RBR Interview: Richie Woodworth, President, Saucony, by Larry Eder
Richie Woodworth, President, Saucony, photo courtesy of Saucony communications
In the world of performance running, the brands on top are the brands willing to a) focus on consistently strong product,b) be willing to promote the product, c) invest in events, athletes, and local brand support, d) vigilantly watch their customer service and e) invest in long term relationships with specialty retailers.
In 2009, the champions in performance running footwear are ASICS, Brooks, Saucony, Mizuno, Nike and New Balance. The new brands, like Kswiss, Somnia, Merrell, Newton, all look to what the top players have done. The devil is in the details.
One of the hottest brands in 2009 is Saucony. We asked Richie Woodworth, President of Saucony, to spend some time discussing why his brand is firing on all cylinders and what it takes for a brand to excel in such a competitive environment. Please note that we will be interviewing executives from some of the other key players over the next few months. Note also that the Fleet Feet franchises gave their vendor of the year to Saucony. Service is key to survival in this market. Next to product, without service to the retailer, the party is over.
The running footwear biz is $7.5 billion in 2009. Specialty is just over $900 million and growing. This is our world, day in, day out. At the Running Network, we track 800 specialty running stores-about 300 of them are firing on all cylinders.
What is fascinating to me, is that the CEOs and Presidents of the major brands are a fascinating bunch. What is interesting, at least to me, is how the managers like Woodworth use their brand's key strengths to help them excel.
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