Shoes of Prey’s troubles are a stark reminder of the importance of desire
Following Shoes of Prey's decision to 'pause' its business, Susan Lyons argues that the desire to repeatedly ‘make something our own’ is waning.
I know a thing or two about shoes. Not just because I am a girl and we have a great affinity for footwear, but because way back in 2003 I moved to Melbourne to study footwear development at RMIT. It was a fairly short-lived affair in the industry that ultimately saw me walking (pun intended) back into advertising a few years later.
Because of my experience, when Shoes of Prey launched back in 2009, it’s fair to say I was more than a little jealous of the idea. At the time I was building my career in CRM and customer experience. I simply couldn’t understand how I hadn’t managed to come up with the idea myself. Footwear and personalisation at scale – my two great loves.
Fast-forward to yesterday and we hear the sad news that the brand is pausing to consider their future. It seems like there is a never-ending chorus of opinion pushing brands to create personalisation across products, communications and experiences. So how could this idea fail?
First let’s start with all the things they did right. They started online – tick. They optimised and improved their digital experience over time – tick. They built momentum in their home market before trying overseas – tick. They didn’t rush to bricks-and-mortar, they built a physical presence through concession stores – tick.
Despite this, there have always been two critical things that led me to question the long-term success of the business. These come back to the very basics of consumer understanding.
Successful, mid-market retail is a frequency game.
The average price of shoes from Shoes of Prey was $250, putting them squarely in the mid-market for footwear. At that price point, frequency is your primary focus. And whilst we will never tell the truth if you ask us how many shoes we buy a year, I can tell you we don’t go to the effort of buying multiple custom-made pairs.
Shoes of Prey had a novelty factor about it. If I needed something very specific for an occasion like a wedding, then it was a great option. One that I’m prepared to wait a few weeks for. But choice and speed are two major benefits that already exist in the industry. Benefits that make their competitors easier to buy.
The shut-down of their David Jones and Nordstrom design studios only further shows that their margins simply couldn’t support the business model that would no doubt have been built around a base of repeat customers.
Undeniably consumers are seeking levels of individualism. But we need to remember that these same consumers are consistently overwhelmed by choice and very often take the path of least resistance.
From high to low levels of involvement, brands need to remember that our desire to repeatedly ‘make something our own’ will, and is, waning with time. There are only so many monogrammed linen and leather goods one person can own.
Fashion is emotional not functional.
The ‘middle’ of any market is a tricky place to be. You are not the cheap, thrifty youthful brand that wears its price as a badge of honour, but neither are you the meaningful, artisanal and quality of a high-priced brand.
Shoes of Prey never created enough desire around their brand. They were too expensive for those who cared most about price, and not desirable enough for those that wanted to be seen in the latest ‘it’ brand.
Instead they created an incredibly functional narrative around their brand. They gave consumers a story to tell when someone made the inevitable ‘love your shoes’ comment. But it wasn’t enough.
The ability to design and customise your shoes was a great hook. The problem was this was the whole story. They never created that irrational, highly emotional connection that is always required, and never more so than in fashion.
So, what’s the lesson?
It’s fair to say that I don’t have sight over any of the detail that has led to the decision to pause the business – I am simply an outsider giving an opinion. My hunch is that everyone got very carried away with the personalisation trend and didn’t challenge the business model with some of the more long-term basics of consumer behaviour.
The need for individualisation is not a ‘flash in the pan’ trend. It has been around for a long while and will no doubt be around for a while longer. But no trend exists in a vacuum. We need to spend more time genuinely assessing the viability of a business model against what we know and not simply what we see on the horizon.
Our entrepreneurs like Jodie need to be supported by deep specialists in business and deep specialists in consumer behaviour. The hard conversations need to happen early around the components required to make money balanced equally with the likelihood of the consumer behaving as needed. Essentially walking the line between commercial and customer experience.
Mostly though I hope that Jodie bounces back, saves her business or goes on to create another venture. All in a shit-hot pair of pumps.
Susan Lyons is a strategy consultant who has worked across agency, consulting and client side throughout her 15 year career.
