Saucony, a 120-year-old brand, navigated increased competition and a running boom by focusing on holistic consumer engagement, product innovation, and leveraging its parent company, Wolverine Worldwide, for agility. Ecommerce operators can learn from Saucony's strategy to adapt to market shifts, foster brand loyalty, and build community around a lifestyle.
Key takeaways
Actively engage with consumers across all aspects of their lifestyle, not just product usage, to build deeper connections and brand loyalty.
Leverage shared resources and learnings within a larger corporate structure to enhance agility and responsiveness during market disruptions.
Prioritize sustainable product innovation to meet evolving consumer demands and differentiate in a competitive market.
Continuously analyze and adapt to market trends, such as the "running boom," to remain relevant and competitive.
Foster a nimble and agile operational model to quickly respond to unforeseen challenges and capitalize on new opportunities.
The team behind 120-year-old Saucony is no stranger to the competition in the running shoe market. But within the last year, as former gym rats took up running and more brands entered the space, they’ve been stepping up their game.
"The running boom is real,” Anne Cavassa, president of Saucony, said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “So we're making sure that we're connecting and engaging with consumers where they're at -- whether that's around what shoes they need, what their training should look like, what their diet should look like. When it comes to [anything] around the running lifestyle, we've been working on it from a communication perspective and from an inspirational perspective.”
At the same time, the brand has continued to roll out innovative launches, including its “most eco-friendly shoe ever,” the Jazz Court RFG sneaker, in March. According to Cavassa, being one of 12 brands under the Wolverine Worldwide umbrella enabled Saucony to be “nimble and agile,” which was required throughout last year. Access to its “back-of-house systems and resources” proved invaluable, as did learnings from fellow WW brands, including Keds and Sperry. “We were able to [compare] what was working and what wasn’t, and … to communicate on how to [best] respond during the crisis,” she said.
