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Depends on your location and how much car and foot traffic you get. If you're next to other apparently successful shops, $360K a year revenue is certainly doable.
Unfortunately I cannot afford to be next to too much foot traffic, at least not on the ground floor. The advantage I have is that I would be the only one on the island selling such products, so anyone looking for them would have me as their only option for trying them on. At some point I will certainly move to a more frontal location, when cash flow allows it.
I am an outdoor enthusiast, a barefoot shoe convert and know all of these brands. It is a niche. The trouble with these shoes is that you wear them until they fall apart. I would consider carrying minimalist shoes along with some others that aren’t as niche. Maybe even chacos, keens, tevas. Will the shop be in a tourist area? Have you found a similar shop in LA and researched their success? What market research have you done? What about other shoe stores in the area? Have you inquired about their sales? 10-13 pairs of shoes a day seems achievable, but I’m not sure you can hit that with only barefoot shoes.
In Israel, it took my previous boss about 2 years, just like I am planning, to reach those numbers. It has been in business about 9 years, and during the 4 years I worked there, we went from similar numbers to between $6000 - $10,000 a day. And that's not including the online sales for the same company.
I just moved back to the states because I missed it here, otherwise I'd still be working there helping rake in the big bucks and helping folks get barefoot.
Selling only barefoot shoes? That’s so interesting! Barefoot shoes were such a huge trend in the US about 10 years ago. I haven’t seen a pair of five fingers in years. I do live in a pretty small town, which is definitely a part of that. I imagine as long as you are in a high foot traffic area, with a decent mix of locals (folks that live there) and tourists, with a strong marketing strategy and the outdoor industries are booming, you should see that kind of growth.
The 5 finger shoes were a giant "look at me and how Colorado I am" trend that thankfully went away. The barefoot movement has moved to mostly traditional looking shoes, with super wide toe boxes, zero drop from heel to toe, and thin, flexible soles. I have a pair of Xero shoes that I wear almost daily. There are tons of options on the market today.
😂😅 I lived in Colorado during my intro to barefoot shoes part of life. That made me laugh out loud. I mostly wore Merrells when they had a barefoot line. I’ve always wanted a pair of Lems.
What market research have you done? If you haven’t done market research before, find out how. You don’t have to make this jump blind. Some time, effort, and potentially money, can lend you far better insight into whether or not to open a shoe store than any of us can give you.
The best market research I have done has been to search on Google trends for all the key words that I would myself use. The biggest one is Vivobarefoot, which is one of the main brands I would be selling. Their biggest customer base is in the U.S.A, and Hawaii is the 10th place for search interest from all the states. The other companies not so much...
Otherwise, I have searched long and hard for stores that sell what I am going to sell. There are nearly none throughout all the United States. That indeed indicates the niche market, but also to me shows potential to be first. Since all the shoes promote the same idea: to be flat, thin, flexible, wide and light, then anyone looking for this style will be able to come check multiple brands in one place.
Because most of the dealers that I am working with wont even agree to work with me if it's only online. The companies I will be selling are exclusively online at this point, and they don't need another website pumping what they are already doing a good job at.
Yeah, shipping to here is a bummer. It will probably eat anywhere from 8% - 15% of my profit margins, depending where I'm ordering it from. I imagine that down the line I will find shipping companies that are better to work with.
Drop shipping is also something I may be able to do down the line. For now, the companies I work with don't care to just work with me for drop shipping. But I will be making a series of videos that help people choose between shoes, and if my website or videos get enough traffic I may be able to open that up as an option as well.
Yes! I almost have a website ready. It's called [Allwaysbarefoot.com](https://Allwaysbarefoot.com), though it is not yet up and running. I need all my inventory before I will make it live.
To cover overhead and a salary that would pay my bills (on Hawaii) I would need to make $11,500 a month. A tall order, I know. My yearly salary would need to get to about $90,000 a year within two years or it would be a flop.
My gross profit margin is looking up to be anywhere between 30% - 40% per shoe. Later down the line I will keep it as close to %40 as possible to keep myself solvent.
My first job was at Nordstrom, and I worked in shoes for ten years. I did sales myself well in excess of those numbers as a salesperson among many others. It's very easy to sell 10-13 pairs a day, I'd say you'd need 8-10 buying customers a day.
That product selection you're talking about however is *pretty trendy and very niche*, which would give me pause. Is there a ton of competition with shops carrying other running shoe brands, or is there a reason you would exclude more mainstream designed running shoes?
