How to Start an Online Shoe Store: A Complete Guide
Why Sell Shoes Online?
Due to increasing consumer demand, the worldwide eCommerce footwear market is flourishing. It reached USD 99.1 billion in 2021 and is projected to further increase by 6.8% CAGR from 2022 to 2028.
Global Ecommerce Footwear Market Size in 2021
Selling shoes online is a good business concept because of the steady market expansion and the industry’s tendency to innovate and improve.
The Footwear Industry Is Growing
Shoes will always have a large market out there – everyone wears them!
Online shoe stores provide an easy way for customers to find exactly what they need – flip-flops, sports shoes, luxury shoes, children’s shoes, or elegant leather shoes.
The value of the sneakers market alone is estimated to reach an all-time high by 2028, as we can see in the graph below.
Global Sneakers Market Size From 2018 to 2028 (USD billion)
Rising Demand for Personalization
Personalization is vital in the era of catered algorithms and growing niches. Occasionally, what the customers want are not designer shoes – they want to be the designer themselves and create their own shoes.
Consider this.
Most successful shoe stores already offer some form of customization, such as clients being able to specify what design elements and colors they wish to see on their products. Perhaps your own online store could go even further in this area.
Cutting-edge improvements in shoe style design, manufacturing, and distribution are a constant in the field of fashion, giving numerous rising vendors an equal chance of success. This might be the right product if you’re considering starting an online business.
A Product Idea That is Trending
It’s up to you whether you want to sell shoes, for men, or women, sneakers, boots, or any other type. A good thing to do is to do market research, prepare an online shoe business plan and understand what works and what doesn’t. Suppose you are in Europe and you want to sell in the Asian market. Start by asking questions: which are the best-selling shoes in Asia? Which specific product do I want to focus on? How will I sustain my business?
You can look for freelance marketers with experience in your chosen market to help you find the answers to these questions.
If your goal is to sell any and every type of shoe, beware it’s not a smart move.
Of course, everybody needs shoes. But targeting everybody is a risky thing in eCommerce. We suggest starting by choosing a niche product that aims at specifying specific market needs. You might have already figured out but in case you have not, here’s what you can do
Instead of thinking – “I want to sell men’s shoes,” focus on a narrow market like leather shoes, knee-high boots, sneakers, and so on. Focusing on a niche will aid in getting in front of the right audience for a small business.
No matter which niche you choose, one way to stand out from your competitors and build a loyal customer base is to consider offering customizable shoes.
Your customers no longer want to have the same generic white sneakers. They want to add a personal touch to their shoes, and hence biggies like Adidas and even startups have started enabling product customization.
For instance, below is a design studio by Toesmith. The brand allows shoppers to choose from different colors and lets them add their pictures, add text, and so on.
(Custom Shoes to Let Shoppers Add a Personal Touch)
Curious to know how you can start selling custom shoes online? With Brush Your Ideas’ fully-functional Explore Web to Print Solutions, you can let your customers design your product. Click the link below and see how the magic of product customization works.
How To Start a Shoe Business Online?
How to start with an online shoe store with no upfront investments? Here are some pointers to help you get started and make your online shoe store business a reality.
Step 1: Research the Footwear Market
First, it’s time to do some serious work.
Do your research correctly. Find the gap in the market and try to be unique in your business plan, clearly defining what value you can bring to customers.
Choose the shoe categories you’ll sell – research other prosperous online shoe merchants for advice on drafting a business strategy. You can use search engines or social media sites to scout out what your competition is doing and to define your target market.
Consider your business model – will you need to find wholesale shoe suppliers to work with, collaborate with a dropshipping service, or create handmade shoes yourself?
Get business insurance and apply for a business license for your online shoe store. Additionally, determining your shoe store’s startup costs, relevant taxes, and other financial details might be much work, but it will pay off in the long run.
For sample business plans and details on business licensing for your online shoe store, visit the Small Business Administration website – it is a treasure trove of valuable resources for companies just starting out.
Step 2: Find a Niche for Your Shoe Store
You might offer boots, sneakers, shoes for men or women, or other footwear, but those are not niches – just product types.
A niche would be some special interest or style that a particular customer segment might have.
For example, you could target surfers with flip-flops adorned with surfing puns and references. Or book lovers with boots and sneakers with book quotes and imagery all over them.
By creating niche-specific designs, you will likely be able to sell various shoe types and thus expand your reach and grow your business with time.
