plan will create pathways for growth in both our areas of historic strength and our opportunity areas for the future,” said Dillon. “We’ll leverage our sneaker authority at the center of sneaker culture to grow in two ways. Expanding our wallet chair was thinker mavens and fashion forward expressionists and broaden their reach with the other segments.”  By all accounts, Foot Locker’s latest fiscal report shows that the ‘Lace Up’ plan slowly but surely has been taking effect.  Even though Q4 sales were down by 5.8 per cent year on year to $2.24 million, comparable sales increased by 2.6 per cent, and globally, Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker, saw combined comparable sales growth of 3.6 per cent.  The report revealed that the retailer’s gross margin increased by 300 basis points as compared with the prior-year period. “Our return to positive comparable sales growth, gross margin expansion, and positive free cash flow in fiscal 2024 serve as proof points that our ‘Lace Up’ plan is working… Looking ahead, we will continue to prioritise our customer-facing investments, keep our inventories controlled and manage our expense base with discipline to improve our profitability,” Dillon commented. “While we expect consumer and category promotional pressures to remain uncertain into 2025, especially within the first half, our ‘Lace Up’ plan strategies continue to resonate with our customers and brand partners.” Embracing a new Foot Locker  Since the ‘Lace Up’ plan was set in motion, Foot Locker has already taken several major steps in revitalising its image, such as through the launch of its “store of the future” retail concept, and it is well on its way to refreshing a total of 800 stores by the end of 2025. Similar to how brands like Coach, Milani Cosmetics and American Eagle have been teaming up with female athletes to tap into the power of uplifting marketing initiatives, Foot Locker is making a similar move.  This week, in partnership with Puma, Foot Locker announced the first installment of its new multi-brand spring style campaign, ‘Stay in Rotation’ starring rising basketball sensation Flau’jae Johnson. The campaign showcases Foot Locker’s ability to tap into popular marketing movements, such as the inclusion of female athletes, and its ability to align itself with culturally relevant sneaker brands.  At the 2025 Shoptalk Las Vegas conference, Foot Locker executives, global chief customer officer Kim Waldmann and executive vice president and chief commercial officer Frank Bracken, also spoke to the retailer’s rekindled approach to hospitality.  In addition to the brand’s enhanced loyalty program, FLX Rewards program, and ongoing updates for its mobile app, Bracken noted that the team has been focused on updating omnichannel operations, largely through the help of AI.  “We just implemented a new AI-driven workforce management and scheduling system, which takes our sales forecasts, our promotional calendars, and then some of our competitive variables that we’re able to input, and it spits out a system that is smarter than the human would have otherwise developed,” said Bracken.  The CCO explained that “it allows us to be more efficient and get more ‘Stripers’ in the right stores at the right time to serve consumers, which drives conversion and productivity.”  Stripers is the term Foot Locker uses to refer to its store staff. Bracken remarked that the footwear retailer has been equally focused on reviving sneaker culture itself.  “What we’ve seen in coming out of Covid, particularly in the last 24 months, is that there actually has been some fatigue and the consumer is wanting to be inspired,” Bracken observed. “They want the reintroduction of humanity and community into sneaker culture and the retail experience.” What experts have to say about Foot Locker’s ‘Lace Up’ plan’s results Neil Saunders, Global Data’s managing director, said that Foot Locker’s ongoing effort to make its store environments more engaging and showcase products more effectively is working.  While Foot Locker’s revamped stores are solid, he said, there are still too many old-format stores in Foot Locker’s network, with several in sub-optimal locations, like malls.  “This needs to be remedied quickly as it is becoming more of a disadvantage as newer entrants like JD Sports expand with their modern store formats, and as Dick’s is investing heavily in refreshing its own store estate,” Saunders warned.  “The danger of moving too slowly here is that Foot Locker will become increasingly irrelevant and out of step and will permanently lose customers as a result.” The Global Data executive said Foot Locker needs to take several steps at once to return to the heart of sneaker culture and be a go-to destination again. Foot Locker needs to focus on positioning itself as the go-to retailer that all the big sneaker brands want to work with, he said.  “Foot Locker is moving in the right direction on both things, but there is a lot more work to do before it is firmly back on the front foot,” Saunders concluded.  Liza Amlani, principal and co-founder of Retail Strategy Group, concurred with Dillon that Foot Locker’s numbers, especially its gross margin points, indicate that consumers are buying full-price again and that there has been a positive turn for the brand’s overall profitability. “Visiting the stores, you can see that they have improved. Consequently, you can see that customer service and foot traffic have improved,” Amlani said. “This tells me that they’re buying into the right product assortment at the right time and place. If Foot Locker continues doing what they’re doing, we should see a continuation of this growth moving into the year ahead.”