On thing you have to consider is the scale at which these shoes are sold at each step. From the factory they're processed and shipped in giant containers. The overhead of handling each shoe is fairly small at that stage.
When it comes to the retailer, there's a huge increase in the amount of work and overhead for each shoe sold. And the labor cost for that work is much higher than on the Asian side of the supply chain. That's also where you get potential waste from returns and discarded inventory and such. The retailer also have their own marketing costs.
I don't find it strange at all that the retailer expects a 100% markup.
Real estate is insanely expensive - you have to sell a lot of shoes with your "100% markup" to make rent.
The flip side however - e-commerce with its totally different cost structure and same traditional RRP as brick and mortar retail - should be - a gift from above for retailers.
In some cases, in e-commerce your trading rent for shipping expenses. It helps you scale quicker as you have wider reach but the variable cost of shipping and taking returns can go sideways.
The good thing about rent is it’s relatively fixed so it’s possible to gain leverage with volume. That is also a risk if volume shrinks, etc.
When it comes to the retailer, there's a huge increase in the amount of work and overhead for each shoe sold. And the labor cost for that work is much higher than on the Asian side of the supply chain. That's also where you get potential waste from returns and discarded inventory and such. The retailer also have their own marketing costs.
I don't find it strange at all that the retailer expects a 100% markup.