Thanks for the share Susan. I loved Shoes of Prey when they launched and own a few pairs. I thought I would love the design, personalisation process but to be honest it actually became quite overwhelming and a little too much like hard work. I met with Jodie in those early days and we discussed price, I always thought they were quite reasonably priced for what you got – there whole brand experience was beautiful but maybe as you say not quite special enough?
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Well I did one cannot buy great looking shoes just any old time and place. My feet require. Wise width even though I am not a big girl. Anyone who has ever tried to buy good-looking fashionable wide width shoes will tell you how hard this is. When I found Shoes it Prey my prayers were finally answered! I can spend a good amount on my clothes and price was never any really barrier but even at the high end (and BTW few designers make their shoes for wide sizes), it was difficult to find what I wanted. Now the only thing I want is for SOP to come back!!
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Really good article, and the best explanation I have seen so far around Shoes of Prey’s troubles.
I also think that we live in an age where getting funded is seen as an end-point rather than the steps on the way to success. I saw Jodie speak at Sunrise last year, and she was great, but there was a lot of chat about the process, and the large amount of funding they had attracted, and not so much about how they were going to turn a profit…
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You make a couple of good points — the brand was in a “no-man’s land” in terms of price point and lacked prestigious branding.
I’m a numbers guy and let me throw in my 2 cents 🙂
Their VC funding, while portrayed as a huge success, was the single biggest contributor to the business’ failure. It introduced enormous pressure to either succeed spectacularly or fail fast. This all-consuming focus on top-line growth was misplaced in a business that downplayed their core product-market fit.
The core market was apparent early on, which basically consisted of people who had difficulty finding their size amongst established brands (either too small or too large) and had the budget to afford Shoes of Prey. It was also appealing to amateur “design nuts” although this was a much smaller segment. These audiences could have been the core of a significant business had they maintained that focus, but the lure of “playing in the big leagues” led them astray.
The economics of the business were always challenging due to their pioneering role in the mass personalisation market, which meant significant and ongoing investments in (1) a purpose-built factory (2) in-house, high-level software engineers (3) creating a brand. These would have been challenges for much more established footwear brands let alone one being run by relatively novice managers with no industry backgrounds.
Couple those core challenges with a persistent 30% return rate due to the sizing issues. Whilst other online footwear retailers could re-stock returned product, Shoes of Prey had to discard or donate them. This meant that their repeat order rate would be crucial to the health of the business, yet they continued to try to acquire new customers and push the business towards the mass market.
Perhaps mass personalisation will become a reality in the future, but the market demand and supply chain aren’t there yet.
It was a relatively small punt for their VC investors and the company has probably developed some attractive IP which could be worth something to a larger company. Their last-ditch attempt to re-focus the business as an outsourcing partner to established footwear brands seems to acknowledge this.
In the end, Shoes of Prey flew too close to the sun rather than accepting the (current) reality that it’s a niche business that could build on success over time by focusing on their core customer base.
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It is a real shame Meredith – but I completely understand and think that others might have at times found it overwhelming too. Even as someone who studied footwear I was never brave enough to hit ‘buy’ with any of the designs I did. I think they did wonderful things in their experience… I’m just not sure they did enough to make you really fall in love beyond the functional. Thanks for your comments.
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I feel your pain Katy! I hope for you they manage to save things. Unfortunately I think this one is a case of audience sizing – and despite all the varying feet sizes there just isn’t enough money in producing all the different widths anymore 🙂
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Thanks for your feedback. She is a great entrepreneur – I’m sure it won’t be the last we see of her. Yes, I suspect they weren’t able to sure up a sustainable, volume based ‘back-end’ to the business that would fund the bespoke part. Fingers crossed they can get something together.
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Wonderful insight Sandy! Thanks so much for sharing and adding that extra detail. Much appreciated.
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Thank you for your insights Susan, and also to your commenters. The footwear market is incredibly challenging at present, and sustainable success always comes down to giving consumers what they want. The closer all members of personnel at shoe brands can get to their consumers, the more likely they are to be able to meet their needs. I wish Jodie and all Shoes of Prey employees great future success.
