Vancouver-based online shoe-seller Shoes.com attributes much of its recent sales success to opening a 150,000-square-foot fulfillment centre near Columbus, Ohio.
The company is on track to generate $300 million in sales in 2015 from its brands, such as SHOEme.ca, OnlineShoes.com and Shoes.com.
The overall company had been known as SHOEme but Hardy told Business in Vancouver May 14 that he recently changed the name of the umbrella entity to synchronize with the bigger Shoes.com brand.
Earlier this year, he signed a lease for the fulfillment centre, moved in and has about 40 staff at the centre, Hardy said. Shoes.com is adding about five new employees each week and now has about 340 staff including 100 in Vancouver, 170 in Seattle and 30 in Mississauga.
Hardy chose Ohio for its location.
“For the U.S. East Coast, Ohio is centrally located,” he said. “It’s one-day shipping time to the entire East Coast. It’s also got a better labour force than you get in Memphis or Tennessee, which is where UPS and FedEx have their hubs. No offence to Memphis or Tennessee, but UPS and FedEx have absorbed all the best people.”
Hardy has floated the idea that he plans to take the company public and he said that is partly why he is revealing his private company’s sales.
He would not discuss the likelihood of venture capital firms investing in the venture.
Highlights, he said, were that gross profit remained robust at 44.5%, repeat customers rose 86% year over year and returning customers in Canada increased 1,600%.
Hardy has also been poaching his management team from large companies such as Zulily, Amazon.com’s Zappos, Lululemon and Goldcorp.
