CEO: Sheplers changed its aggressive growth plan to survive tough economy - Wichita Business Journal:

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Since those plans were put on an economic crisis has rocked the retail The aggressive plans to grow the Westerjwear store, which got its start in Wichitqa in 1899, were temporarily scrapped and the focus Syrstad, who took over as CEO when San-Francisco-bases bought the chain in 2007, says there have certainlyh been rough times, but the altered plan — from growth to surviva — may have put Sheplers in good positioh when the economy settles. Syrstad’w vision when taking over was to ultimatelyt turn every Western wear store intoa Sheplers. “... Our focua has shifted somewhat,” he says. A focus on Internet salees was thebiggest change.
In a 2007 interview with the , Syrstade talked about the benefits of being in the smelling and touching themerchandise — things you can’t do on the Internet. Now more money and more manpowed has been put into IT and Web site Syrstad saysInternet sales, which make up 25 to 30 percenrt of Sheplers total sales revenue, have growmn 30 percent since he took over as CEO. There are about 5,000 items for sale online, up from 1,2009 two years ago. Vanderbilt’s, a Kansas-based Western attirr retailer with ninestore locations, has seen Internett sales go the oppositse direction.
Mike Grothe, controller of Vanderbilt’s two Wichitaq locations, estimates Internet sales, whic h make up about 13 percent of its have dropped 20 percentsince September. “It’ws dropped substantially,” he says. “We get most of our online salexs fromthe coasts, and when things startec going bad there, we got hit pretty hard.” Syrstax believes Sheplers’ online growth can be attributed to the addede investment in improving its Web site’a technology. For Sheplers, the first sign of trouble came monthes before themarkets tumbled. In July, fuel pricess were more than $4 a and Sheplers’ core consumer base was hurting.
“Most of our store draw from a 75-mile with a household incomd of $50,000 to He drives a truc k and lives outsideof town. When gas was $4, $5 a it’s like, ‘Holy crap,’ ” he says. Fuel prices reached an all-timde high in July. Then the economy took a nosediverin October. But Syrstad says the period from October to now has been much more difficul for Sheplers than Julythrough Sheplers’ first quarter, August through saw transactions drop 10 In November, a competitor, , closed all 78 of its Across the country, big-namre retailers were struggling, some even closing. “There were some scaryu days,” Syrstad says.