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I love shoes of prey and have bought several pairs, I am from UK and the last pair I bought arrived in 5 days!! I also had to return a pair as I ended up not wearing them after 5montns as they were a bit too narrow, nothing was a problem, in fact I had received my replacement pair before I had returned the original pair, and they refunded my postage. They were fantastic and I am so sorry to hear they may not last.
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I stumbled upon Shoes of Prey while desperately searching the internet for wide width shoes, specifically pumps, that featured designs that are more than basic. I love things like back bows, toe caps, and mixing and matching materials ranging from black patent leather to gold glitter. Yes, I could find a few ready-to-purchase shoes in my size elsewhere, but these just didn’t look like anything special. It was always the plain pump in standard colors. I felt so limited just because I have very wide feet.
I was in heaven when I found the incredible shoe designer at SOP. I could hardly believe my luck. I ran with it and saved something like 80+ designs. I actually ended up purchasing four pairs with plans to buy more…until today when I saw the Facebook announcement indicating that SOP will no longer be taking orders.
There are other internet companies that allow for personalized design, but they cost so much more or have far fewer options! For me, SOP was perfect. I now have no idea what I am going to do for shoes. I think I will go have a good cry.
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I am a size 3.5, I have always hated my size because there are never any nice adult shoes in that size unless I want them to look too big. So when I found Shoes of Prey, I thought “I never have to worry about this again!”. I went on the website today to design my wedding shoes only to realize they have stopped taking orders. I truly hope they figure things out and the business continues!
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A couple of points are missing in this article. Firstly I’ve been a customer since they started and the selling point for me was not customisation but being able to buy size 11 – which can be very challenging. Being able to buy your size far outweighs the need to buy a high end brand. Secondly, I don’t need to buy a pair every week. I bought 5 pairs of boots from Shoes of Prey in different colours, textures and heels this year, but I don’t expect that I’ll be needing boots now for quite sometime. So while I have been a repeat customer, there can be long periods between needing to buy more. I hope they remain open, as there is certainly a need there.
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The analysis by Sandy is spot on. I would add that they tried to run a manufacturing/product business as a technology business to the masses. Was doomed from the start.
If they went around and asked the bespoke tailors and shoemakers they would not have started at all with this business model. The bespoke/custom item is a niche not many can afford or are willing to pay for (not sure why as it is by far superior product but that is a another tale). And it is a niche because it is highly skilled area and very time consuming with high risk of error as they found out at SOP with so many returns.
Sorry to see young Ozzie entrepreneurs fail as we don’t have many. Anyone notice that most profit making enterprises are those underwritten or bought directly or indirectly by government/taxpayer?
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This was a really well written article. I can add some insight / 2c
1 – they positioned themselves as a technology company rather than a fashion company. They did technology talks but never marketed at any fashion events. They needed to do this to improve their brand presence.
1a – They didn’t spend nearly enough time /money following mass trends. They thought because their selling point was customization it would solve all those problems but they needed to continuously add new styles / constructions
2. As someone mentioned, getting VC funding was a gift and curse. They were never profitable but they always had quite impressive sales and margins which made them attracted them to investors. They bought too much of their spin and assumed growth would continue at the same rate. Also the bigger they got, the more they had to deal with issues they could avoid when they were smaller (avoiding taxes, free returns, inventory piling up)
3. related to pt 2, the venture into physical retail was a way to quickly burn cash. I understand their reasons (brand awareness etc) but having to pay rent and wages for a store where you sell 3-4 pairs per day is not good business. they were better off doing pop ups
4. starting their own factory was smart – but they had zero idea how to run it. it was too big and had far too many people for the amount of shoes their produced. whilst china is cheap, it’s nothing like it used to be and those costs add up quickly.
all in all, it’s quite sad that they closed down. Jodie is a star marketer but unfortunately the people around her didnt know what they were doing
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we have a wedding heel section
and we specialize in small sizes
try us
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I was one of those repeat customers who had both specialty sizing needs and was a design nut.
I bought every few months, and often used them to recreate shoes I had seen online or in photographs that inspired me.
