How to Sell Shoes Online – Follow these Tips!

As you already know, spring is coming (it’s not as far away as it seems) and many people are looking to revamp their closet, especially their footwear, for the sunny season. If you have an online shoe store, it’s important that you know how to create an effective marketing calendar to boost your sales. How can you sell shoes online effectively? Read this article and learn how to create a solid marketing calendar for your online shoe retail business! It’s the ideal time to launch your seasonal marketing campaigns for this season, so now is the time to launch your seasonal marketing campaigns for this season!

So today you have a lot of important facts to know about how to create the best marketing strategy for this week. Let’s get started!

Retail sales of the global apparel and footwear market, a couple of interesting facts…

• “The size of the global apparel and footwear market in 2019 was 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars, and this was forecast to reach 3.3 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030.”
• “The sportswear market is one of the key apparel markets worldwide: it was valued at 265 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 and was predicted to increase by around 80 percent by 2025. Sportswear is made from materials that improve agility and offer comfort, specifically designed to aid performance during physical activities. Nike was the leading sportswear company worldwide in 2019, with sales generating more than 39 billion U.S. dollars.”

Source: Statista

The global footwear industry is a multi-billion U.S. dollar sector

As a segment of the clothing and apparel industry, the footwear market encompasses shoes, sneakers, luxury footwear, athletic footwear, and sporting shoes, along with other related goods. Footwear items are commonly crafted from materials such as leather, textile, and various synthetic materials. In 2023, the estimated revenue of the global footwear market reached almost 400 billion U.S. dollars.

Where do the billions of shoe pairs originate?

In 2022, approximately 24 billion pairs of footwear were manufactured worldwide. This marked a return to the consistent production levels maintained prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, hovering around 23 to 24 billion pairs annually. Asia accounts for the vast majority of this production, contributing over 87% to global footwear production. Subsequently, this footwear is exported worldwide, with Germany, Japan, and France ranking among the largest footwear importers globally. However, the United States stands out as the largest importer by a substantial margin, bringing in around 2.7 billion pairs of shoes in 2022. In comparison, the second-ranked Germany imported approximately 790 million pairs of shoes.

 

Athletic shoes gaining momentum

A notable trend in the global footwear market is the increasing popularity of athletic footwear, worn not only for sports but also as part of everyday fashion. The sports shoes market was projected to recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and continue growing in the following years. The industry is expected to be valued at about 65 billion U.S. dollars worldwide by 2028. Once again, the United States led in revenues from athletic footwear in 2022, followed by China.

Nike leads the way

Several large multinational companies operate within the global footwear industry, with sportswear brands prominently represented, including the well-known Nike. In 2022, Nike outpaced its main direct competitors, Adidas and Puma, with footwear segment revenues reaching approximately 29 billion U.S. dollars worldwide. In the 2022/23 period, Nike secured the second position in the ranking of overall leading apparel and footwear retailing companies globally, trailing only behind the luxury giant LVMH. Concerning specialist footwear companies, Deichmann posted the highest revenue worldwide at 6.9 billion euros in 2022.

Source: Statista

So, what should you do?

Viewing all this data we can see that the footwear market, and especially the online market due is going from strength to strength. What can we do to increase our online sales? Pay attention to the checklist!

1. Don’t lose sight of your SEO strategy.
2. Make a careful, calculated SEM (paid traffic) strategy with a daily and/or weekly budget.
3. Study your audience in-depth and make targeted ads, i.e. more personalized. This is known as targeting. Knowing your target audience is essential!
4. Get good at branding. An unknown brand will not attract people to your website! Work on branding, it will give you long term benefits like SEO – they are worthwhile! 
5. Study the sources of acquisition for your website and promote the most profitable ones. Organic traffic, direct traffic, referred traffic, paid traffic and social traffic are the most common sources that you should not lose sight of.
6. Which devices do your users usually buy on? If you notice that it’s from their cell phones, your website has to be responsive or have an AMP design! Making the purchase process from mobile will be easier and more comfortable for your users.

Other small tips that work…

• Design of your website: in addition to these key points, it is important to take into account other factors that can influence the success of your online shoe business. One of them is the design of your website. A modern and attractive design is essential to attract users and make them feel comfortable browsing your site. In addition, you must make sure that your website is easy to navigate and that the user experience is smooth and pleasant. your website has to be cool, pleasing to the eye, attractive? Don’t know anything about design? For that, there are free and intuitive tools for everything, like Canva, Venngage… Search on Google, there is a free tool for everything!
• Variety and quality of products: another aspect to consider is the quality of your products and the variety of options you offer. Users look for options that adapt to their needs and preferences, so it is important to offer a wide variety of models, sizes and styles. It is also essential that the products are of quality and that users can trust the brand.
• Don’t forget social networks! In addition, you should not forget the importance of social networks in the promotion and sale of products online. Social networks are a powerful tool to reach your audience and promote your products effectively. Take advantage of social platforms to showcase your products, create community and build customer loyalty.
• Google reviews: they are very important. Shoppers are increasingly relying on reviews from other users. Try to get as many good 5-star reviews with comments as you can.
• Call to action buttons (CTA): these are very important on any website. If you don’t know where to start, here’s an idea… What CTA buttons do your competitors have? Start by imitating them!
• Support your SEO with link building strategies: link building is on the internet what word of mouth is in real life, and Google gives it a lot of importance when it comes to positioning you in its rankings. Dedicate resources to try to do link building, it pays off in the long run.

So…

In summary, selling shoes online can be a very profitable business opportunity if the key factors are taken into account. A solid marketing strategy, an attractive and easy-to-navigate website, a wide variety of quality products, strong branding and a social media presence can make the difference between success and failure. With a careful approach and a well-designed strategy, success in this competitive market is possible.

 

Extra tip: are you familiar with the PMAX campaigns carried out by both Google and Microsoft? They’re quite remarkable and worth your attention!