3 Habits That Are Hurting Your Shoe Business

It’s always there but sometimes it’s hard to notice the small things that are negatively affecting your business. These small bad habits can hinder productivity in your business and can even turn off your potential customers. If you've noticed something off about your wholesale shoes business or retail shoe store, it’s time to reconsider your everyday habit that might affect your business.

When you’re finally able to pinpoint the cause of problem, you can easily take the necessary steps to minimize its effect in your business.

Take a look below and see if you've been doing these little things that affect the quality of your business.

1. Not Communicating With Your Staffs

No matter what kind of business you have, it’s important that you maintain an open communication line with your store staffs. This will make planning and execution of different marketing programs easier and can help avoid loss of sales for your shoe store. Good communication can also help your staffs perform better especially when you are not around to supervise them.

2. Being disorganized and untidy

Customers will come over and try different pairs of shoes before they finally make a purchase. They often won’t consider putting everything back to where they get it that your store will eventually become a mishmash of pumps, sandals and boots. Train your staffs on how to keep your store organized as much as possible and install shoe shelves that can make organizing shoe display a lot easier.

3. Overpricing

Do you sell your shoes at competitive price? Are other shoe stores in your area put it on the same price? If you've been over pricing your products just to get more sales, you will eventually lose a large number of your costumer. Make sure that all your product and services are rightly priced to fit the purchasing ability of your customers. Go for small and fast revenue than big yet slow sales.

There are other things that might be hindering the success of your shoe business. Take note of your small everyday practices that needs improvement and decide on different ways to address it.

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Mark Your Calendar! 2013 Hottest Days to Buy Shoes this Holiday Season

The last quarter of the year is full of different events that will make us appreciate life more, spend time with friends and families and send out greetings to everyone. But aside from all the merry making, some of the things that people are looking forward to during this time of the year are the holiday shopping days that will give the best shopping experience.

photo credits: carbonatedTV.com

A number of stores and restaurants offer great discounts in time for the holiday celebrations starting in Thanksgiving up to Christmas Day. To help you mark your calendars for the best days to do your shopping, here are the dates you should remember.

Black Friday Sale

After you feast with your family, the day after Thanksgiving can be reserved for a day of shopping for discounted wholesale shoes online or at the nearby shoe store. This tradition is one of the most popular shopping holidays in the United States and participated by almost all businessmen. Black Friday falls on November 22 this year so start listing down your Christmas wish list to prepare for the best shopping event of the year.

Cyber Monday

Not enough time to shop over the weekend? You can always use the internet to shop online. With Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, you can find the latest women’s pumps, jewelry, or dresses all at discounted price. Bookmark those online stores you love and wait for their promos this November 25 and enjoy your shoes delivered right on your doorstep.

Free Shipping Day

Do you usually hesitate to shop online because of the shipping fee? This is the day that is the best for you! On December 18, you can score great savings by shopping your favorite items online. Then you can just wait for the delivery of your shoes, sneakers, wholesale pumps or any kind of shoes you’re dying to buy for the year.

Don’t wait until the last minute before you do your shopping! Mark your calendar for these most awaited shopping holiday and enjoy buying your favorite shoes!

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Time Management Tips for Shoe Store Owners

As a small business owner, how do you really manage your time? Do you find yourself stuck with a long list of things to do but find so little time to fulfill those tasks? When you’re into managing your wholesale shoes business, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with a lot of things to do, but how you manage your time and how well you deal with everyday works will mean a lot to your success and growth.

At this of the year, the holiday rush will be kicking in and you need to come up with a way to effectively budget your time. Check out this list of things to do to manage your business.

1.     Set your goals and priorities

Listing down your goals gives your business a clear direction. It makes it easier for you to set up plans based on what you want to achieve for the month or for the whole year. It’s also important to set your priorities so you will know which projects need to be done first and how much time you have to allocate for the completion of a certain task.

2.     Delegate Tasks

There are reasons why we need to hire efficient employees. We need to delegate some tasks to make sure that each will be fulfilled effectively and on time. Assign different persons in your company to work on the projects you have in mind and talk to them about your plans and expectations. Remember that you don’t have to do everything to run your business. All you need is a great leadership skill and staff members who are willing to help you.

3.     Create routines

Determine the works that needs to be done daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly and create a system that will let you cover your tasks easily. Establish a process which you can easily follow day in and day out so you won’t forget anything. Schedule your day to day activities to monthly activities and include simple routines that will help you perform your job easier.

4.     Write it down

When our mind is full of worries, we tend to be forgetful of other things and focus ourselves on the things that concern us most. Avoid being stuck by writing down your plans, meetings, appointments with your wholesale women’s shoes suppliers and other stake holders to keep your mind clutter free all day.