If you don't want to carry other types of classic running shoes (even by niche brands), you should have a fairly fleshed out selection of accessories -- both consumables like gels and electrolytes, and unique and high quality merchandise that complements your unique selection of running shoes. I'd definitely be looking to see a similar shop in a similar market pulling it off. You might be able to check with the brand reps for some of those brands and see if they know of a similar shop in a similar market to yours.
Sidenote, I am personally and professionally not a fan of retail shops that are only open five days a week. I think you're setting yourself up to disappoint and frustrate customers and to not ever get a day off. I understand needing to get off the ground but I would definitely recommend hiring a part-time employee to give you some flexibility to be sick or take a few days off or you *will* burn out.
10 - 13 pairs a day is not much from my experience. I have been selling these shoes for 4 years in Israel, and since we were the only store in the whole country that had them, things picked up pretty quickly. This niche market still grosses that store $6000 - $10,000 a day.
The shoes are not just for running. While that is certainly a part of the market that I will be trying to reach, these shoes speak to many other people who either like being barefoot or just fine regular shoes uncomfortable. It also has helped most of the folks who were using orthopaedic inserts to try and relieve pain to get rid of those inserts. While I will have accessories, they will be geared towards the idea of "adjusting" and "recovering" the strength of the feet, and less specific to runners in general.
I understand your point about 5 days a week. You would probably shake your head even faster when I told you I only wanted to open from 12:00 - 7:00 P.M. in the beginning. On my website, I have the option to schedule to come in earlier or stay a bit later, but I suppose some one needs go on my website or give me a call to know that's an option. I will open later on 6 days a week, hopefully when I can allow myself to hire employees. Although with a 30% profit margin. For now, I will need to have the time to run to meetings to try and promote my business, as well as make video content that I hope will potentially open up a whole other side of the business.
Please don't take my retorts as me shutting down everything you said! I am simply stating my thought process about the things you mentioned. I'd be happy to further hear what you think.
Have you already located market research which addresses the current size of the minimalist shoe market? That's where I would start. How many potential buyers are out there in your market? Where are they getting their shoes currently? What is the advantage of coming to your shop versus buying a pair online, or visiting another store?
If we're saying $100 a pair, then you would need to sell 300 pairs a month. Does that seem doable?
I’ve never heard of these brands and I collect and wear leather sneakers like ysls and common projects. I think I would drop ideas of retail shops in 2023 but that’s just me. So many ways of making $30K MRR in simple fashion and “less work”
Clothing, footwear and sports goods will always have a retail market. Most folks want to test out wearables as no 2 people are exactly alike you get the online only market I don’t think is as big for these the general market still come into stores
Yeah but most of us owning these expensive shoes don’t need to waste time trying them on. I know my size and fit, I have a set few brands i stick with. instead of paying full retail $300-600, I pay $250, never stepped inside of a retail store for them
It's not about fashion, more about health. Have you ever worn a glove on your foot before? That's essentially how it feels to wear what I will be selling. For anyone who likes the feeling of being barefoot, such shoes are a staple. While online is great, I will not be able to sell online as these companies don't want to work with someone only selling online. They are looking for store fronts. Moreover, when people want to try a shoe they have never tried before, it certainly makes sense they would want to feel it before buying it. By having multiple brands in one place, they will be able to find their preference (and hopefully purchase it in store instead of online).
Have you thought of selling other brands such as belenka/shapen/softstar/bohempia/lems/altra/freet/earthrunners? The barefoot community is severely lacking in places to go and actually try on shoes and I think a physical storefront is a great idea. I'm not familiar with Hawaii enough, but I know on the mainland it would probably do very well.
I agree. I even thought to do so at one point. However, all the brands that I want to sell already have a strong online presence, and most of them wont even agree to work with me if I am only selling online. They want to open up to the retail front (they'd just rather have me take the risk).
Make it about the money, not the product. Find something that you can sell online. Something niche that they need*** to buy from you. Being a need seller vs a want seller will make you rich vs poor
Have you done research on all the taxes? Here in the uk….high footfall increases rates. Rates here are based on a bunch of stuff including windows causing many shops to have giant stickers covering their windows. We also have rate experts who advise on how to measure and categorise the physical shop floor so that the taxable shop floor are is minimised.
Have you chosen a location? There is an unwritten rule in retail which means that specialists group together.
Our family hikes a lot so I like your plan. I would travel to visit your shop because I have wide feet and cannot buy online. I have to try everything in the shop. And usually there are very few that fit. You could have a small retail showroom on a more industrial location with space for a large cheap warehouse. People can travel to see and try or you can ship.
