any and all feedback you have.
Did you agree with the issues? Did I miss something? I’d love to hear your own shoe shopping experiences as well. Please feel free to leave a reply below.
Thank you!