fbpx As the world’s first franchisor of athletic footwear, The Athlete’s Foot set itself up for franchise success early on. Started in 1971, The Athlete’s Foot opened its first store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was also able to call itself the first athletic footwear specialty store in the United States. After a large growth spurt, rather than abandon the franchise model and go corporate, they felt compelled to stay the course. “We really believe in franchising, we think it’s a great model of success,” says Jerry Slover, Head of Commercial Operations at The Athlete’s Foot. And because of that, they’ve embraced the entrepreneurial side of franchising, giving their business owners a model for running a successful store. After years of stores using various POS and Inventory Management software, The Athlete’s Foot decided to shift to one required system. They wanted to choose a partner that gave them the functionality they needed from the store level all the way up to the executive team. Choosing RICS gave them the best of both worlds. RICS offers a platform where decision makers have close proximity to the consumer and have the tools and resources they need to control things around their business. As for the executive level, RICS gives them the ability to make decisions on influencing purchasing, store assortment, and product planning. RICS also helps track the successes of how products are performing at retail and offers all the reporting functionality they need. Having a software solution that was easy to use for all levels of staff was important to The Athlete’s Foot. They knew that switching systems would be an adjustment for some of their store owners. But switching to RICS as their required software gave them a system that works for all levels and lends itself to manageable training. “Whether it’s our part-time staff using it, to the owners who are making local decisions, RICS has the functionality that works for all levels,” says Slover. RICS partnered with The Athlete’s Foot to ensure the transition to a required system went smoothly for their business owners. The Athlete’s Foot continues to be a strategic partner, enabling the RICS team to hear customer feedback and suggestions on a regular basis. See how our other clients have improved their businesses with RICS!