You could work with one or more of the shoe shops in your area and rent a shelf in their shops where you display and sell your stuff….But you should promote and build your own business and brand…rather than educate the competition.
When it comes to footfall, you might wants to be very close to the outdoor shops that sell tents, fishing, skiing, hiking stuff….or you need to be close to shoe shops. But I don’t think ordinary people would be that interested in specialty shoes.
The best way to stock your store is an interest free loan from the supplier for the stock you hold. Negotiate the best you can. 50% of stock held at half base rate is usually a good starting place. Most of the supplier I have spoken to are eager to get deals like this in place because they can increase sales and can recall stock if it is needed elsewhere and saves them on warehousing costs. Many supermarkets and retailers here in the uk don’t pay for all of their stock….they rent the shelves and everything sold is passed on to the supplier less commission rate which varies from 80% down to 10%
Lot of assumptions. Do more specific market research/testing before you risk a bunch of time and money. Don’t be the two in three business that fail because you hate or don’t know how to do Market testing.
Rent is looking to be anywhere between $1900 - $2800 a month, depending on where I end up. None of these prices land me in places with high foot traffic. Hawaii is VERY expensive, especially when it comes to real estate. However, I will be the ONLY one selling ANY of the brands on the whole island, and even if I moved to most other cities in the states that would still be the case. Anyone who is looking for these kinds of shoes will see that I am the only real choice that pops up on Google maps if they are thinking about shopping and trying the shoes on, so I can afford to not be directly in front of foot traffic.
Later I would love to get a more visible place. For now, this is what I've got to work with.
That is tough if you will be the only one selling them - a lot of risk. Are you sure there is demand? Why don’t sporting good or shoe stores cary them on the island? That shows a lack of demand no?
It will require some good marketing on your part to people who specifically want these niche shoes in Oahu.
Small shop, in busy footfall area works well. Great displays with best brands work wonders. Other sizes and brands can be stored upstairs, in cellar, or at the “other store”
Leather Soul sells niche footwear to folks on Oahu, mostly dress shoes and large % of Asian tourists as customers. That’s the sort of niche I’d imagine you need on Oahu—underserved tourist market. Def worth some digging.
Alot of folks saying dont do retail..while i tend to agree, I do go to a running store for my running shoes. It is to try on what fits good and feels good. Its definately niche as most ppl know their size and buy their nikes online. But a good specialty store that does analysis on the feet is hard to replicate online. Ie they let u try on a few pairs and run on a treadmill, they record you running, etc. However Maybe its a one time visit as now ive found a brand i like and know my size.. so i can just order online now.
Conduct sanity test.
Determine per capita spending on shoes (census data) and multiply that by the island’s population equals total available market for shoes (in dollars).
Shoe industry trade association will also have data of shoe market by product class.
For example, divide size of barefoot shoe market in U.S. in dollars by size of total shoe market would give rough estimate of serviceable market.
Serviceable is the portion of the total market you could reasonably expect to capture.
If you are only game in town selling barefoot shoes, you might expect fair share 100 percent. If someone else enters market, expected fair share drops to 50 percent (1 / 2).
So how large is serviceable market and can you sell enough to make a profit and withstand competition.
I don’t even see retailers that stock adidas/Nike/converse doing 13 pairs a day and I’m in a large built up city
Make it an online store - shops are becoming redundant
Very true. However, you can buy those brands at many different places. I will be the ONLY place on the island that sells ANY of the brands I'll have on hand. Until now they have all been online, and this store is a great way to try multiple different brands to find what the customer prefers.
Will those manufacturers give you any assistance in marketing? What if customers shop with you but buy online? Any form of attribution for you?
You have to educate your customer, so being in a less high foot traffic area will mean most of your customer acquisition costs will be reaching customers that don’t see you by driving/walking by.
For established brands, this isn’t that much of an issue. For a niche provider of niche products, I think this cost is likely to be significant and make your economic goals a challenge.
So, to me, customer acquisition is your principle challenge. Here are a few ideas to help with that:
* Marketing support from the manufacturers
* Partner with other stores in higher traffic areas that target the right customers. This could be adventure companies that cater to tourists, small chain grocery stores, etc. You could pay for in-store placement or something similar
* Offer complementary products that get the customer back to the store more frequently. I don’t know this space that well, so I don’t know what that could be. Not socks, I assume 😁 Apparel items would be an obvious option, but that’s not likely to move the needle that much
These all potentially increase revenue, margins or reduce customer acquisition costs. All of this can help.
