According to SABU managing director Stephan Krug, the aim of the brand monitor is to obtain as detailed an insight as possible into the performance of suppliers in recent years – according to various criteria that shape the relationship between trade and industry.
In addition to the evaluation of the individual brands, the current mood of the retailers was also queried. The participating dealers currently largely rate these as satisfactory (43%) to good (36%). For 6%, things are currently going very well. 9% rate the situation as sufficient and 6% of the participants see it as insufficient. Retailers currently see purchasing reluctance (30%) as the biggest challenge, followed by cost increases (25%) and labor shortages (18%). Frequency (12%), sales situation (8%) and pre-order rate (7%) are also seen as problematic, although less so.
Keyword pre-order: The vast majority of SABU dealers achieve a pre-order rate of 70 to 90%. From Stephan Krug’s point of view, this means a very high risk for trading. The SABU managing director traditionally advocates for better risk distribution – and also sees himself encouraged by the retailers as part of the brand monitor: More than 70% of the participants would like a higher reorder rate. “Something has definitely changed,” says Stephan Krug. “But the steps are still too small and they are not taking place to the extent and speed that we would like.” Krug praises efforts by manufacturers to enable single pair orders or to set up replenishment programs. “NOS is also a good first step without the manufacturer taking too much risk,” says Krug. At the same time, the SABU managing director emphasizes: “We have to work on a balanced business model, and risk distribution is an important issue.”
The best of 2019
In order to determine what changes have occurred in the five years since the first survey, let’s first look back: In 2019, the best ratings were in the categories “Service Central & Field Service” (2.0), “Consistency/Reliability” (2 .18) and “delivery reliability” (2.19). There was a thumbs down in the categories of ability to deliver (2.82) and loyalty to specialist retailers (2.67) – and in some cases there were strong deviations within the suppliers. The winners were based in the south five years ago: Rosenheim shoe manufacturer Gabor took first place, followed by the shoe brand Legero in second place and the children’s shoe manufacturer Superfit in third place.
