The Comfort Shoe Brand Is Using Predictive Analytics to Make Design and Buying Decisions
SKELMERSDALE, ENGLAND, AND PITTSBURGH, PA – 13 December 2019 – The UK’s largest shoe manufacturer, Hotter Shoes, and First Insight, Inc., the world’s leading technology company transforming how retailers and brands make product investment, pricing and marketing decisions, today announced their new partnership. Using First Insight’s consumer-driven predictive analytics, Hotter Shoes will now be able to make accurate design, buying and pricing decisions on the new products it offers to its consumers.
“Hotter Shoes has spent decades building its business around innovation and creating high-quality products for its customers,” said Greg Petro, CEO and founder of First Insight. “We’re excited to partner with Hotter Shoes and help them optimise their operations and eliminate the guesswork that’s typically involved in product development by incorporating the voice of the customer into each step of their process.”
First Insight uses online social engagement tools to gather real-time customer preference, pricing and sentiment data on potential product offerings. The information is filtered through First Insight’s predictive analytic models to determine which products present the greatest opportunity. The solution is enabling Hotter Shoes to increase its speed to market and inform merchandising assortment decisions.
“Implementing First Insight’s digital product testing and predictive analytics will enable us to increase product sell-through and margins using direct feedback from our customers,” said Victoria Betts, Chief Commercial Officer of Hotter Shoes. “Leveraging the voice of the customer to optimise our buying decisions and assortment selections will help us to offer the right products at the right price as we continue to grow our business domestically and internationally.”
About First Insight, Inc.
First Insight is the world’s leading digital product testing and decision-making platform that empowers retailers and brands to incorporate the Voice of the Customer into the design, pricing, planning, and marketing of new products. Through the use of online consumer engagement, the First Insight solution gathers real-time consumer data and applies predictive analytic models powered by machine learning and AI to create actionable insights, which drive measurable value. Retailers, manufacturers and brands use the First Insight solution to design, select, price, plan and market the most profitable new products for reduced markdown rates and improved sales, margins and inventory turnover. Customers include some of world’s leading vertically integrated brands, sporting goods companies, department stores, mass merchant retailers and wholesalers. For further information, please visit www.firstinsight.com.
About Hotter Shoes
Founded in 1959 as a slipper manufacturer, Hotter Shoes now offers a collection of stylish women’s and men’s shoes with hidden comfort features, including supersoft and breathable leathers, lightweight and flexible soles, and underfoot cushioning. Its state-of-the-art factory produces a pair of hand finished shoes every 20 seconds – making it the UK’s largest shoe manufacturer.
Media Contact:
Michael McMullan
Berns Communications Group
212-994-4660
mmcmullan@bcg-pr.com
Hotter Shoes Contact:
Mel Killilea
Brand & Communications Manager
m.killilea@hotter.com
First Insight Contact:
Gretchen Jezerc
SVP of Marketing
gretchen.jezerc@firsinsight.com