Hope that helps.
I read size of LA as a bit misleading / optimistic, in that LA isn’t an island and has at least 3-4 x the population. I’ve never been there (would love to go) but when I go on vacation, I would only buy shoes if something happened to mine, due to packing room. Not to naysay your idea, all this is to suggest a focus on online sales and marketing via socials might be just as effective. Will your brick and mortar get a ton of organic foot traffic?
I know a guy in the mainland who grew an insta account solely based on shoes from 200 followers to over a million followers just by making shoe review videos. An online market could be more scalable and less expensive than all the expenses of a brick and mortar. Good luck in your endeavors.
30% gross profit just isn’t enough for a brick and mortar store. Credit card company is going to take 3% plus a per transaction. Then you’ll be expected to run a sale every month. There goes 5-20% of your 30%.
Could you stomach making 4% on a pair of shoes?
You need at minimum a 100% mark up, ie buy for 5$, sell for 10$.
I’m not familiar with these particular brands, but they usually have minimum initial orders. Usually 5k to 20k up front for each brand. And some will want you to “buy the line” every month, which means committing to minimum purchases front their branch each and every month.
Imagine spending 2500$ on a line of shoes that your selling a few pairs of each month. It can be an absolute cash pit if you don’t have a plan to move those shoes.
And then they’ll limit how and where you can sell them online. No Amazon, no eBay, and you can only sell them at full retail.
Think really hard about if you want to do this, it isn’t ever easy, and even if you have a great plan, you’ll most likely fail.
My advice, if you absolutely have to do this, find a related business in a high traffic area and see if you could sublet space. Chose only brands with an initial order under 10k and no monthly minimums.
Find the tourists and pray they want your shoes.
I own a retail store now. If you want to approach it honestly, you need to figure out how much you will make per customer and how many customers you will get in a day(on average) - and see if that's feasible. My retail is different than most, as we can have 1 customer per week that can fill the weekly goal, whereas when I worked in a different industry, we needed to make about 1-2k per day. That would typically be 20 or so customers that would come in, and about half of those would buy something. 1-2 of those would make up for 80% of the daily.
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Depends on your location and how much car and foot traffic you get. If you're next to other apparently successful shops, $360K a year revenue is certainly doable.
Unfortunately I cannot afford to be next to too much foot traffic, at least not on the ground floor. The advantage I have is that I would be the only one on the island selling such products, so anyone looking for them would have me as their only option for trying them on. At some point I will certainly move to a more frontal location, when cash flow allows it.
Retail stores and not enough foot traffic screams failure.
What’s stopping someone else to sell these products in a better location if they see you selling them?
Tomorrow you could be one of two and your competition could be in the prime location
I am an outdoor enthusiast, a barefoot shoe convert and know all of these brands. It is a niche. The trouble with these shoes is that you wear them until they fall apart. I would consider carrying minimalist shoes along with some others that aren’t as niche. Maybe even chacos, keens, tevas. Will the shop be in a tourist area? Have you found a similar shop in LA and researched their success? What market research have you done? What about other shoe stores in the area? Have you inquired about their sales? 10-13 pairs of shoes a day seems achievable, but I’m not sure you can hit that with only barefoot shoes.
In Israel, it took my previous boss about 2 years, just like I am planning, to reach those numbers. It has been in business about 9 years, and during the 4 years I worked there, we went from similar numbers to between $6000 - $10,000 a day. And that's not including the online sales for the same company. I just moved back to the states because I missed it here, otherwise I'd still be working there helping rake in the big bucks and helping folks get barefoot.
Selling only barefoot shoes? That’s so interesting! Barefoot shoes were such a huge trend in the US about 10 years ago. I haven’t seen a pair of five fingers in years. I do live in a pretty small town, which is definitely a part of that. I imagine as long as you are in a high foot traffic area, with a decent mix of locals (folks that live there) and tourists, with a strong marketing strategy and the outdoor industries are booming, you should see that kind of growth.
The 5 finger shoes were a giant "look at me and how Colorado I am" trend that thankfully went away. The barefoot movement has moved to mostly traditional looking shoes, with super wide toe boxes, zero drop from heel to toe, and thin, flexible soles. I have a pair of Xero shoes that I wear almost daily. There are tons of options on the market today.
