The National Shoe Retailers Association (NSRA) and RMSA Retail Solutions are pleased to present this year's Business Performance Report, which NSRA has produced on an every-other-year basis for more than a half century, starting in 1952.

This is the footwear industry's only comprehensive financial and statistical report on owner-operated retail shoe stores. It reports on sales, inventory, expenses, productivity of space, plus much more, and presents the data from various angles to provide key benchmarks for particular types of stores.

What's New in This Edition
NSRA is proud to have the collaboration of inventory management experts at RMSA and of leasing consultant Ron Wilson, providing analysis and interpretation of this year's numbers. The areas where these experts have contributed are specially noted.

This edition is published in a combination form that includes a printed volume plus a companion CD. The manual contains analysis and discussion of the figures gathered in the survey, along with illustrative graphs and tables that compare this year's findings with past years. It has been our mission to provide not just data, but insight into the meaning of the numbers so that retailers and other segments of the industry can truly put the numbers to work on their behalf. The manual includes in its appendix the detailed findings of "All Stores," plus compilations of data tables, with results broken down by type of store, sales volume, number of stores in the firm, location, gender, and more, providing detailed critical benchmarks to evaluate your type of store.

The companion CD is a valuable added tool that includes:

  • New and reprinted informative articles by Ritchie Sayner of RMSA, Ron Wilson, and NSRA:
    • Understanding GMROI
    • Initial Markup
    • Breaking the Non-Profit Cycle
    • How to Improve Cash Flow
    • Lease Exit Strategies
    • Pedorthics: Definition, History, Business Considerations
    • And more...
  • Calculators
    • Calculate your ratios
    • Compare them to industry benchmarks for your type of store
  • Additional Analyses
    • Data tables on All Stores by the speed of inventory turns
    • Benchmark data on a franchise business model

The additional material on the Companion CD has two goals: to enrich the experienced retailer's ability to analyze operations, and to provide instruction and coaching for the new retailer or less experienced staff members of owner's company.