After just three months in the hands of Walmart-owned Jet.com, ShoeBuy is making major moves.
The e-tail site — which was snapped up by Jet.com on Jan. 5 — has purchased the domain name Shoes.com from its now-defunct Canadian parent company.
A spokesperson for ShoeBuy told Footwear News today that the latest move is a part of the company’s larger digital goals.
“We plan to maximize Shoes.com as the gold standard of category websites,” Shoebuy.com spokesperson Alex Proelss said. “We have made a commitment to modernize how people shop for shoes, and this is [an extension] of that.”
Starting today, visitors to Shoes.com will find a new homepage with links to ShoeBuy.com, where they can shop 800-plus footwear brands, as well as outerwear and handbags, Proelss said. Meanwhile, in the coming months, ShoeBuy plans to overhaul the Shoes.com site to offer consumers an experience that is in sync with ShoeBuy’s approach to online retailing.
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Canadian company Shoes.com abruptly shuttered operations in January, leaving in its wake many disgruntled customers who were unsure about how to proceed with outstanding orders and unprocessed returns. Proelss said ShoeBuy has been helping to facilitate some returns and exchanges by connecting former Shoes.com customers to brands. However, the company cannot process any past orders that were made with the former site. ShoeBuy has purchased only the domain Shoes.com and none of the company’s other assets.
In August 2016 — in a bid to take on rival Amazon — Walmart made its first major digital M&A play when it picked up Jet.com. Five months later, the company backed Jet.com’s purchase of ShoeBuy — a deal that closed in early January 2017. Walmart followed up with the purchase of brick-and-click outdoor-goods seller Moosejaw in February.
“Jet continues to gain the experience of a well-established e-commerce player in the footwear industry, who has transformed the online shopping experience for millions of customers,” the company said. “ShoeBuy brings access to a large assortment of products, strong industry relationships and rich content.”