5.     Be organized

Having a well organized store and work station lets you think clearly and work efficiently. Keep your store organized from your displays, inventory and stocks to make sure that all tasks can be fulfilled without unnecessary interruptions.

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Updating Your Shoe Inventory This Fall? Here are Some Quick Tips

Just few more months and the holiday rush will officially kick in. Ladies will start making their holiday wish list and moms will soon be buying gifts for the families and friends. But before we approach the busiest time of the year for retailers around the world, let us take the remaining days of September to jazz up your shoe store by updating your shoe inventory and display.

image from merchantcircle.com

Order in advance

As the trend changes, you want to make sure to be the first to offer the new styles of shoes to your customers. However, your competitors might be thinking of the same thing! Get ahead of the competition by calling your wholesale shoes suppliers about your orders. It’s also great to build a good business relationship with different suppliers to be constantly updated with the new items. This way you can make your order in advance and ask it to be delivered in time for your store update.

Clear off season shoes

As the weather gets colder, you won’t probably sell open toe shoes and other summery footwear. Make sure to get rid of them by putting them on sale or by creating a small space in your store for off season items.

Watch out for new trends

Fashion blogs, websites, celebrity shows, magazines and news are good sources information about the latest when it comes to shoe trends. This will help you get to know your products well and will help you understand what you’re customers are looking for. As you try to familiarize yourself with the different designs and colors that look fashionable this season, you can also learn more techniques on how you can sell it to your visitors.

Get trendy ones but keep the classics

Younger ladies will probably look for the latest in shoes, but older ladies will probably stick to something comfortable and familiar. Create a section where ladies can look at the latest in your store, but always have an area where women can find their most trusted brands and styles. You can order different types of wholesale shoes to create variety and to cater to wider customers in your store.

Take time to update your business before the holidays with these simple tips!

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Building a Good Business Relationship with Your Wholesale Shoes Supplier

Having a successful business is just a fruit of having a healthy relationship with your customers, your business partners as well as you suppliers. If you’re willing to communicate properly and engage with the people in your business, all the transactions within your company will be smooth and easy.

photo source: ellaandlouise.com

We all know how important it is to find professional and reliable wholesale shoes suppliers. But when you find supplier that is easy to work with and has the ability to deliver on time, you should know how to keep them and treat them like a rare treasure. Working hard in building a relationship with your suppliers can help you do more and succeed more in your shoe business.

Learn how to build a successful business relationship with your suppliers with these tips.

1. Keep communication lines open

1. It’s no surprise how words can make or break any kind of relationship including a business-supplier relationship. Make sure to establish a good communication between you and your sales person to minimize delays and other misunderstandings. Keep them on the loop about your key products, promos and new personnel.

2. Give reasonable lead time

2. It is always important to set realistic schedule and reasonable demands when transacting with your wholesale women’s shoes supplier. As much as possible, place your order in advance especially before the peak season. Keep them abreast with any significant changes and always try to be courteous when dealing with any supplier.

3. Pay on time

Being a good customer means paying your dues on time. This good habit can definitely build confidence between you and your suppliers. If you want to negotiate about payment terms, be honest and upfront about it. Doing this is better than playing games with your suppliers. If you know how to pay on time, your business partners will treat you with more confidence and work to give you what you need as much as possible.

Building a good business relationship with your suppliers is a good investment that can help you succeed in your business. Take time to communicate with your suppliers and address them with respect when it is due. These little efforts can come a long way in achieving your business goals.

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Increase Sales by Understanding this Season's Shoe Trends

If you’re going to look at lifestyle websites or popular fashion blogs you will notice how even weeks before next season begin, ladies are now looking at what’s going to be trendy and fashionable. Going with the trends give most ladies great satisfaction and self confidence that they often depend their choices to what is considered to be popular among ladies their age.

This customer behavior can affect the way things are done when it comes to business. For shoe retailers, for example, fashion trends can affect the business from the way you purchase wholesale shoes, to product pricing, down to promotional activities and advertising strategies. Trends have direct or indirect impact on your business and the sooner you understand it, the better you can use it to your advantage.

Trend Awareness

Fashion trends changes a lot depending on the season, popular events or special holidays. Keeping yourself well informed about the changes in style, designs or materials used in women’s shoes can help you make an informed decision when it comes to the products that you are selling.

The internet, particularly the social media is a great source of information about the latest in fashion industry. Observing what most women are wearing on the streets and to the workplace can help you have a better understanding of what customers what and need.

