Since the first DSW opened its doors in 1991, the company has operated around a simple premise: provide shoppers with a wide selection of designer footwear at prices they can feel good about.
Over the past several decades, that formula has allowed it to establish itself as the destination for discounted shoes.
But as off-price retail grows, the retailer has begun experimenting with what comes next.
From a revamped loyalty program to new shop-in-shop concepts, DSW is testing a number of new ways to grab a larger share of that off-price pie.
DSW is changing what it carries in its stores
In September, DSW announced two major changes to its stores.
The first is a store-in-store concept called The Edit.
Launching in four DSW locations this fall, CEO Doug Howe described the pilot experiment in a call with investors as “a curated, elevated destination showcasing key affordable luxury and elevated fashion brands in an open, experiential environment.”
While Howe didn’t provide specific details, he implied that these spaces will be stocked with products from DSW’s parent company’s (DBI) other brands, including Vince Camuto, Lucky Brand, and Jessica Simpson.
The “vertically integrated model brings together brand building, product development, and sourcing, and our retail footprint serves as a catalyst to introduce, scale, and expand these brands across our portfolio,” Howe said.
Essentially, the footwear retailer is testing what role its stores can play in the broader Designer Brands ecosystem. It’s hoping that offering its other brands and products in its physical stores will increase foot traffic, and overall sales for both DSW and its partners.
DSW is taking a new approach to loyalty
The second change DSW confirmed is a fully revamped loyalty program.
The new program offers more value and flexibility to members, removing auto-issued rewards and allowing them to choose how and when they redeem their benefits. It also includes three levels that allow shoppers to upgrade their perks as they spend more.
“Over the years, we’ve built a strong loyalty program, but we knew customer expectations were evolving, and we wanted to understand what that meant,” Paige Sheedy, head of Global Marketing, told me.
“But rather than focusing on changing one specific behavior, we focused on creating a better experience,” she continued. “We designed a program that rewards discovery, purchase frequency, and long-term loyalty because those are the things our customers told us matter to them.”
The revamped loyalty program was especially important because of how integral VIP spend is to DSW’s success.
“Nearly 90% of [DSW’s] transactions come from our approximately 30 million VIP members,” Howe told investors on a call in September.
That makes VIP a particularly important piece of DSW’s effort to deepen its relationship with existing customers.
“Our goal is for VIPs to feel like DSW understands them, celebrates their loyalty, and makes it easy to get value from the program whenever and however they choose to shop,” Sheedy told me.
Why is DSW making these changes?
These changes come at a crucial moment for DSW.
Off-price retailers, including TJ Maxx and Ross, are having a moment with consumers. That trend should theoretically play into DSW’s hands, yet DSW has consistently seen its sales decline.
The retailer has long built its brand around offering name-brand footwear at discounted prices. But its recent results suggest that simply offering value isn’t enough to guarantee growth.
“Over the past several years, the balance of power has shifted decisively toward retailers like off-price chains with the clearest value story,” a recent Placer.ai report said.
“Pre-COVID, department stores held a slight edge, capturing just over half of visits to the two segments,” the report continued. “But by 2025, that relationship had fully reversed, with off-price claiming a remarkable 62.9% share of visits.”
“As consumers grow more price-sensitive and the retail landscape becomes more bifurcated, traditional department stores have struggled to articulate a clear competitive edge — while off-price continues to benefit from a straightforward, discovery-driven model,” Placer.ai concluded.
Although DSW offers that straightforward value proposition, it hasn’t seen the same growth as some of its competitors in the sector.
At the close of the second quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, DBI reported a 1.2% decrease in net sales year over year and a 2.4% decline in comparable sales.
The results seem to indicate that value alone won’t be enough to carry DSW through the off-price boom.
So the retailer is looking for other ways to keep shoppers coming back.
The Edit gives the company a way to experiment with a more curated, elevated shopping experience, while the revamped VIP program gives its most frequent customers more reasons to stay engaged.
Neither initiative guarantees that DSW will reverse its recent sales declines. But together, they point to a broader strategy: making DSW more than a place to find discounted shoes.
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