And I soon found myself feeling margjnalized as they continually restricted what was made available to me as a width adjusted customer. Just as I became more interested and excited in one of their new introductions, I would learn it was not available in my correct size.
And then they began actually removing width availability from styles they had previously been made available in, reducing my ability to buy.
How many round closed toe 4 inch heels does a person need? Because eventually, that was all I could buy.
If you are a custom shoe company who built a concept around hard to fit sizing to attract customers to your brand, how do you then exclude those customers by taking that away from them once you have them?
The fact that the manufacturing of those few “width adjusted” shoes was inconsistant enough for me to return for fit 30% if the time didn’t help. Yes, my experience bears the numbers out… about 1/3 of the time, the “wide width” shoes I’d receive were clearly not wide width at all.
I am very sad about all of this, because I really did love the brand and spent thousands with them in the last five years, despite all of that.
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Very well thought out article and great comments. I can certainly attest to a segment of the market that was targeted but fell flat. I do not have any special sizing needs so the personalization was really the only driving factor. So I designed countless pairs of shoes and shared them with friends but never pulled the trigger because they just didn’t feel special enough. Not when there were big brands that felt more aspirational. For me shoes are not about functionality especially not heels. Shoes are about celebrating something. For example, When I succeed in business I treat myself with a nice pair of shoes. But when I really knock the ball out of the park I want Louboutins, Choo or Versace. The desire for personalizing my shoes never outweighed the feeling of earning something exclusive.
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This is a sad moment- I have 5 pairs I was ready to order – and another 10+ that were on the favourite wait point cuz I can’t afford all of them at one time. Well my feet are not more than standard width they are big in size. Shoes of Prey saved the day for me – in Canada in the past 8 months which was when I first learned of this website- I have ordered 6-8 pair and directed at least 3-5 ladies to your site as they loved my shoes. Yes there is Long Tall Sally, Nordstrom etc but I’m not an old lady I’m 6 feet tall love heels and have big feet. This is the first site I located that allowed me comfort and sexy, and heels or not all at the same time.
So I disagree with some that say it’s only the odd custom pair you’ll buy- maybe if your average in your size- yes. I think it’s interesting that I’ve looked online for years for oversized shoes and only found this site in the last year or so. I’m going to say that the awareness of your company and how that was marketed was not done as well as it should be.
These are the best shoes ever – beat anything I have ever had or worn cuz they actually fit!! Shoes of Prey has to remain available to the world!!
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I was a customer from when SoP started up. As an oldie with size 3.5 extra wide feet it was not possible to buy good shoes to fit. I have bought 60 pair of shoes so these will see me through. I always had good customer service. I sincerely hope that Jodie is able to start up again so that people who are not a regular size are catered for.
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I had never tried shoes of prey before. … I live in the UK and its hard to get nice shoes for my UK size 8 wide feet. They advised on what size I should order and so I ordered 6 pairs and I was hoping at least one pair of the shoes would fit well.
They were delivered just before they announced the suspension of their business.
Unfortunately they were all way too big for me, I would have exchanged for smaller pairs …. but they had just announced their woes to the press. ….$945 dollars and I still haven’t got my money back. I’m gutted !!
I returned them in good faith as they requested…they promised me my refund…
I work extremely hard for my money and for them not to refund my money will, to be honest feel like I’ve been cheated and stolen from.
It makes me feel ill and anxious thinking that they will keep my money..$945 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I concur with Melissa. In the beginning there were plenty of design options for customization but they quickly became less and less available which really disappointed me and so I stopped ordering. Customization was the draw for me. Also their sizing was terribly off. I have never had to buy a shoe in a wide width, but in SOP wide width my toes still felt cramped and hurt. Their oxfords and ballerina’s just were not comfortable. Sad but true. I hope they can salvage some of their business and relaunch with more customization choices and better fitting lasts.
Best of luck to them….
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As a maker of custom goods I am very very sad to see Shoes of Prey go down. But since we are dissecting the possible reasons I guess I will throw in my 2cts.
1. Price point. Definitely out of the range of MOST consumers when there are tens of thousands of shoes out there that look good for less and which carry prestige brands.