Step 3: Create Your Shoe Designs
Once you have performed market research, you should know what designs your target audience would like to see in your chosen niche. So, it’s time to create them.
The easiest way to make footwear would be to outsource the production and concentrate on the design.
You can quickly and cheaply start your shoe line with print-on-demand (POD), which allows you to focus on your unique and niche-specific design creation and leaves the production and printing of the footwear to print suppliers.
A POD partner would print and ship your shoes directly to your customers. In the meantime, you would only need to do some simple order management, marketing, and new design creation.
You can create the designs yourself, use your POD supplier’s pre-made design resources, or hire a designer to make your ideas come to life.
Step 4: Select a Shoe Store Business Model
Select one of these three business models for a shoe store: dropshipping for shoes, print-on-demand, or wholesale.
These three options will allow you to launch a shoe company with the least effort.
As mentioned above, print-on-demandis deemed the most efficient business model for new merchants, as it requires no upfront investment and no inventory.
However, the downside of POD is the lack of quality control, so it is up to you to weigh the pros and cons of each business model out there.
A solution for this downside would be combining business models. For example, you could start with a line of POD sneakers and later work with wholesale suppliers to introduce more elegant and classic shoes to your online store.
Step 5: Find a Platform to Base Your Online Shoe Store On
Select an eCommerce website where your online shoe business will be located. Some viable options are Shopify, Etsy, eBay, WooCommerce (on WordPress), Squarespace, PrestaShop, BigCommerce, Wix, and more.
You might need to set up a standalone website offered by eCommerce platforms and pay membership fees, depending on the channel. No such subscription fees are required on online marketplaces like Etsy and eBay, though they do have smaller listing and transaction fees.
If you have no prior experience, it is best to learn how to sell on Etsy – the best place to start if you’re a newbie to eCommerce, thanks to its low fees and large pre-existing customer base.
You can also sync your online store from Etsy to WooCommerce, and many more selling channels!
Furthermore, if you prefer, you can hire a developer to build your store for you. Here are some options: 1. Upwork 2. Specialized sites like DOIT Software 3. Online communities and forums like GitHub
Step 6: Select the Price For Your Shoes
Low rates are not always the best, while high prices may result in fewer sales. Select the appropriate pricing plan after considering the product and sales channel costs, competitive pricing, and revenue targets.
You may also apply the profit margin that your manufacturer advises, but make sure it matches what your potential customers are willing to pay for.
In keystone pricing, the retail price of your product is calculated by double the wholesale cost. Competitive pricing is when you intentionally undercut your competitors’ prices by using their pricing data as a standard.
Regardless of which pricing strategy you will choose, you can always experiment to see what works and what doesn’t.
Step 7: Market Your Shoe Brand
It’s time to start bringing customers to your online shoe store once your items are listed for sale. The goal is to advertise your company on all the channels where your followers are active.
This entails interacting with them in various ways and keeping your audience informed.
Post that material on social media and then interact with your potential buyers. Or, start various email marketing campaigns for customers further down the funnel.
For your content to appear on top when someone searches for the information you’ve published, use search engine optimization (SEO).
You can also use sponsored advertising to attract customers to your shoe business. Make sure to follow up with your consumers with individualized emails to build a strong customer relationship and keep them coming back.
There are many marketing strategies out there. Keep your target audience in mind and address your buyer personas accordingly.
Men’s shoes will likely need to be marketed differently than women’s shoes. The same goes for sports footwear and luxury shoe brands.
Therefore, to successfully market your eCommerce store and thrive in shoe selling, target your specific shoe market appropriately.
BONUS TIP: Build an Excellent Website To Sell Shoes Online
To stand out among your competitors, especially in the growing POD and eCommerce business industries, you should ensure that your website is top-quality.
Therefore, it is wise to take advantage of resources like Siteefy, which will help you build and grow your site with ease.
Especially if you’re choosing to build your online shoe store by using WooCommerce for WordPress, you will need to work on such important details as your store theme, optimization, and more.
Conclusion
We hope this guide will help you get started if you want to create an online shoe store business. If opening your own store where you sell shoes online is your dream, nothing can stop you either way.
You may create a devoted client base and ultimately make your dream brand by selecting the ideal product and providing an outstanding customer experience.
Just remember the main tip – focus on a specific niche and create unique designs; the rest should come quickly.
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