What is important when selling children’s shoes was explained by WMS consultant Annette von Czarnowski, who has been conducting regular training courses for many years and is also often on site at the retailer.
Maximilian Krien from ANWR explained how knowledge about WMS can be imparted to sales staff and presented the digital knowledge world initiated by the SABU and ANWR association groups.
The orthopedist Dr. Norbert Becker, who is committed to foot health.
There was also discussion in Offenbach: There were many questions about Dr. Matthias Brendel, who developed the WMS app and presented digital innovations for retail: Does the app attract parents away from brick-and-mortar stores and onto the Internet? Can concepts like shoe subscriptions really be applied to children’s shoes? These and other questions were discussed intensively.
And the topic of barefoot shoes also became a topic of conversation. Various points of view were examined in a panel discussion. The tenor can be summarized as follows: Barefoot shoes are not suitable for every child, but they can be useful. And: The walking shoes from classic manufacturers are not really that far removed from barefoot shoes. Both types of shoes are extremely flexible and soft and usually have a zero drop.
Finally, there was an adventure for everyone who wanted to take part: Florian Breide, who runs a media agency in the Sauerland, started a drone flight through the arena in Offenbach. Anyone interested could witness the rapid flight using special glasses. The campaign also served as inspiration for retailers: perhaps your own business can be presented in an exciting way with a drone video.
There was talk about shoes. But there were also shoes to look at. Several WMS manufacturers had set up stands and showed their collections – some of which already had prototypes for F/W 2025/26. And at the end there was a big birthday cake – with cute children’s shoes.
You can read all the details about the anniversary celebration of the WMS system in the next issue of schuhkurier.