Crocs are back in fashion

With the pandemic, consumers turned to comfort in their clothing and shoes. To its surprise, Crocs saw an increase in its sales and consumers are viewing these shoes more positively. Not only are professionals in the health care and the restaurants industries wearing them, but many white-collar professionals also working at home embraced the shoes.With the pandemic, lounge attire, comfortable wear have skyrocketed in terms of sales while suits, high heels, and jeans decreased in sales.

Crocs is a comfortable and colourful clog (see green show below) for men, women, and children. Over the past two decades, it extended its product line into flip flop, rainboots, open toes sandals, and platform shoes. Recently, Crocs collaborated with various brands and artists such as Justin Bieber, Cars (Disney), Malone, Gucci, and Big Little. The original shoes have gone up a notch! Still, with the same look and comfort, consumers may now personalise their shoes with charms and trinkets (see the purple shoes). With such collaborations and personalisation, soon you will be able to wear Crocs to a fancy dinner!

The brand's main values are innovation, fun, and comfortfor people who want shoes that conform to their personalities, as well as to their feet. Although the brand has been laughed at over the past decades, it realises that it is here to stay. It is able to adapt itself to the changing times. As consumers are purchasing more than just a physical good, Crocs wishes to develop a strong long-term relationship and a strong brand that will have a lasting impact on consumers. The brand demonstrated that it can adapt and withstand negative press.

In Canada, Crocs are available in various points of sale. Retailers such as Foot Locker and SoftMoc carry some models on their websites.www.crocs.cais also always accessible to consumers.www.amazon.cacarries the main sellers and some rare or exclusive editions. Lastly, Crocs has a handful of physical stores remain, one of which is at the Dix30 shopping center on the south shore of Montreal. To ensure consistency, the price is relatively the same from one point of sale to the next for the same shoe. The prices are normally discounted towards the end of the season.

1)Crocs are available at various points of sale. From the information presented in the case, what channel is used? Briefly justify your answer.

2)Crocs is considering implementing or improving its distribution by fully becoming an onmi-channel. Propose three distinct and feasible strategies Crocs may implement to reach this objective.

Use bullet points to answer this question.

3)There is a popular believe that Crocs are made of rubber. But that is not the case.Crocs are made out of a material known as croslite. Croslite is a proprietary resin material made of polymer produced by Crocs and its manufacturers. Unfortunately, the shoes are not recyclable or biodegradable.To become more sustainable, Crocs' retail boutiques are considering implementing reverse logistics for it crosslite made shoes. Name three challenges the Crocs boutiques may encounter with reverse logistics.

Use bullet points to answer this question.

4)For each of the challenges you identified in the previous questions, propose a feasible solution for the Crocs boutique.

Use bullet points to answer this question.