How to Start a Shoe Store Business ？

There are many stores and shops in all retail business stores that belong to clothing and bodywear, such as shoes. You always see shoe shops along the streets, inside the shopping mall, or near the business center. These shops are well organized and have an appealing profit. They must have good business strategies and customer accumulation. If you want to start a shoe store or a small shoe shop, How can I open a shoe store? How much money do I need to start a shoe shop? Where to begin a retail shoe business? After you read this article, you will have a clear plan for starting a profitable shoe store business.

• How Much Does It Cost To Open A Small Shoe Store?
• Six steps to open a shoe store.
• Which shoes are most profitable to sell in a year?
• 7 Tips To Manage a Shoe Store Efficiently!

How Much Does It Cost To Open A Small Shoe Store?

Before opening a shoe store, you should understand the market dynamics of the shoe retail industry and do an excellent job in the preliminary market research, including population distribution, per capita income, and consumption level, As well as the Customer group, core business circle, and business management. Based on the market survey report, you can make your budget for starting a shoe shop.

Essential cost of shoe store

When you start a business plan on the shoe shop budget, Four aspects need to be considered. Store rent, store fixtures, labor, and inventory. Here is just an example cost of starting a smaller store in a relatively secondary city.

Store rent Cost:

In my experience, in the first-tier cities' prosperous areas, the store rent is costly, about $10,000 to $15,000 per month. However, if the location is slightly different with less traffic volume, the monthly rent is about $6,000 or $8,000. The rent cost depends on the grade of shoes you sell and the people you are targeting. If the funds are limited, you can rent a small lease inside the shopping center and start a mall retail kiosk which will cost about $2,500 to $ 6,000. Some of the shopping malls are paid for by the week. 

A 20 square meter store for shoe retail is slightly narrow. If you are starting a small shoe business, you can get a lease around 35 sqm or so, When you are downtown. Open the shoe shop in the most prosperous road section. The shop rent is about $12,000 / Month. If it is a secondary city, the cost will be much lower, and The most efficient way is to consult the local real estate agent to get a rough idea of it.

Shoe Shop Decoration Cost:

Shop decoration is a black hole, and it can cost as much as you invest. But with a proper plan, you will save a lot on useless decors. The cost also depends on the grade of shoes and the customer crowd. If the shoes are of high grade, the store needs to be decorated more luxuriously, and the decoration fee will be pretty high, about $50,000-$10,000 Based on the different shop sizes. If it is a public class, the decoration is relatively simple, and the decoration fee is not much; $ 10,000 -$20,000 will be enough.

When we start the shop decoration, we need to start a shoe shop design first. It would be best if you spent time and effort creating elegant and beautiful shop designs. Then, ask the store fixtures manufacturer to help you build the displays. It's better to build a store with a suspended ceiling and some facilities, saving a lot of decoration costs. Proper display racks, display stands, gondola shelving, will also help you save a lot on decorations cost.

Ant Display offers free design service on 3D shop design as well as construction drawing. Here is the best place to go if you are looking for a high-level shoe shop design or shoe shop shelving display. Browse our page of shoe displays, and you will get all the interior decorations and display at an economical price. 

Inventory Cost:

Aside from a retail space in 70-100 women's fashion shoes, About $30,000 is needed for the first inventory. Secondly, the wholesale purchase price should be controlled less by 20-50 % lower than the retail price. Of course, it is better to make a sale price in the early shop starting stage or to pay more on advertising and promotion. According to different warehouse volumes and display fixtures, A standard 70 square meter middle-level shoe store, $20,000 budget is enough.

Employee salary:

If you have a shop in a crowded business street, only one staff is not enough, and you may need to hire 4-6 and work in turns, While if you are starting a shoe shop in a small town, you can work on your own. Therefore, the local consuming level determines employee cost, which you will know better than I do.

How much does it cost to open a shoe store? To sum up, a middle-grade shoe store's total investment is less than $40,000 but more than $10,000 for a high-level shop.

The investment in opening a shoe store is mainly the cost of goods distribution and store rent and the salary of personnel and property management expenses. Generally, a better shoe store needs to invest in hundreds of thousands. Compared with some small businesses, the investment is still relatively significant, and there are certain risks. We must choose the appropriate products for business.

Six steps to open a shoe store.

First of all, if you want to open any store, you must have a certain amount of funds. Usually, the first batch of funds required is different depending on the region. The supply of goods is also an essential factor. At the same time, the location of the store, the training of the staff, and the later promotion are all related to the operation and profit of the store.

The first thing is to choose a brand.

