Famous Footwear gains profitable new footing

Improved conversion and customer service at Brown Shoe’s Famous Footwear stores are the anticipated benefits of a new merchandise allocation and replenishment solution the company has deployed.



The 1,041 unit Famous Footwear division of Brown Shoe recently announced it had deployed the Q Allocation and Replenishment solution from Minneapolis-based Quantum Retail Technology. The Quantum solution works in conjunction with Famous Footwear’s legacy JDA solution, according to the company, to produce a wide range of benefits.



“Our selection of Q was based on our desire to drive conversion and turn through improved service levels,” said Mike Edwards, Vice President of Merchandising and Sales Operations for Brown Shoe/Famous Footwear. “We knew the key to doing this was developing a better understanding of demand at the item, size and width level in each of stores. With Q, we are able to optimize our inventory by leveraging these insights within our allocation process.”



According to the company, it has already seen an uptick is store service levels and conversion across its full range of inventory as well as better balancing of inventory across store locations leading to a greater ability to anticipate and respond to demand at store level.



“Partnering with Famous Footwear to drive their business has been a win/win or them and for us,” said Morgan Day, Vice President of Corporate and Account Strategy at Quantum. “Q’s ability to be deployed within any existing client environment makes it the best choice for retailers with legacy systems that are grappling with the complexities of today’s retail environment and who need advance optimization capabilities within the confines of their existing infrastructure.”