There is also a branch locator where interested customers can find certified AG Barefoot Shoes dealers. These will be trained together with the Alfter Barefoot School in a multi-part seminar. The content deals with orthopedics, the growth of children, quality of shoes and advice. Anyone who successfully completes the training and has a sufficiently large and diverse range of barefoot shoes will receive a seal from the AG Barefoot Shoes. There is POS material that identifies someone as a certified barefoot shoe expert as well as communication material for the local press. Eight children’s shoe retailers took part in the first round of training. The training should take place every few months, so that within a year, certified barefoot shoe retailers can be found in the store finder as widely as possible in Germany. In the long term, dealers who are not connected to GMS should also be able to take part, says Schneider: “The training capacities are initially filled by our dealers. In the long term, it is an instrument that should be good for the entire shoe trade.”
The course and marketing materials cost a low three-digit amount. In the long term, it is also planned that the participating manufacturers, who are presented as premium partners of the AG Barefoot Shoes, will also participate financially in the AG’s campaigns. First, the partnership is about exchanging ideas and information material, then we should think together about what can be organized within the working group, such as further training or marketing measures. Pure barefoot shoe brands were initially approached as the first partners. Schneider says about the upcoming collaboration: “Our dealers and partner suppliers are all excited and the response in the market is huge. We have already received many inquiries from suppliers and dealers. Now we will continue to expand the whole thing and regularly provide new impetus with additional campaigns.”
