Is opening an online shoe store right for you? It might be if your physical shoe store is doing well and could benefit from a boost in sales, or if your business is still in the concept stage and ready for a wide audience.
Ecommerce can be lucrative in part because you're not limited to customers in your locale. According to one estimate, nearly 75% of footwear spend happens online. Online shoe sales grew by 10.7% over the past five years in the U.S. (equating to $28.6 billion) and are on track to increase further in 2023.
Let’s walk through some steps for how to sell shoes online. We’ll cover tips to launch your business, plus ways Amazon can support your success.
Ecommerce can be lucrative in part because you're not limited to customers in your locale. According to one estimate, nearly 75% of footwear spend happens online. Online shoe sales grew by 10.7% over the past five years in the U.S. (equating to $28.6 billion) and are on track to increase further in 2023.
Let’s walk through some steps for how to sell shoes online. We’ll cover tips to launch your business, plus ways Amazon can support your success.
Did you know?
Amazon selling tools like Brand Registry can help you scale
If you’re looking to expand your shoe brand in the Amazon store, create an Amazon seller account and sign up for Brand Registry to access insights and resources for listing shoes and connecting with hundreds of millions of customers.
How to start a shoe business online
1. Decide what kind of shoes you want to sell
Athletic shoes, kids’ shoes, dress shoes—what do you want to specialize in? What types of shoes will sell well?
First, consider how you’ll source the shoes. For instance, you might find a supplier, work with a manufacturer, or create shoes yourself. If the latter is the right route for you, check out Amazon Handmade—an online destination for handcrafted goods from artisans.
Take inspiration from Susan Petersen, a new mom who handcrafted a pair of baby moccasins that marked the beginning of her successful brand, Freshly Picked.
Here are a couple other approaches you can take to figure out what niches might be right for your brand.
First, consider how you’ll source the shoes. For instance, you might find a supplier, work with a manufacturer, or create shoes yourself. If the latter is the right route for you, check out Amazon Handmade—an online destination for handcrafted goods from artisans.
Take inspiration from Susan Petersen, a new mom who handcrafted a pair of baby moccasins that marked the beginning of her successful brand, Freshly Picked.
Here are a couple other approaches you can take to figure out what niches might be right for your brand.
Consider your intended audience
To make sure there’s demand, consider customer needs. For example, customers might want sandals for a beach vacation, or snow boots for a ski trip.
Look at the demographics of your customer base, such as age, gender, location, and income level. Try out Brand Analytics within Amazon Seller Central to get insights on who’s clicking and viewing products, identify search term patterns, and more.
Look at the demographics of your customer base, such as age, gender, location, and income level. Try out Brand Analytics within Amazon Seller Central to get insights on who’s clicking and viewing products, identify search term patterns, and more.
Conduct product research
Zero in on the right type of shoes to sell by researching your niche. Do some digging through social media sites like Instagram and Facebook to see what types of shoes are popular among different age groups and demographics. You can also look at your competitors. Who else is selling similarproducts? Analyze their customer reviews.
Another way to find shoe product ideas is by browsing Amazon listings. Go to the Clothes, Shoes, and Apparel category in Amazon search and explore the various sub-categories. See what’s already selling well by consulting the Best Sellers list—but keep seasonality in mind. For example, swim shoes might be hot in the spring and summer months, but sales might dip in fall and winter. Another place to see seasonal trends in action is the Movers & Shakers list.
Another way to find shoe product ideas is by browsing Amazon listings. Go to the Clothes, Shoes, and Apparel category in Amazon search and explore the various sub-categories. See what’s already selling well by consulting the Best Sellers list—but keep seasonality in mind. For example, swim shoes might be hot in the spring and summer months, but sales might dip in fall and winter. Another place to see seasonal trends in action is the Movers & Shakers list.
2. Price shoes competitively
Setting prices can involve several factors, including production cost, your profit margin, and the competition. Research your niche and decide what price points are realistic for you.
Get insights into what price points are working well for other ecommerce shoe sellers, then experiment with different pricing strategies to maximize your profits and attract an audience to your brand. For example, what types of shoes are popular now? Identify gaps in the competition and consider how you can differentiate yourself.
You can also use Amazon’s Product Opportunity Explorer to research prices and identity products with high profit potential. This tool can reveal:
Get insights into what price points are working well for other ecommerce shoe sellers, then experiment with different pricing strategies to maximize your profits and attract an audience to your brand. For example, what types of shoes are popular now? Identify gaps in the competition and consider how you can differentiate yourself.
You can also use Amazon’s Product Opportunity Explorer to research prices and identity products with high profit potential. This tool can reveal:
- Top search terms
- Search volume growth
- Units sold
- Total number of products
- Average price
Learn more about how Product Opportunity Explorer works and tips for building your pricing strategy.
3. Create an online storefront
As part of your ecommerce strategy, create an online storefront complete with your branding, secure methods for processing payments, and other essentials. You might build one from scratch, hire a developer, sell through social media, or create one in the Amazon store.
If you decide to go with an Amazon storefront, Amazon’s seller tools can help. With the Amazon storefronts builder, you can customize a storefront with templates and drag-and-drop tiles. Then, enhance product listings with A+ Content, adding videos, images, shoe size charts, and more. You can even create an About Us page to help customers connect with your business.
If you decide to go with an Amazon storefront, Amazon’s seller tools can help. With the Amazon storefronts builder, you can customize a storefront with templates and drag-and-drop tiles. Then, enhance product listings with A+ Content, adding videos, images, shoe size charts, and more. You can even create an About Us page to help customers connect with your business.
Pro tip
Manage a storefront with the Amazon Seller app
The Amazon Seller app allows you to manage an ecommerce storefront from the mobile device of your choice. Monitor sales metrics, list new products, add photos, adjust shoe prices, manage orders, and more.
