Asics brand in speciality running stores

Selling more shoes in north america and europe, just not in your store. They have a pretty big line, goes beyond running shoes. But my bet is growth's from mainstream walking/fitness/jogging, as opposed to specialty running stores.

maybe some backlash from having shoes sold for less at sports authorities and dicks sporting than at running shops has made some stores reluctant to pull asics as much.

The speciality running store,caters precisely to all 3 segments.If we would only serve the hard core,the store would be closed a long time ago!just did a quick count in my asics catalog 55running models-26 fitness walking 23 others.therefore still a running shoe brand!mostly.

As previously mentioned, Asics seems to be widening their distribution and placing technical shoes in big box and some discount stores. We still sell a ton of Asics, but it is sure better for our business to work more closely with Brooks and Mizuno, who make excellent product but are less widely distributed.

Agree totally with stipe.In our store asics represents about 35 % of shoes sold.anyone have any figures of their own.thanks

Went for a run last week with a large club.. I'd say 75% of the runners were wearing Asics... Overall it appears to be the most popular brand everywhere I go... Maybe its a reagional/local drop in sales that your seeing....

the problem is we sell asics for MSRP or just below, and then 2 miles away they sell them to discount stores who can afford to sell them 10- 20 bucks under. this is in SE PA. it's crap.

At our store, all sales are down. In general, we do sell more Asics. 2110, and Fortitude are our top sellers. But to say Asics is down in sales, is just like saying all our other brands are down in sales, too.

Asics used to be the dominant brand in our store but not anymore. Mizuno is our top seller now. We are definately more apt to bring out Mizuno or Brooks for the reason stated before, Asics is becoming to widely distributed. It's hard to sell Kayano's for $135 when Nordstroms sells them across the street for $99. I think Asics has crossed over into the Nike/New Balance/Adidas category where they don't care about running specialty as much anymore. Oh well, Mizuno and Brooks make great products, we'll just keep selling them.

Store Owner... wrote:

It's hard to sell Kayano's for $135 when Nordstroms sells them across the street for $99. I think Asics has crossed over into the Nike/New Balance/Adidas category where they don't care about running specialty as much anymore. Oh well, Mizuno and Brooks make great products, we'll just keep selling them.

Well that's pure and simple, you have to communicate with your reps and vendors and tell them that you're not selling their product because otherwise customers can find it cheaper across the street. Also, your vendors should strictly have specialty running store only lines, and also enforce price point to be equally the same district wide.

Our Asics rep is pretty proud of the brand's growth as well. We view it as the Nikeficatation of Asics. They are selling more and more shoes to the big boxes. In the short term, this means guys down the street or across town may be able to sell the same stock we have for less. In the long term, if Asics wants to sustain that growth or even maintain the gains they are making now, it means Asics will have to jump when those big box guys say jump -- make and market the shoes to suit the big box customers. "Add this color. Put an overlay here. Make visible technology there. Can't we raise the heel on that DS Trainer a little to make the kids' calves look better?" Someday that might just mean the 2100 or 2310 or whatever it will be will just plain suck. Then what? Right now they make great shoes. And who can blame them for chasing $$? But for those of us buying for our stores, it might be time to whittle Asics down to 20% or less of our shoe business.

Trust me, they know this goes on but they don't care. They are told on a daily basis by store owners. As long as Nordstroms or Sports Authority have huge accounts with them they will kiss their asses. Their loss, I remember about 5 years ago when New Balance was hot as hell then they distributed to everyone and anyone. Today they are nowhere near where they were then. Asics is probably headed that way.

Store Owner... wrote:

Trust me, they know this goes on but they don't care. They are told on a daily basis by store owners. As long as Nordstroms or Sports Authority have huge accounts with them they will kiss their asses. Their loss, I remember about 5 years ago when New Balance was hot as hell then they distributed to everyone and anyone. Today they are nowhere near where they were then. Asics is probably headed that way.

Well I guess Canada has more power over their local reps and distributers than America.

Asics shoes are the most popular at my store, no doubt. New Balance comes second, followed by Brooks and Mizuno. We sell very little Nike and Adidas, but that partly reflects what we carry in those two brands.

Asics

Mizuno

Brooks

Saucony

Brooks

Asics

Mizuno

Saucony

Adidas

Pearl Izumi

Fila at my store

Asics is definitely easy to find anywhere, but I've started noticing Brooks and Mizuno in some big chain stores in OK too. One store in the mall has the Adrenaline, Radius, Trance, and Glycerin. It's all a big cycle, get cred in the specialty market, sell out to the big box stores to make $, and someone new comes into the specialty market. I'd rather sell Brooks & Mizuno over Asics any day though, my rep is a lazy bum.

Storeowner,

Specialty running shops around the country, potentially including you, have preached Asics and in many cases made them 35%-50% of their footwear sales over the last 5 plus years.

You guys made your bed, now sleep in it. You can't go to a training group or road race without seeing Asics' dominance within these groups of runners. The masses have now gotten wind that Asics makes great running shoes, thus the box accounts want a piece of the pie. They actually owe all of you guys.

Many of the whiners on this site always pissing off about Nike and Adidas forget that this is about big business. Success in the boardroom is measured by sales growth.

Go ahead and jump on the bandwagon with Brooks and Mizuno, since Asics has so called done you and injustice. I hope your not nieve enough to believe that Brooks and Mizuno are exempt from the pressures of achieving some of the same growth that Asics has experienced. They're working diligently to create some of that same success.

Maybe with your continued help, everyone will be running to the mall to get Brooks because their specialty stores have preached that they make the best running shoes in the industry.