2. Sizing and fit. I designed several pairs on Shoes of Prey and what always kept me from buying for my wife was being afraid that they would not fit comfortably. For something as important as shoes I personally found it hard to imagine buying anything I wasn’t 100% sure of. I know exactly what size Birkenstocks I need and still feel trepidation when I order a new pair online. I STILL prefer to go to a store and try shoes on before I buy them.
3. Choice paralysis: I get this all the time from my customers. They are overwhelmed with the options and often just quit because of brain fatigue. When you have created a bunch of competing looks then sometimes there isn’t a clear “winner” which means that any choice you make is likely to be tainted with regret over not picking another design.
4. Event specific orders: I can only imagine that if one were ordering shoes to be ready for an event and something went wrong – fit, color etc…then it puts a sour taste in the customer’s mind, even IF SOP did all they could to take care of it and get acceptable shoes to the customer in time. I can imagine customers feeling that they should have just gone shopping at a regular store rather than have done the design and hope route online.
5. The brand: Sorry but I can’t LOVE “Shoes of Prey” as a brand. The phrase is disorienting and doesn’t roll off the tongue. I am not a woman but I don’t know that I would be comfortable telling people that the brand of shoe I am wearing is Shoes of Prey. Not because they aren’t good shoes, but because the brand sounds silly and invites questions that aren’t positive. When I have to explain to someone what the origin of the brand name is then it is too much work. If a brand is going to have a strange name then it might be best to check people’s reactions to it before going all-in. SOP needs a brand that carries designer conotations. Maybe the Italian word for choice? Scelta pronounced shhelta….. ok maybe not that one…. how about Progettisa? That means designer in Italian.
5. Competition – I have seen many SOP clones over the years – no idea how they are doing but they were surely eating away SOPs target market.
6. Reach – I don’t know how SOP reached prospective customers but I don’t think Brick and Mortar stores was the way to go. I have never seen any online ad for SOP. (maybe that’s because I wasn’t in the target group) But if it were me I would have created thousands of brand amabassdors in the form of customers who were good at designing and wanted to get lots of custom shoes for themselves. I would have deployed these people as volunteer salespeople who could walk people through the design process, could fully design for customers, and who could themselves create and sell their designs.
And and and…..just a sad day for me to go looking for one of my favorite places on the net and see them gone. I hope that they can come back.
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I don’t think that the bespoke model indicates that Shoes of Prey would be doomed from the start.
There IS hunger for custom made goods but a lot of education is required to explain the value. How much hunger there is for custom shoes though is not something I can figure. I can say that I have friends who spend a lot getting custom Nikes made.
I think that to do a bespoke business online you absolutely have to make it beyond easy to create a design and order. I think SOP did that part fairly well although I was less impressed with some of the changes they made to the design interface which I thought were more confusing than the previous version. But all in all I think that their design interface was fantastic and showed the design as realistically as possible.
I would say that the larger issue was likely reach vs. cash flow.
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I loved shoes of prey and i designed and bought many shoes. I alwaya get comments and i was able to design an amazing pair of shoes in a couple of minutes and buy. Perfect for my crazy lifestyle. But i have also recommended them to many many peolple including lots If strangers but none have ever bought. I think the issue is that most people dont have an eye to do their own design and quickly got overwhelmed. Some even asked me to just do it for them. And for that reason i think that the set pieces needed to be more inspirational – agree that the website completely missed the desire aspect. How would i change it? I would have some amazing preset options peole could spontaneously buy. Perhaps even a quick quiz – what are you looking for? The questions i ask my friends when designing for thne are – boots or shoes? Heel height? Work or play? Season? Any current wardrobe needs with colours? Then voila here are some options. Anyway shoes of prey- pls come back. Service was always excellent and for me lead time was not an isssue. The spontaneous buy happens On the train, waiting for the kids or just before bed for mums juggling career and kids, and the expereience needs to be quick even for the indecisive or non- designer.
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I concur. I had only bought one pair and when I went back to order a second they had suspended orders.
I had looked to buy in between but couldn’t get the style I wanted in the wider width so I went elsewhere.
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