Level Shoes, the footwear retail concept by Chalhoub Group, is coming Stateside, plotting its biggest expansion yet outside its native Middle East.
Speaking in Milan just before fashion week starts in the city, Level Shoes’ chief executive officer Elisa Bruno discussed the move – and plans to make an effective and meaningful push in the U.S. via e-commerce.
“The U.S. is footwear’s biggest market, so it’s clearly exciting for a [retail] brand like Level Shoes. It’s an unprecedented challenge and move to have a Middle Eastern player coming to the U.S.,” Bruno offered.
Level Shoes is gearing up to open its first American logistics center in Florida in the first quarter of 2025, with plans to better serve its growing customer base in the country.
To be sure, the e-tailer, which has already been shipping cross-border to the U.S. for a few years now, aims to ensure a seamless customer experience in the country in line with the services offered to its Middle Eastern clients, where shoe deliveries are carried out within one hour in Dubai, one day in the United Arab Emirates and one and half day in the rest of the region.
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“It’s about maintaining our customer promise also in the U.S. by opening a facility and aligning prices and curation,” Bruno said.
The executive highlighted that the U.S. already represent Level Shoes’ second biggest region after the Middle East and the fourth country after the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
American customers buying from Level Shoes’ e-commerce are driven by exclusive launches and collections that the retailer frequently orchestrates with its key luxury partners.
“I believe that the U.S. market is very much dependent on department stores’ assortments right now, which are defined by a global buying strategy, and this extends to each player’s online destination,” Bruno opined. “I think our unique selling proposition lies in our curation…. It answers a need for novelty and difference,” she said.
Acknowledging the complex scenario marked by macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical turmoil, Bruno contended that “the U.S. is a mature market, and I think that after the [November presidential] elections, it will enjoy renewed impulse and euphoria.”
The Dubai-based luxury retailer caters to women, men and children with more than 250 brands through its omnichannel customer experience, which includes its app, currently driving 80 percent of its sales, e-commerce site and active social media presence. The retailer debuted in 2012 with an outstanding 97,000-square-foot store at The Dubai Mall, the largest in the world dedicated solely to footwear, before venturing into dotcom sales.
In 2023 the brick-and-mortar location in Dubai attracted about 5 million visitors between locals and tourists, Bruno said, providing itself a strong backbone of data for Level Shoes, in addition to CRM insights coming from its e-commerce.
Asked about expanding the retailer’s footprint elsewhere, Bruno said that Level Shoes is currently committed to cementing its presence in its home market, the Middle East, and ramping up its presence in the U.S., noting how Europe remains a question mark for its volatility and mixed performances.
Bruno declined to disclose Level’s revenues for the most recent fiscal year or forecast figures year-to-date, but she expects a double-digit revenue jump in 2024, likely followed by growth stabilization in the years to follow.
“In 2025, we will be focusing more on the bottom line and not only the top line. That’s how you remain healthy and have bandwidth to make investments,” the executive offered.
“I want Level Shoes to be an example of how an offline retailer can do online right, and succeed,” she said.
