If you want to build a successful business selling wholesale shoes, whether you are a distributor, retailer, or eBay seller, the following tips can help you supercharge your sales.
Wholesale Shoes Sales Tip #1
Know Your Market.
Guess what the biggest mistake shoe resellers do? They rush to buy a pallet of closeout shoes without knowing what kind of shoes their market really wants. While you might have fallen in love with the latest Calvin Klein open sandal shoes carried by your local footwear showroom, your customers might be looking for a classy office shoe which they can also wear to parties.
By researching your market you will know what kind of shoes to order from your wholesaler. For instance, a Nigerian banker working in downtown Lagos will want a different style of shoe, and perhaps event a different brand, than a Canadian accountant working in Toronto.
Once you have researched your market you can proceed to purchasing overstock designer shoes with confidence, since you will know that you a strong demand for them.
For instance, you will want to know how important brands are to your potential customers, and which brands do they prefer. Are they in love with Tahari, Coach, or Jessica Simpson, or do they prefer to buy based on price and quality, and brand is secondary to them?
Wholesale Shoes Sales Tip #2
Focus On A Niche
While it's tempting to try to sell ever type of shoes that people might want to buy, how will you ever stand out from the competition if you take this approach?
If you want customers to remember you, and be a destination for when they shop for shoes, you need to focus on a niche. Think about it this way, if you were visiting your local shopping mall looking to buy wedding shoes, which should store would you visit first, one named “Family Shoes,” or one named “Designer Wedding Shoes?”
The key to standing out and becoming a destination is to focus on a very specific range within the shoe category. So if you are selling brand name footwear to shops in the New York Fashion District, and you know that their primary customers are wholesale buyers from Africa, you would want to stock an inventory of proven sellers to African countries.
On the other hand, if you work in a hospital you might want to focus exclusively on comfortable shoes for people who are on their feet all day. This way your coworkers will come to see you as a reliable source for a new pair of work shoes at the time they need them.
Wholesale Shoes Sales Tip #3
Study Your Competition
I hope I haven't surprised you with this tip, but believe me it is very important. I can almost guarantee that Nike and Reebok constantly monitor all of their competitor's product releases and marketing strategies. And it's not just international brands that follow this strategy. You can often see right here in New York that as soon as one local shoe store runs a sale, another store in the neighborhood will soon match it.
If you want to make sure that you are purchasing the right wholesale products, marketing them efficiently, and pricing them optimally, you need to research your competitors.
Visit their websites, look around their stores, request their catalog, and join their email list.
Trust me, I have competitors in the closeout business visiting my Brooklyn warehouse to see what I am offering, and how much I am charging for my liquidation merchandise. I welcome their visits since I realize what a compliment it is!
Wholesale Shoes Sales Tip #4
Learn From The Best
Guess what, if you come across a website that is doing a great job of selling shoes to construction workers, or a shop that seems to be dominating the shoe business in Port Of Spain, you should definitely learn from their success. If they are experiencing a high sales volume, they must be doing something right, so you should study them like you did science back in school.
Wholesale Shoes Sales Tip #5
Benefit From Experienced Shoe Veterans
If someone is already succeeding in the shoe business, or had a lucrative career in it, you should seek ways to partner up with that person. For example, you meet the currently retired top shoe buyer for the largest department store in Mexico. You should see how you can benefit from the contacts and knowledge base which she definitely would have. You can hire as a consultant, employee, form an actual business partnership, or simply take her out for lunch and spend time learning from her.
Wholesale Shoes Sales Tip #6
Form Joint Ventures
So you are ready to launch your shoe boutique in Abuja, but are worried about the high rent that the Grand Towers Abuja Mall charges for its retail space. But you do notice that there is a successful dress boutique located within the mall that is serving the same customers that you plan on selling to.
You can approach the store owner and offer to sublease space from her, or you can offer to split with her the profits from the shoes that you sell.
You can make the same type of an offer to a fashion website, wholesale showroom, or flea market vendor that is serving your intended clientele.
If they are not open to the idea of sharing their space with another person due to space limitations, you can always offer to give them your shoes on consignment, and simply collect your share of the sales once a week.
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