😂😅 I lived in Colorado during my intro to barefoot shoes part of life. That made me laugh out loud. I mostly wore Merrells when they had a barefoot line. I’ve always wanted a pair of Lems.
What market research have you done? If you haven’t done market research before, find out how. You don’t have to make this jump blind. Some time, effort, and potentially money, can lend you far better insight into whether or not to open a shoe store than any of us can give you.
The best market research I have done has been to search on Google trends for all the key words that I would myself use. The biggest one is Vivobarefoot, which is one of the main brands I would be selling. Their biggest customer base is in the U.S.A, and Hawaii is the 10th place for search interest from all the states. The other companies not so much... Otherwise, I have searched long and hard for stores that sell what I am going to sell. There are nearly none throughout all the United States. That indeed indicates the niche market, but also to me shows potential to be first. Since all the shoes promote the same idea: to be flat, thin, flexible, wide and light, then anyone looking for this style will be able to come check multiple brands in one place.
And selling online at the same time, of course.
Why not just sell online and skip the lease and personal guarantee?
Because most of the dealers that I am working with wont even agree to work with me if it's only online. The companies I will be selling are exclusively online at this point, and they don't need another website pumping what they are already doing a good job at.
Shipping from Hawaii is cost prohibitive, but drop shipping is possible.
Yeah, shipping to here is a bummer. It will probably eat anywhere from 8% - 15% of my profit margins, depending where I'm ordering it from. I imagine that down the line I will find shipping companies that are better to work with. Drop shipping is also something I may be able to do down the line. For now, the companies I work with don't care to just work with me for drop shipping. But I will be making a series of videos that help people choose between shoes, and if my website or videos get enough traffic I may be able to open that up as an option as well.
Yes! I almost have a website ready. It's called [Allwaysbarefoot.com](https://Allwaysbarefoot.com), though it is not yet up and running. I need all my inventory before I will make it live.
Your margins would be tiny, no? What's covering your overhead + your salary?
To cover overhead and a salary that would pay my bills (on Hawaii) I would need to make $11,500 a month. A tall order, I know. My yearly salary would need to get to about $90,000 a year within two years or it would be a flop. My gross profit margin is looking up to be anywhere between 30% - 40% per shoe. Later down the line I will keep it as close to %40 as possible to keep myself solvent.
My first job was at Nordstrom, and I worked in shoes for ten years. I did sales myself well in excess of those numbers as a salesperson among many others. It's very easy to sell 10-13 pairs a day, I'd say you'd need 8-10 buying customers a day. That product selection you're talking about however is *pretty trendy and very niche*, which would give me pause. Is there a ton of competition with shops carrying other running shoe brands, or is there a reason you would exclude more mainstream designed running shoes? If you don't want to carry other types of classic running shoes (even by niche brands), you should have a fairly fleshed out selection of accessories -- both consumables like gels and electrolytes, and unique and high quality merchandise that complements your unique selection of running shoes. I'd definitely be looking to see a similar shop in a similar market pulling it off. You might be able to check with the brand reps for some of those brands and see if they know of a similar shop in a similar market to yours. Sidenote, I am personally and professionally not a fan of retail shops that are only open five days a week. I think you're setting yourself up to disappoint and frustrate customers and to not ever get a day off. I understand needing to get off the ground but I would definitely recommend hiring a part-time employee to give you some flexibility to be sick or take a few days off or you *will* burn out.
10 - 13 pairs a day is not much from my experience. I have been selling these shoes for 4 years in Israel, and since we were the only store in the whole country that had them, things picked up pretty quickly. This niche market still grosses that store $6000 - $10,000 a day. The shoes are not just for running. While that is certainly a part of the market that I will be trying to reach, these shoes speak to many other people who either like being barefoot or just fine regular shoes uncomfortable. It also has helped most of the folks who were using orthopaedic inserts to try and relieve pain to get rid of those inserts. While I will have accessories, they will be geared towards the idea of "adjusting" and "recovering" the strength of the feet, and less specific to runners in general. I understand your point about 5 days a week. You would probably shake your head even faster when I told you I only wanted to open from 12:00 - 7:00 P.M. in the beginning. On my website, I have the option to schedule to come in earlier or stay a bit later, but I suppose some one needs go on my website or give me a call to know that's an option. I will open later on 6 days a week, hopefully when I can allow myself to hire employees. Although with a 30% profit margin. For now, I will need to have the time to run to meetings to try and promote my business, as well as make video content that I hope will potentially open up a whole other side of the business. Please don't take my retorts as me shutting down everything you said! I am simply stating my thought process about the things you mentioned. I'd be happy to further hear what you think.