Although it may seem simple to open a shoe store, the most important thing is to choose a brand. The size and influence of the brand are essential to sales, especially for brands that many customers value, like, more accustomed to. At this time, we must consider many aspects. A good brand generally has high franchise fees and high requirements, so you should choose according to your actual situation.

Choose the location and size of the store.

No matter which city you are in, the store location is also the main factor affecting passenger flow and sales. The size of the store will also give customers a lot of different feelings. Choose the correct store location and store size according to the number of funds in your hands to promote your shoe store. Success.

Interior decoration style & construction.

After choosing the brand and storefront of the shoes, the next step is to confirm the decoration style and prepare the decoration materials. Generally, you can outsource to the decoration team or select the materials yourself and then hire workers to construct. Small shoe stores can design their styles. The larger ones are best to be designed by professionals. Of course, some brands have regulations on decoration and must follow their requirements. Store fixtures also matter a lot in shop decorations. Function display stands and wall shelves can not only organized products in the best way but also make the full shop a high level.

Prepare the Inventory.

For a shoe store, the quantity and style of the shoes are significant, such as what season and what style, how many pairs of shoes are suitable to visit on the shoe rack, the specific visit style, etc., these are the quantity and The main styles that need to be considered are the preparations we need to make for opening a shoe store.

Choose the opening time.

The opening date of the shoe store is critical. Since it is a business field, there are still many things to pay attention to. It is necessary to choose a good day to open and get lucky. Moreover, after choosing the opening time, the pre-requisite publicity time is also available, convenient for making publicity plans.

Manage promotional activities.

When a shoe store opens for the first time, there must be a promotion, whether it is a promotion three days before the opening or a month before the opening. And this is a design of time; a few discounts on the price, or buy one get one free, this is a price design. In short, we must design promotional activities that meet the preferences of local people.

No matter what business you do, there will be a low season and a peak season. Opening a shoe store is no exception, and there will also be high sales and low seasons. The most important thing to open a shoe store is the two crucial links of purchase and sales. Below, I will give you a detailed analysis of the off-season and peak-season sales of the shoe store.

Which shoes are most profitable to sell in a year?

In different seasons, we wear different shoes. That means different shoes will have a particular market, and you can not sell particular shoes all around the years; when you can satisfy the clients' needs, your shop will begin to make money. Here are basic ideas of which types of shoes are most popular and profitable to sell in a year.

Best Seasons for Shoe Retail 

January: The heyday of winter shoes is a crazy peak season. The specific date is on New Year's Day holiday and weekends. At this time, the weather is severely cold, and winter models are expensive and profitable.

February: The most successful season for winter shoes is a crazy peak season. The specific dates are around the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, International Valentine's Day, and weekends. At this time, the weather is still cold, and winter models are expensive and profitable.

March: The shoes change the season, winter models start to sell, and spring models are listed in batches one after another. It is a standard peak season. The specific date is on March 8th and weekends. The weather is alternating with warm and cold temperatures, which is suitable for winter models and spring models.

Summer Season or Summer Shoes

April: Spring shoe sales season. It is a standard peak season. The specific date is on weekends when the weather is mild, the temperature is moderate, and the spring models are on sale.

May: The spring and summer styles of shoes are excessively alternating seasons, which are the standard peak seasons. The specific date is during the May Day holiday and weekends. The weather is getting hotter, the spring styles are out of the market, and the summer styles begin to go on the market. Rejection.

June: The summer shoe sales season is a traditional off-season. The specific sales date is on Children's Day and weekends. The weather is hot, and the summer models are selling well, with large runs but low prices and low profits.

Good Strategy on Off-season

July: The summer shoes are unsalable season, which is a crazy off-season. The specific sales date is on weekends and evenings. At this time, the weather is sweltering, and sales of summer models have stagnated. Promotion is recommended.

August: The summer shoes are not selling well, which is a crazy off-season. The specific sales dates are on weekends and evenings. The weather was extremely sultry, and sales of summer models were completely unsalable, and a small number of autumn models were becoming popular. A large number of summer models have been cleared and dumped. Recommend low price promotion.

September: The summer and autumn seasons of shoes are excessive, and it is also the season of the off-season and excessive peak season. It is an embarrassing off-season. The specific sales date is on weekends, evenings, and mid-to-late September. At this time, the weather began to cool, the temperature difference between day and night was significant, and the wind was strong. Xia Kua cleared the warehouse, and the autumn models were fully listed. At this time, most consumers have a wait-and-see attitude of holding money, so many people have low transactions. At this time, DZ should have a stable mind, not be anxious or impatient, and actively adjust the goods and displays in the store to prepare for the peak season.