Trends and Competition

Having the ability to spot an on going trend can give you the edge against your competitors in shoe business and can increase customer loyalty in the long run. However, you should also learn to distinguish fads vs. trends. Investing on products based on fads can be detrimental for your business and would mean you have to sell some shoes at half the price by the time they don’t seem appealing to your customers anymore.

On the other hand, there are some fashion trends that are so popular that they become a must have for almost anyone. When this happen, it becomes an essential part of people’s wardrobe causing trends to last for months or even few years. This will give you a chance to sell a particular product in a long period of time.

If you are knowledgeable about certain fashion trend people will come up to you and will consider your store as the go to place for trendiest shoes. Keep yourself updated with trends and how it will affect the lifestyle of your costumers. This way you will find a way to create more income with the latest in fashion industry.   

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End Summer Season with a Bang: Tips on Having a Successful Clearance Sale

They say time flies when you’re having fun and when it comes to shoes, I’m sure our lady customers had a great time while traveling with their colorful sandals and comfy sneakers. But now that we only have few weeks left before summer is officially over, this is the best time to stir up your shoe business and prepare for another exciting season.

Before we officially bring in boots and sweaters, why not use the remaining sun shiny days to clear your shelves off the seasonal items. Prepare your store for an end of season sale or clearance sale as a way to move summer footwear but also as a way to treat your loyal customers.

To help you run a successful clearance sale, here are some quick tips that you can use.

1. Plan ahead

Consider the items that you want to put on sale and the best way to mark down its price. Create an inventory of all your seasonal wholesale shoes and think of a way to make it more appealing to customers. Also consider the terms of your discount sale, if it is open to every one or to just some of your customers who has a loyalty card. Consider the date of your clearance sale and make sure that it falls on a weekend closest to the payday to make sure that most of your customer can enjoy the discounted shoes.

2. Promote it through ads and social media

Let your customers know in advance about your upcoming clearance sale. This will create an anticipation among your customer and will give them enough time to save up money for brand new pair of shoes, make sure that your customers are well informed about it and encourage them to help spread out the word if ever possible.

3. Bundle dead inventory with good products

One key in making your clearance sale is having a bundle deal. Pair a slow moving item with your best sellers or bundle up two products and sell it at great discount. This will not only speed up sales but will also allow your customers to buy two shoes at the price of one.

End this season with a fun and exciting clearance sale!

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Challenge Accepted: Finding the Right Shoe for Your Customers

Women tend to buy shoes more than what they need, switch style based on the season and change preference as they age. These things make shoe buying experience exciting and daunting for some ladies. And when they need a new pair of shoes, they most likely need your help in finding the perfect fit.

As soon as a customer walks inside your store, you must put it as goal to find a shoe that will meet her needs and expectation. It is a challenge that should be met with enthusiasm and open minded. Start with making your store more shopping friendly by having easy to reach shoe shelves, chairs, sizing charts and mirrors. This way the customers will not be intimidated to step inside and give your shoes a try.

Start with a Clear Target Market

Aiming to find the perfect shoe for your customers means that you know and understand clearly who is your target market so you’ll able to present your shoes specifically for them. If you’re selling dress shoes or evening shoes, make sure that your store display is more classy and elegant. Or if you’re selling everyday wholesale casual shoes, make sure the lighting are brighter and the mood more relaxed. This will help you showcase your products to the right target market instead of having people look for everything in your store and ending up finding nothing.

Keep it Trendy

The next thing that you must consider in able to give your customer the best when it comes to their footwear is having the right products to sell in your store. It is important to keep your product inventory updated with the trends and equipped with the classics. If you have wide variety of wholesale women's shoes, it means you have greater chances of being able to provide for your customers.

Train Your Staff to Win

Being successful in anything requires training. And if you have a group of sales person running around your shoe store, it is important to make sure that they undergo extensive customer service program. This should give them a guideline on how to deal with customers even with the difficult ones. Knowledge is power so make sure that they clearly understand what they are selling including the terms, the basic shoe buying tips and feet measuring techniques.

Have Variety of Products

Having different sizes of the same style is a must for shoe stores but having some pairs that slightly differs from one another in style or materials also are a great thing. So the next time someone comes up to you and says she wants this pair of shoes but she can’t find the pair that fits her, you can instantly come up to her and suggest an alternative. If you can suggest different shoes for her, chances are she will buy more than one pair of shoes and that is a plus for your sales for that day.

With these techniques and the right training, you will soon be able to learn how to look for the right pair of shoes for your customers easily. In just a short while you’ll see improvement in your business and women will leave your store, walking happily with their new shoes.

