eSoles rolls out web-based kiosks in Trek stores

With a strategy based on high-tech gear and personalized service, Trek Bicycle Corp. is benefitting from eSoles web-enabled in-store scanning systems designed to get perfect dimensions of a customer’s feet to match with customized footwear insoles.

The 3D TruCapture Kiosk Scanning System from eSoles LLC is designed to produce dimensions within 2.5 minutes. Store clerks can then either match a customer’s dimensions with available eFit “semi-custom” footbed components for a customized fit in-store, or order a fully customized ePro footbed from eSoles.

Trek, based in Waterloo, WI, plans to offer the scanners at 50 of its top dealers in the U.S. plus another 40 to 50 in Europe and Asia, says Glen Hinshaw, CEO of eSoles.

John Balmer, director of Bontrager brand and after-market product development for Trek, says the eSoles scanners could be deployed in as many as 200 or 300 of the stores that sell Trek products.

Trek recently launched the Bontrager footwear line, and is deploying the scanners to help customers get the right footbeds in high-performance cycling shoes that subject users to locked-in pressure points, Balmer says. “ESoles can really help fitting cycling shoes,” he says.

Trek will roll out the scanners to stores with the largest volumes of high-performance footwear sales, he adds. Because all scanning data is stored online, foot scans produced in one store can be used to purchase footbeds in other stores or on the web, Hinshaw says. “There’s no way we could do this without the Internet,” he says.

Consumers pay $70 for an eFit footbed purchased along with the scanning service and up to $300 for a fully customized ePro footbed, which is also sold through other outlets to customers including professional golfers and football players, race car drivers and Olympic athletes, Hinshaw says. The fees are shared among the manufacturer and the retailer, he adds.

The first-year cost of implementing the in-store scanner starts at about $17,000, including the software license and training, followed by about $6,000 per year in fees, Hinshaw says. ESoles is based in Scottsdale, AZ.

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