Hotter
Customised comfort. Limitless possibilities.
Hotter Shoes has been transformed from a retail to a multi-channel, award-winning business with a strong and growing digital focus over the last 2 years, and is now a fast-growing, profitable and cash-generative e-commerce focused footwear brand.
Hotter provides footwear with uncompromising focus on comfort and fit through the use of differentiating technology, to a targeted demographic that values its brand and products.
Hotter’s direct-to-consumer channels now reach 29% of the female population in the UK over the age of 55, providing them with footwear that allows them to do more of what they love. Cultural and demographic shifts now provide an opportunity to further monetise the existing Hotter customer database and grow it through the addition of similarly themed products beyond footwear.
The business has been transformed through three core initiatives:
Redefining its brand around a positive, enabling version of comfort.
Driving aspiration and differentiation through a product strategy anchored in customised comfort.
Remodelling the business to a focused direct-to-consumer model – with connected commerce enabled by digital transformation.
Customised Comfort
A growing business – with considerable headroom for more
The transformation has seen positive results to date:
Digital sales up 22% August 20 to June 21
New customers +10% vs LY (+15% in the UK)
96.5% of sales now direct to consumer
There is considerable headroom for further growth, underpinned by a focused 55+ target demographic that is growing in size and value.
70% of all UK population growth to 2039 is projected to be in the 60+ age group.
The 55+ demographic is increasingly focused on wellbeing and staying active and is increasingly digitally literate.
Hotter currently has 29% penetration of the UK 55+ female demographic.
Underpinned by investment in technology
Much of the growth has been driven by the digitalisation of Hotter’s customer base, with 65% of 65+ year olds now shopping online over the last 12 months, vs 54% in the previous period.
The database of over 4 million consumers has strong growth trends driven by investment in technology. This includes a headless e-commerce platform, 3D foot scan and app development, with augmented reality features to enable the consumer to try the product on virtually from home.
The unique suite of technologies has been designed to enable products with the perfect fit and the perfect comfort type to be delivered to the customer’s door – amplifying the ‘customised comfort’ brand proposition.