Fun With: Shoes (Keen)
Join me on our next new gig, SVP, North America eCommerce at KEEN.[Permalink]. In this role, we will lead North American eCommerce strategy, optimize merchandising and digital marketing, and build a high‑performing team to drive revenue growth, fan engagement, and operational efficiency.
Let’s lace up.
KEEN is privately held, so exact revenue isn’t public. Online sources cite ~$100M from DTC. If we assume DTC is roughly one-third of the business, that suggests ~$300M overall—about half the size of Merrell’s footprint (our job a few weeks ago). But while Merrell struggled under the weight of a rigid platform, we have the flexibility of the Shopify ecosystem to work with here.
We’re going to focus on DTC here. To unlock growth, we need to simplify the journey, sharpen persuasion, and connect brand to commerce. That means tackling navigation, PDPs, and storytelling in sequence:
🧭 Navigation is cluttered, not curated
The top nav is overloaded. “Men’s” and “Women’s” each have 10+ subcategories, many duplicative. No clear entry by activity, terrain, or shopper intent. Best practice: curate by journey — “Trail,” “Work,” “Water,” “Winter.” KEEN’s on Shopify. Algolia or Nostro make this easy.
🛒 PDPs are dense, but not persuasive
Specs dominate. Reviews are buried. No urgency, no attach motion. No cross-sell for socks, insoles, or care kits. Layouts need hierarchy and conversion intent throughout the learn-and-buy journey. At Microsoft with Surface, Xbox, and M365 we led with storytelling (see next point) and ran experiments on each step of the journey through to post-purchase.
💬 Storytelling is disconnected from commerce
KEEN’s mission lives in blog posts and footer links. What missed opportunity! We are now part such a strong, resonant brand: innovation, function vs fashion, sustainability, advocacy, community. Let’s take a page from early Nike - a brand that was built on association with what inspires. We need emotional resonance front and center on every page — real adventures, real people, real values. Specs don’t win hearts. Stories do. We learned this at Microsoft when we moved from “speed and feeds” to how it feels to have a typecover with the same luxury fabric as Ferrari and Lamborghini.
Navigation clarity, PDP optimization, and emotional storytelling are our strategic pillars. And none of this cannibalizes other retail channels. If anything, the amplification of storytelling will have a positive halo effect there. Tactics: leveraging the power of the Shopify ecosystem around site analytics, personalization, navigation, experimentation, and loyalty.
The trail is well-marked. With disciplined prioritization and execution, we won’t just ascend—we’ll set the pace for the category.
