Columbia Sportswear 1999 Annual Report Download - page 9

Growth Strategies
1 2 3 4
We are still in the early stages of developing department store
and footwear-specific venues as sales channels for Columbia
products. Building on our broad distribution base, we are
aggressively pursuing these two categories to create addi-
tional revenue opportunities.
Department stores
Department stores provide heavily trafficked areas with signifi-
cant volume potential. We already have an introductory presence
in such chains as Nordstrom, May Company, Dillard’s, Kohl’s,
JCPenney, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Federated Department Stores, and
we plan to expand this presence within existing and new partners.
Columbia’s strategies for achieving this goal include:
• Continue to increase awareness to attract image-conscious department
stores to the brand
• Further strengthen the Company’s infrastructure to accommodate department stores’
demand for value-added services
• Strategically expand apparel and footwear offerings to create comprehensive merchandising packages
• Invest in additional key account managers to cultivate department store business
Footwear-specific venues
According to the June 10, 1999
issue of trade magazine
Sporting Goods
Intelligence, Columbia
ranked 18th in the
$5.6 billion 1998
World Branded
Brown Shoe
Market, an
impressive
achievement
for a
program just
seven years
old. Notably,
Columbia
reached this
status with very
little penetration
of footwear-specific
retail stores.
Columbia’s reputation for
quality, our superior price-value
equation, and our brand strength and
identity paved the way for the successful
introduction of footwear to our existing customer
base. Moving forward, we will grow footwear in part
by concentrating on footwear-only venues for which
we’re still a young brand. Our goals are to generate
excitement among an entirely new customer and
consumer base and to further solidify the Columbia
brand as a head-to-toe outdoor apparel supplier.
selectively broaden retail distribution
4
Selectively broaden retail
distribution
Mother’s
watching
and waiting
We’ve worked to set
the retail stage for a
command performance
in 2000. We have
targeted and mapped out
plans to take advantage
of significant growth
opportunities with regard to product,
distribution and geography. With this
consistent focus, we believe we are well
positioned to pursue our growth goals in
the new millenium.
We’d better ... or we’ll have to answer
to you-know-who.