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Why Helping Your Customers Find their Perfectly Fitted Shoes Matters

Let’s admit it. It’s never easy to find a pair of shoes that is perfectly fitted on our feet. In a shoe store, we often find women trying out different pairs of shoes looking for something that will fit their size, budget, lifestyle and preference. Often with a real intention of buying, they will ask for different styles, colors and sizes and look all over your store just to find “the one”. However, after all the fitting, they will somehow leave your store disheartened and empty handed.

This is where your ability as a shoe retailer comes in. You must realize that your success in this business comes in helping your customers find their best pair of shoes. While it is almost impossible to convince everyone who comes inside your shoe store to make a purchase, encouraging them and helping them find the right pair can absolutely help you create a name in this industry. But how important really is it to help your customers find the perfect fit?

Customer Service

Most of the times, ladies are willing to spend cash to their shoes and except for some budget conscious women, they are usually willing to pay for the shopping experience that they can get from a shoe store. So if you can offer the best customer service, chances are, women will prefer you over your competitors that sell cheaper shoes. Attend to their needs, answer their queries, deliver their items quickly and they will surely remember your little ways of serving them.

  

Brand Loyalty

Women will always look for style and comfort when it comes to their shoes. And if you’re able to help them find exactly just that, they will surely come back for more. As women realize the quality of your products and services, brand loyalty will be easily established. The best thing about is that, they can even recommend your store to their friends or family. Sooner or later, you will start to get to know your customers as they become your loyal. By this time, you'll be more able to help them in keeping their shoe collection fresh and updated.

More than the Purchase

As a shoe retailer, you must also remember that the products you sell will be a part of your customers’ daily activities. They will walk in their sneakers, dress with their evening pumps or go to work in their wedges. Making your staff understand this will make them help your customers not just for the sake of higher sales but out of genuine concern. Once your customer feels that you know how to value your patrons, they will definitely come back the next time they need to shop for shoes.

So the next time someone walks in your store, try your best to find the pair that will actually be useful for your customers. Soon, all the efforts will pay off an you will see the result of unparalleled shopping experience.

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7 Habits of a Successful Shoe Store Retailer

Fashion is fickle, they say, so if you’re going to engage in this business, you must be prepared to face the craziness and fast paced changes of the shoe industry. As a retailer, and most probably an owner of your own shoe store, there are a lot of things that you should practice in order to survive the difficulties of this industry.

successful retailer understand the needs of the customers 

Examine yourself and see if you really have what it takes to make it big in this business.

Here are some of the best qualities of a successful shoe retailer.

Knows how to set realistic goals and works on achieving it

One of the most common mistakes of an entrepreneur is setting unrealistic goals from her business and from the people within the team. Spend some time to research about the factors that affect your business and base your goals on those findings. It is okay to aim high but not knowing when it is too much can cause disappointments and can also harm your business.

Can easily recognize opportunities and threats

The ability to spot opportunities based on trends in wholesale women’s shoes, change in season or significant events is the best advantage an entrepreneur can have against her competitors. Make yourself receptive with the wants and needs of your costumers and take it as an opportunity to serve them with your products. Likewise, if you are updated with the external factors, such as economy, that may affect your business in a negative way, you can be more ready in facing any challenges that you’re company will have.

Has the sense of ambition and self motivation

When things don’t go as planned and business is a little slow, a true businesswoman knows how to stay motivated and keep her eye on the goal.  A person who wants to be truly successful is driven and is absolutely sure about the things she wants to achieve in terms of sales and marketing.

Able to accept failure and move on as soon as possible

Nothing is entirely sure in business and everything is a gamble that people take in order to make it big in the industry. As a beginner, you’re going to experience a lot of difficulties and disappointments in your endeavor. However, these failures can lead you to discoveries that will let you avoid the same situation in the future. Being able to quickly pick up valuable lessons and move on from an unwanted incident will help you keep your cool as you look forward to the next opportunity.

Promotes Accountability and Integrity among staff members

When a customer complains about a purchase or someone is unhappy about the service rendered by your store, it is essential to uphold accountability among your staff members at all times. Remember that everyone should be responsible in making your customer’s satisfied and that everyone should realize that they have a role in making this business a success.

Can fully understand the need of the customers

Sometimes a customer will step inside your store not knowing exactly what they want or need. They may even be unsure about their right shoe size and may have difficulty trying to find a perfect fit. This is where the ability to listen and understand takes in. A passionate shoe retailer is willing to go extra mile for her customers. She makes sure that everyone who steps inside her store won’t leave without a pair of wholesale shoes on their hands and being happy about it.

At the end of the day, it’s all about who loves this industry the most and those who are willing to continuously adapt to the changes in the market. Fashion is fickle, they say, but if you really love what you do and you have these traits, you are surely closer to achieving your dreams as a shoe retailer.

photo from thetimes.co.uk 

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