Shoe Zone relies on Big Box and digital to drive sales growth

Footwear retailer Shoe Zone PLC in its trading update for the 53-week period to October 5, 2019, said, trading conditions in the second half of the financial year were challenging, however, the Big Box and digital growth elements of the company’s strategy continued to progress strongly. The company therefore reported revenues for the period of approximately 161.9 million pounds (209.2 million dollars) and expects to report pre-exceptional profit before tax for the period in line with revised market expectations.

Commenting on the full year trading update, Anthony Smith, Shoe Zone’s Chief Executive, said in a statement: “Shoe Zone has ended this difficult year in line with our revised expectations. It is early days in the new financial year but we have been encouraged by the performance so far. There are a further twenty Big Box openings planned for the coming year which, alongside our strong digital momentum, will continue to drive growth in the future.”

The company ended the year with 500 stores, having opened 24 and closed 16 during the period. Within the 24 store openings, 21 were the continued roll out of the Big Box format, two were high street stores and one was the new hybrid format. As at the close of the year 40 Big Box stores are now open, consistent with our target of 45 stores by the end of December 2019.