ANWR Scala is the name chosen for a new in-house fair that will take place for the first time next Sept. 25-26 at ANWR's campus in Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, at the same time as its successful Fashion Days. Conducted by Fritz Terbuyken, who has been running this kind of in-house show for three years, the new initiative will be reserved for the higher-end shoe collections of about 50 companies and open to all the members of the cooperative.
Thus, ANWR Schuh already holds six in-house trade shows at different times of the year on the exhibition ground of its head office, which was recently expanded to 8,000 square meters. More than 400 retailers attended each of its three sessions for the fall/winter season – the First, the Second and the Fashion Days – where more than 400 companies presented over 600 brands.
ANWR Schuh currently federates 1,007 retail members in Germany who operate 3,106 shops. There are 17 fewer companies than one year ago, but they have more stores. As already reported, the group's centralized settlements rose last year by 11.6 percent to €847 million, but ANWR executives admitted at the GDS fair that the retailers' own sales fell by an estimated 4.3 percent, in line with the German market.
To help them out, ANWR has decided to give them back bonuses of €28 million, 16 percent more than a year ago. It is also allocating €200,000 for a new “Sales Club” intended to improve the skills of the entrepreneurs and their sales staff.
Such services are already available to the members of ANWR's Quick Schuh franchise for discount retailing. The franchisees' sales declined last year, but the Quick Schuh organization raised its revenues sharply to €9.6 million from €5.6 million in the previous year, and its profit continued to improve to reach €315,000.