Toms Shoes Targets Homelanders. NewsWire

NewsWire: 4/17/21

• Millennial favorite Toms Shoes is overhauling its brand for a new generation of customers. Execs say that the charity giving model that helped make Toms famous doesn’t go far enough for young shoppers who are even more cause-minded. (Advertising Age)
• NH: When Toms Shoes was founded in 2006, it quickly became famous for its “one for one” business model. For every pair of shoes sold, Toms donated an additional set. The brand's charity element attracted Millennials, and it soon became a generational favorite. But now Toms is ditching their “one for one” model.
• The company will now give one-third of its profits to “grassroots organizations.” This is the same share of profits it spent on donating shoes. But now the company can broaden its selection of charities. Here are a few of the causes Toms has already announced it will donate towards: LGBTQ rights, mental health care, racial and gender equality, and stopping gun violence. 
• By changing its charity model, Toms is attempting to attract younger consumers. Millennials were content with companies donating to charity in general. But Homelanders want brands to support the issues they care about. Clearly, since many of these causes lean towards the left, some young people may be turned off. But Toms figures that's a small price to pay for the millions of consumers attracted to their brand. (See “Shopping Along the Partisan Divide.”)

Did you Know?

• Last Call for Department Stores. Already spiraling downward pre-pandemic, department stores spent 2020 just trying to hold on. Nearly 200 department stores have closed in the past year alone, and another 800—or about half of the country’s remaining mall-based locations—are expected to follow suit by the end of 2025. In all, roughly 40% of the nation’s department stores have gone under since 2016. This includes a third of the JC Penneys and Macy’s stores, 15% of the Nordstroms, nearly all of the Sears (-96%), and all of the Lord & Taylors. Once a mainstay of middle-class shoppers, department stores have struggled mightily to compete against online and specialty retailers. Their woes, of course, have contributed to those of the malls that house them. (See “Malls Struggle to Survive During Pandemic.”) The most traffic many of these locations have seen recently has come from people stopping by to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations.