On Black Friday, the day of discounts, shoe seller Accent Group...

On Black Friday, the day of discounts, shoe seller Accent Group says it’s precisely the fact that they’re not discounting which has sales up.

The company (ASX:AX1) has the rights to popular shoe brands Hype DC, Skechers and D. Martins, and also owns The Athlete Foot sports shoe chain.

It says a strategy dubbed “No Lazy Retailing”, where they have stopped using discounts as a marketing tool, among other efforts means earnings should be 15-20 per cent higher in the first half than the last period last year.

Accent Group CEO Daniel Agostinelli says they’ll hit that target if like-for-like sales continue to track at low single digit growth.

For the last 20 weeks it’s been growing at 2.5 per cent, but online sales are up 88 per cent.

Accent effectively backdoor listed onto the ASX in 2015, when Athlete’s Foot owner RCG Corp bought it.

The company went through multiple changes of management and in the boardroom as it struggled to make selling shoes work.

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A change of name to Accent in December last year, no more discounting, and a shift away from franchising and towards owning its own stores is allowing the company to find its feet.

Full year profit rose by 51 per cent in fiscal 2018 to $44m, and the company had cash of $39m.

Accent has been contacted for comment.

Accent stock was up 18 per cent to $1.30.

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