How To Sell Custom Shoes Online

Starting up one’s own custom shoe business is a dream of many. Why wouldn’t it be, though? They say good shoes take you to good places. Imagine all the great places you would be going with a shoe store of your own!

Have you ever wished you could find a mentor who would guide you through setting up your dream custom shoe business?

Here, we will do exactly that, take you through the process in detail to make you ready to start a successful Custom Shoe Business.

The online market for custom shoes has grown significantly within the last couple of years. According to Statista, revenue in the footwear market amounts to US$ 454 billion in 2020. That’s a huge market to tap into.

And, an online custom shoe business can be a great getaway into a larger e-commerce footwear market. You can begin with little capital and scale gradually with the right business model in hand.

Let’s get right into it, the 9 steps you need to follow to sell custom shoes online.

Find a niche

That’s the mandatory first step for any small business you would want to set up.

While choosing a niche segment, consider a few important factors by answering these questions:

• Which shoe segment has the most demand?
• Can that segment be easily manufactured?
• How is the competition for the particular segment?
• Who is your target audience?
• Is there a gap in your local market that you can fill?

After weighing in all the factors, chose and pick a shoe segment that makes the most sense. It can be formal, casual, running, ethnic, women’s, canvas, walking shoes, anything that you find is right.

Develop a manufacturing strategy

Now, having a better understanding of what to sell and whom to sell it to, develop a business model that’s most viable for your chosen niche.

Manufacture on demand is the only way in custom shoe business as the shoe can be manufactured only after the design is finalized by customers.

The 2 best options are:

1. Self Manufacturing: Manufacture the shoes yourself if you have the capital and infrastructure readily available.
2. Outsourcing: Tie-up with a local manufacturer who can produce the shoes according to the designs you provide. This has the added benefit of making custom shoe sales a low-risk business venture.

Validate the business model

Whichever business model you chose, validate it before going any further.

• Discuss with industry mentors
• Manufacture a few prototypes
• Monitor the time it takes to manufacture a pair of shoes
• Check the manufacturing limitations for designs
• Do quality checks
• Distribute the prototypes and receive first-hand feedback from friends and family.

After you check all these boxes successfully over multiple iterations, you are set to move forward.

Register the business

It’s time to make it official, to give your brainchild a name and claim it to be yours. Go ahead and register your business.

Every country and every state in each country has different business registration procedures, check with the authorized personals and be sure to comply with all the state laws.

Set up an online store

It’s SHOWTIME! All that you have been working behind the screens are now about to be showcased to the world.

Set up your custom shoe store online:

• Research and select an e-commerce platform that suits your business best
• Make sure to choose a responsive template that will look and work well on computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
• Let your store design reflect your unique style. A statement design that makes your store stand apart from the competitors.

Integrate Custom Shoe Design Software

We have now reached the final and the most important phase of setting up your custom shoe business online- Shoe Design Software.

The whole idea of the business is to let your customers be the designers of their dream shoes. Hence the foundation of the business is the shoe design tool that facilitates this smoothly and keeps your customers engaged.

The Custom Shoe Design Software must have these features:

• Responsive design – Same level of efficiency on all devices from tablets to phones to desktops.
• Powerful customization that allows every minutest detail to be changed according to the customer’s taste.
• Easy-to-use admin console to control all the functionalities of the tool.
• Option to personalize the shoes with text, cliparts or images even.
• Smooth integration into any of the e-commerce platforms that your store is on.

Get your custom shoe business started on the right foot with Havi Propel Shoe Design Software.

Go Live and promote

Yay! All your work is out in the world now. Your customers can visit your store online, design their own shoes, and buy them.

As exciting as it may sound, it’s not as simple. It is your job to bring your store to your target audience’s attention, their sights, their minds, and their hearts.

Well, the fundamental idea of your business is already a marketing bonus – Personalisation! You just have to leverage it.

Create a buyers persona by researching, where your audience hangs out the most, on which social platform, where do they come for buying the shoes, what entices them the most, which age groups are they are in. And then, plan your marketing around this data.

Package and Delivery

It may take a back seat in your business strategy while dealing with everything else, but it definitely MUST NOT.

The delivery strategy has the power to increase your website conversion rates. Don’t promise undeliverable timelines. you must deliver on your promise; the goods must be delivered as promised, in perfect condition, and on time. This is what is going to get your customers to trust you and come back to you.

The delivery space is growing by the day in eCommerce space and the options for the smaller retailer are improving all the time. Scout the market place and chose what suits your business the best.

Support and Feedback

Your online store is getting its due attention and traffic, and you have started selling too. But the work is not quite done yet. With the sales comes the reviews, queries, and feedback.

You should be all ears to everything your customers have to say. Make them feel you hear them and provide them with solutions at the earliest.

That’s the only way to make them stay with you and make them the ambassadors of your shoes.

The journey of your customers from visitors to fans is the means of your success in e-commerce. #e-commerceClick to Tweet

There you go! We just envisioned the entire process of setting up your custom shoe store online.

Though the footwear market is huge enough to accommodate a lot more of us, early birds do catch a few extra worms. So, get moving.

May your business scale greater heights!

*Article originally published on https://www.havipropel.com/blog/how-to-sell-custom-shoes-online

Havi Propel https://www.havipropel.com/blog/how-to-sell-custom-shoes-online