Welcome The Peak Season 

October: The autumn sales season for shoes is a crazy peak season. The specific sales dates are during the National Day holiday and weekends. At this time, the temperature is moderate, the temperature difference between day and night is significant, and the autumn models are all selling well. At this time, the arrival of National Day also announced the official opening of the show season. Consumers' shopping spree is concentrated during the National Day holiday with many people and high transaction volume.

However, the price of the autumn shoes is moderate, and the profit is moderate. Therefore, it is necessary to cooperate with promotions to maximize transaction volume and make full use of the National Day to run volume. The peak sales season in October is mainly concentrated on the seven-day National Day holiday. After a long holiday, due to the psychological fatigue of consumers, there will be a period of low sales (about 15 days). Therefore, I hope that all store owners can make full use of the National Day holiday for sales to be safe. To spend the remaining 15 days of the trough.

November: The shoes fall, and winter is in a stable transition season, which is a standard peak season. The specific sales date is on weekends and evenings. The temperature gradually dropped, the autumn models were sold off the market, and the winter models were steadily listed. Autumn models are selling well, and winter models are on the market one after another, with high prices and large profits.

December: Winter shoes are on the market, which is a crazy peak season. The specific sales dates are on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Saturday and Sunday. At this time, the weather is cold, the selling price of winter models is high, and the profit is considerable. During the holiday season, the sales for winter models will primarily increase.

7 Tips To Manage a Shoe Store Efficiently!

Opening a shoe store is easy, but running a shoe store requires more effort and wisdom. The necessary sales skills and sales strategies are also critical. The following introduces one of the ways we can operate efficiently in actual store operations.

1. Store environment and atmosphere creation

The store environment is essential. It is the first impression given to consumers. An excellent sanitary environment, abundant lighting, an energetic atmosphere, suitable music, etc., are the first steps to attract consumers to enter the store.

Atmosphere creation is not limited to store decoration. The mental state of the clerk, the detailed decoration of the storefront, and the placement skills of the top products are all part of the atmosphere created. Good creation attracts different consumers' desire to buy, and the details are vital!

2. Product structure and replenishment capacity

People flow entering the store cannot be traded; the variety, quantity, and replenishment capacity of the store's merchandise reserve are reasons. Shopping guides should record and count the number of people entering the store and the number of passengers in the store every day as much as possible to calculate the customer churn rate. Need to reflect on how much is caused by the little fullness of the goods? How much is caused by the product structure and product shortage? How many are caused by insufficient stocking? Accordingly, whether it is subjective or objective reasons, you need to work hard to make improvements.

3. Category-driven and full display

The reason why many shoe store owners pay attention to the absolute gross profit level of their products and ignore the competitive nature of retail stores lies in their indifference and ignorance of the nature of retail.

In the final analysis, shoe stores must rely on single products, single gold products, or "category killers" to win profits. With the intensification of market competition and the increasing variety of product categories, single product winning and category management have become essential methods in managing shoe and clothing chain enterprises' daily management.

Besides, the shoe store has to rely on the entire display to win customers' "eyeballs". Terminal promotions are becoming more and more critical in modern marketing. In addition to on-site promotions, such as discounts, price reductions, gifts, on-site demonstrations, etc., product display and display and POP advertising are also becoming more critical. Strengthen the brand's exposure in the terminal to increase sales.

4. Themed promotion and activity plan

The conventional promotional tactics of stores are similar, such as buying and giving gifts, but the effect is always not as good. Why is this?

Customer price. Before making an event plan, we must first clarify a direction, whether this event is to make money at a loss or increase the number of transactions or the customer unit price, or the gross profit of sales.

5. Professional knowledge and sales skills

Many shopping guides do not pay attention to professional knowledge and sales skills. The three main reasons are not familiar with product knowledge, do not understand customers, and do not match sales. They only recommend high-margin shoes based on shoe profit but do not understand the materials and characteristics of shoes. , Become a big failure for missed sales opportunities. Sales are also constantly learning. Learning the content of the product and understanding the brand culture, plus the necessary sales skills, is the correct sales method for a qualified shopping guide.

6. Member Management

"Membership" is an important marketing method to target consumer groups. The conversion rate of members, the frequency of members' return to the store, and the transaction cycle are well-known effective sales methods in the sales industry.

7. Advantageous service and retail management

In a sense, retail is service, service creates value, and service management is in place, creating corporate image and the appreciation of intangible assets. When customers are friends, customers will, in turn, regard the mall as their home. With the feeling of home, both parties will benefit from the "win-win".

To improve the shoe store's sales performance, you should obtain more sales skills and increase the customer flow that drives into your store.