4. Ship or fulfill orders
Some sellers start out by fulfilling orders themselves, even storing inventory in an available space like an extra room or garage. As sales grow, they might decide to outsource fulfillment tasks to a third party.
To get products into the hands of customers, Fulfillment by Merchant allows you to handle storage, packing, and shipping products to and from buyers. FBM could be a great option if your business model enables you to manage this on your own.
An alternative is Fulfillment by Amazon. Enroll in FBA to store products in Amazon fulfillment centers, where specialists can process orders and returns on your behalf. Or, you can use both FBM and FBA. Try Multi-Channel Fulfillment to meet your fulfillment needs.
Whether you’re looking to outsource excess products you don’t have space to store, or want to scale up during holidays and other seasonal upticks in sales, learn more about ecommerce fulfillment to explore your options.
To get products into the hands of customers, Fulfillment by Merchant allows you to handle storage, packing, and shipping products to and from buyers. FBM could be a great option if your business model enables you to manage this on your own.
An alternative is Fulfillment by Amazon. Enroll in FBA to store products in Amazon fulfillment centers, where specialists can process orders and returns on your behalf. Or, you can use both FBM and FBA. Try Multi-Channel Fulfillment to meet your fulfillment needs.
Whether you’re looking to outsource excess products you don’t have space to store, or want to scale up during holidays and other seasonal upticks in sales, learn more about ecommerce fulfillment to explore your options.
5. Optimize listings to drive shoe sales
Create effective product listings to help drive traffic to your virtual doorstep. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Take good photos: Show the shoes at different angles, use all-white backgrounds, and if possible, have a model wearing the shoes in at least one photo.
- Write a good product description: Write an accurate description and mention important details like brand, size, color, and material. Take the opportunity to educate the customer on special features that the photos might not convey (for example, heel height, closure type, or material of the soles).
- Use the right keywords: Conduct keyword research to pinpoint shoe-related search terms, then include them strategically in product titles and descriptions to help customers find what they’re looking for. For example, if you sell children’s flip-flops, then customers may use keywords like “kids flip flops” and “flip flops for children.”
Pro tip
Use product variations
If you sell shoes with multiple colors, sizes, or materials, then help buyers select the option they like the best by including product variations within a single listing (instead of creating multiple listings for each color).
6. Finetune your inventory strategy
When gauging inventory levels for shoes, keep seasonality in mind. For instance, sandals might be popular in the summer, while boots might sell better in the winter. Read our guide to inventory management for more tips.
Understanding seasonal trends can help you make informed decisions about which shoes to stock at certain times of the year, and help you keep down returns. Returns can cause an influx in inventory levels, increasing inventory fees and reducing profits. So be sure to look into best practices for how to reduce returns by improving shoe listings and other return reduction tactics for shoes.
Understanding seasonal trends can help you make informed decisions about which shoes to stock at certain times of the year, and help you keep down returns. Returns can cause an influx in inventory levels, increasing inventory fees and reducing profits. So be sure to look into best practices for how to reduce returns by improving shoe listings and other return reduction tactics for shoes.
7. Promote product listings
Get your shoe brand noticed by marketing it online. For example, you might leverage social media and influencer partnerships, or create content that showcases your offerings.
As an Amazon seller, you can take advantage of ecommerce marketing tactics to promote shoes, such as:
As an Amazon seller, you can take advantage of ecommerce marketing tactics to promote shoes, such as:
- Product listing ads (like Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands)
- Video ads for streaming TV and digital videos
- Audio ads for customers who enjoy music and podcasts
Did you know?
The New Seller Guide can help you launch with Amazon
The New Seller Guide is a set of brand, logistics, pricing, and promotional services that are backed by data science and designed to fuel the growth of new sellers. Sellers who use services in the New Seller Guide can take advantage of over $50,000 in New Seller Incentives.
Start selling shoes online
If you’re ready to stake a claim for your shoe brand in ecommerce, sign up to become an Amazon seller with the potential to reach hundreds of millions of customers. You can also revisit the tips we’ve covered in this article for fueling your success through fulfillment services, search optimization, and other tactics, or read more in our beginner’s guide.
Drive online sales for your products
Learn how to get started selling with Amazon.
FAQs
Is it profitable to sell shoes online?
Selling shoes online can be very profitable, especially if you have an eye for fashion and know how to market products effectively. In the U.S., roughly 74% of footwear spend occurs on the web. Online shoe sales grew 10.7% between 2018 and 2023 to $28.6 billion.
Where should I sell shoes online?
Ecommerce offers a variety of opportunities to sell shoes online. You might build your own direct-to-consumer website, work with a developer to design an online store, or set up shop on the social media channels of your choice. If you want to gain access to an established audience of customers, you can also create a storefront on a selling website like Amazon.
Can I sell shoes in the Amazon store?
Yes, you can sign up to become an Amazon seller with the ability to reach a large customer base and benefit from ecommerce tools to maximize your growth potential, such as:
- Fulfillment by Amazon services
- Brand Analytics dashboard with insights to grow your shoe business
- Amazon storefront builder to help your brand stand apart
- A+ Content to help shoe listings rank in search results
- Product listing ads to promote specific products
How do I sell shoes online?
Yes, you can sign up to become an Amazon seller with the ability to reach a large customer base and benefit from ecommerce tools to maximize your growth potential, such as:
- Conduct product and audience research to decide what shoes might sell well online
- Figure out how you’ll source or create the shoes and get inventory systems in place to keep up with demand
- Build an online storefront for your brand and list products
- Promote products using digital marketing tactics
- Keep on top of customer service
For tools and support along the way, sign up for an Amazon seller account and register your brand for advanced ecommerce resources.
