Thoughts on Crocs (CROX) Brand Development in Europe in 2008
I’m pleased to say that I get a lot of readers of my Blog from the States and in particular from the yahoo CROX message boards. I’m posting below a re-edited version of my post made on the board last week.
Kids Crocs and a Summer only brand
Thanks for your interest in my monthly charts. He’s my personal perspective on the European market. Yes I have seen a dip in interest in kids styles compared to Adults sizes. My assumption is most kids were bought their summer crocs last summer and possibly some lucky kids had their Mammoths at Christmas (if the suppliers bulk orders arrived from Crocs Europe in time). Sadly, last summer also spawned a raft of cheap chinese “crocs” copies at every beach and market in the UK mostly aimed at the kids. Parents spent 4-6 pounds (versus 24 pounds!) on these cheap fakes. I’d guesstimate the genuine to fakes I saw on UK kids feet was about 50:50. Its good to know kids are brand aware eh! It could have been worse. So thats why I feel there has been a dip this Q1 – kids already have their “crocs” and generally at this time of year few UK people are in the Crocs-buying mind set – and I’ll tell you why and why it may affect Crocs brand development ….
The vast majority of UK folks (and I talk to many people as well as do lots of google analytics on my site) think of Crocs as a strictly *summer* shoe. And a the iconic clog shape at that.
No New Styles Available
UK folks, very late in Q4, saw Crocs Mammoths on shelves in stores over here. Most displays they see, even now, have only Caymans, Professional, Prima, Athens and Scutes. My local garden centre (which seems to be where you find most displays for Crocs – not a great brand statement in my view) have these. Crocs “concept” stores, there is one in London and three in progess, are only just arriving. Some of the major department stores have them in their paper and online catalogues only and NOT on shelves in their stores. So the message about “Crocs do more than Clogs” is not out there … yet.
Its also cold and muddy here in the UK in winter/spring and the Crocs you see have holes in them, and Crocs Mammoths have fleece bits that get dirty. I’m yet to see anyone outside in Mammoths. So traffic/interest in Crocs as a brand is very much depressed this Q1 compared to last summer.
Another issue, unlike the US we don’t have access to ANY new crocs styles yet to stimulate an all year market for Crocs brand buyers. The Crocs.com site does not ship internationally and only TaylorShoes.com (US retailer) *1 has reasonable international shipping rates and consquently sees some action from savvy UK shoppers. Good for them to spot a niche that Crocs.eu is not filling. Crocs.eu – we want Crocs Celeste, Crocs Cyprus, Hi Crusier and the rest not Beach NHL crocs … er hello this is not Canada!
I do believe there is an healthy appetite for the Crocs brand in the UK (and continental Europe). I have had thousands of page views on the YOU by Crocs range but as yet there is no way to get hold of them because youbycrocs.com does not ship internationally and i believe they are only on a very limited (and possibly sleath) high street trial in one upmaket UK fashion store.
Overstock of Old Styles
There’s one further issue that might hamper efforts to bring in new styles which I alluded to in my original March Chart post – Overstock. UK Retailers put in large bulk orders around Christmas to service the Q4 upturn. To their credit, they worked hard to drum up business and took in large numbers of customer orders, even taking declared “pre-orders” up to the max but in many cases Crocs Europe could not supply in time nor in enough volume.
So disgruntled consumers cancelled their orders but crucially retailers’ large bulk orders did arrive but too late for Q4 peak. Some agressive selling in Q1 (continuing) did shift some of this now surplus stock but many are riding this out until spring summer when they will shift old 2007 styles before taking a risk with new stocks.
Slower development of the Brand in Europe
In my view this is going to slow down the maturity of the Crocs market out here – hey might be a good thing for CROX in the long run. The risk is that fakes come in again this summer and supply the demand with low quality illegal copies.
Summer 2008 is key to full Brand development
What I’d like to see and quickly is Crocs.eu website, who ship throughout Europe, extend the Crocs range into these new styles especially if the current online (and real world) retailers are not going to take the risk increasing their stockholding range until old stock is shifted. In short I want to see more access to the new styles so that the whole brand and product line get focus, and sales, this summer and the Crocs brand values get a wide airing. Crocs needs to be known as a year-round brand and see year round sales.
And you guys are right on the CROX board. The dollar to pound exchange is scary – we are talking the best part of 100 bucks for Crocs Axle shoes if you can find any. You’ll have to hope we ALL come over en masse to Disneyland this year and load up!
Dr Crocs
*1 http://info.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/taylorshoes.com *1 importantly see the country breakdown for this US retailers website 23% france 13% uk which increases markedly in summer. There is a provable demand here that is not being served locally.
PS. To declare my hand or lack thereof. I am an independent blogger, not a retailer in disguise, although I speak to some and I do not hold and have never held CROX stock. To compose the charts which I publish each month, I assess the page views and click rates on each Crocs shoe style and also the search phrases that reach my website. As I have every style of Croc on the site including the new 2008 crocs the stats I see are a good indication of what is selling through the UK online retailers. FYI My blog and website receives 15,000 – 30,000 page views a month.
and bad news 
this week from LAMCS, who being the most popular Crocs supplier in the UK are a good barometer of what’s happening out there in Crocsland (more precisely what’s happening at Crocs EU headquarters in the Netherlands).
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