C. & J. Clark International Ltd, trading as Clarks, is a British-based international shoe manufacturer and retailer. The company was founded in 1825 by Cyrus and James Clark in Street, Somerset, England where it still has its headquarters. Initially, it started as a business of fellmongering, wool-stapling, and tanning, but later turned to shoe production. The family-owned company became public in 1973 and despite sketches of privatizations, it is still listed and has a market cap of approximately £1.3bn. Additional details about the companys history, products, and management can be found on the Wikipedia page for Clarks. Due to its private structure, Clarks lacks a Bloomberg page.
Clarks has faced stiff competition in the shoe industry from brands like ECCO, Hush Puppies, and Aldo. Founded in 1963 in Denmark, ECCO is a global leader in casual footwear, bags, accessories, and shoe care products. ECCOs Wikipedia page offers more details on its history and products, but lacks a Bloomberg page due to its private ownership. Hush Puppies, an American brand established in 1958, is known for its casual, comfortable shoes and their Wikipedia page provides additional information. Aldo, a Canadian corporation founded in 1972, offers high-quality fashion footwear and accessories and its Bloomberg page features financial information about the brand.
Web scraping of the Clarks website can provide valuable insights into their product mix, prices, and discounts which can be used for benchmarking and competitive intelligence purposes. Scrapped data can reveal general pricing trends, changes in the collection (new and discontinued items), and discount patterns. It can also contribute to understanding the brands positioning, offer, and marketing strategy – for instance, by analysing product descriptions, images, and category labels, or by tracking changes on the website. Finally, customer reviews scraped from the website can provide insights into product performance and customer satisfaction, thus allowing for a rich and nuanced analysis of Clarkss market position.