Skechers will share first‑quarter results on Thursday, April 24. The brand wrapped 2024 with a record $8.97 billion in sales and plans to open up to 200 new stores in 2025, so most headlines will focus on growth. Yet pass_by location analytics tell a more nuanced in‑store story.
Key Metrics For This Financial Period
Foot traffic ‑3.06 %
In‑store sales ‑2.89 %
In‑store transactions ‑1.93 %
The larger drop in sales versus visits signals a conversion or basket‑size challenge—an early warning light for any operator monitoring store productivity.
Monthly visits
Who’s Slipping Away?
Gen X visits ‑1.58 %
Boomer visits ‑1.32 %
These cohorts have historically driven Skechers’ dependable comfort‑shoe volumes. When they ease up, the revenue drag can outweigh the raw traffic decline because older shoppers typically spend more per trip.
Why Traffic Is Softening
- Promotional cross‑fire – major athletic rivals and upstart DTC labels have been flashing deeper discounts, tempting Gen X and Boomer deal‑hunters.
- Macro squeeze – higher living costs continue to defer discretionary upgrades, especially for comfort shoes that aren’t viewed as urgent replacement purchases.
- Style perception gap – Skechers’ recent Snoop Dogg and Jen Stark Slip‑Ins capsules lit up social feeds , yet some stores bury these launches mid‑wall, blunting walk‑in excitement.
- Floor‑to‑basket drop‑off – the 1.17‑point gap between traffic and sales hints that merchandising, staffing, or fit assistance tools could do more of the conversion heavy lifting.
Bright Spots and Levers
Store expansion runway – Skechers ended 2024 with 592 U.S. stores, up from 563 a year earlier. New shops in fast‑growing Sun Belt suburbs are indexing above chain‑average traffic in our dataset, supporting the growth thesis.
Collab flywheel – limited‑edition drops still drive traffic surges of 2–3 % during launch weeks; dialing up in‑store storytelling and staff training could turn that buzz into fuller baskets.
Omnichannel catch‑up – management has flagged ship‑from‑store and BOPIS adoption as 2025 priorities. pass_by dwell sensors show pickup counters shorten total shop time by 7 %; pairing those trips with impulse add‑on zones could widen ticket sizes.
What to Look Out For?
- Pricing strategy—can Skechers defend gross margin while matching competitors’ promo cadence?
- Conversion initiatives—any pilots to re‑flow layouts or add hands‑free fitting tech that nudges browsers to buy?
- Store pipeline discipline—will the company keep opening 180‑plus stores this year if traffic is merely flat?
Takeaway
A 3 % traffic dip is a yellow flag, not a crisis, but it shows how fast store productivity can erode when older core shoppers pull back and conversion slips. Speed matters: spot the dip early, understand its demographic makeup, and respond at the store or zip‑code level. That’s what pass_by delivers—hyper‑local, real‑time foot‑traffic intelligence that helps retailers fine‑tune promotions, staffing, and merchandising before a modest slide becomes a sustained trends
If your brand is watching visits flatten or baskets shrink, consider how a live view of who’s crossing your threshold—and who isn’t—could sharpen promotions, staffing, and merchandising decisions this quarter. Skechers offers a timely reminder: growth headlines are great, but on‑the‑ground agility wins the day.