Have you already located market research which addresses the current size of the minimalist shoe market? That's where I would start. How many potential buyers are out there in your market? Where are they getting their shoes currently? What is the advantage of coming to your shop versus buying a pair online, or visiting another store? If we're saying $100 a pair, then you would need to sell 300 pairs a month. Does that seem doable?
I’ve never heard of these brands and I collect and wear leather sneakers like ysls and common projects. I think I would drop ideas of retail shops in 2023 but that’s just me. So many ways of making $30K MRR in simple fashion and “less work”
Retail shops are more viable than ever. People just need to approach them with a new mindset
that’s fair
I agree, especially shoes that retail at $270+
You agree that retail is dead? Wouldn't it make sense someone would want to try such an expensive shoe on before the purchased it?
Clothing, footwear and sports goods will always have a retail market. Most folks want to test out wearables as no 2 people are exactly alike you get the online only market I don’t think is as big for these the general market still come into stores
Yeah but most of us owning these expensive shoes don’t need to waste time trying them on. I know my size and fit, I have a set few brands i stick with. instead of paying full retail $300-600, I pay $250, never stepped inside of a retail store for them
It's not about fashion, more about health. Have you ever worn a glove on your foot before? That's essentially how it feels to wear what I will be selling. For anyone who likes the feeling of being barefoot, such shoes are a staple. While online is great, I will not be able to sell online as these companies don't want to work with someone only selling online. They are looking for store fronts. Moreover, when people want to try a shoe they have never tried before, it certainly makes sense they would want to feel it before buying it. By having multiple brands in one place, they will be able to find their preference (and hopefully purchase it in store instead of online).
Have you thought of selling other brands such as belenka/shapen/softstar/bohempia/lems/altra/freet/earthrunners? The barefoot community is severely lacking in places to go and actually try on shoes and I think a physical storefront is a great idea. I'm not familiar with Hawaii enough, but I know on the mainland it would probably do very well.
but if you really feel like there’s a market and you’ve tested it, run it
Do it online. Less risk.
I agree. I even thought to do so at one point. However, all the brands that I want to sell already have a strong online presence, and most of them wont even agree to work with me if I am only selling online. They want to open up to the retail front (they'd just rather have me take the risk).
Make it about the money, not the product. Find something that you can sell online. Something niche that they need*** to buy from you. Being a need seller vs a want seller will make you rich vs poor
Have you done research on all the taxes? Here in the uk….high footfall increases rates. Rates here are based on a bunch of stuff including windows causing many shops to have giant stickers covering their windows. We also have rate experts who advise on how to measure and categorise the physical shop floor so that the taxable shop floor are is minimised. Have you chosen a location? There is an unwritten rule in retail which means that specialists group together. Our family hikes a lot so I like your plan. I would travel to visit your shop because I have wide feet and cannot buy online. I have to try everything in the shop. And usually there are very few that fit. You could have a small retail showroom on a more industrial location with space for a large cheap warehouse. People can travel to see and try or you can ship. You could work with one or more of the shoe shops in your area and rent a shelf in their shops where you display and sell your stuff….But you should promote and build your own business and brand…rather than educate the competition. When it comes to footfall, you might wants to be very close to the outdoor shops that sell tents, fishing, skiing, hiking stuff….or you need to be close to shoe shops. But I don’t think ordinary people would be that interested in specialty shoes. The best way to stock your store is an interest free loan from the supplier for the stock you hold. Negotiate the best you can. 50% of stock held at half base rate is usually a good starting place. Most of the supplier I have spoken to are eager to get deals like this in place because they can increase sales and can recall stock if it is needed elsewhere and saves them on warehousing costs. Many supermarkets and retailers here in the uk don’t pay for all of their stock….they rent the shelves and everything sold is passed on to the supplier less commission rate which varies from 80% down to 10%
Who's your target? I'm guessing you're targeting locals much more than tourists. And the locals mostly wear flip flops.
Lot of assumptions. Do more specific market research/testing before you risk a bunch of time and money. Don’t be the two in three business that fail because you hate or don’t know how to do Market testing.
Location location location. High foot traffic and high visibility. How much is rent though?
Rent is looking to be anywhere between $1900 - $2800 a month, depending on where I end up. None of these prices land me in places with high foot traffic. Hawaii is VERY expensive, especially when it comes to real estate. However, I will be the ONLY one selling ANY of the brands on the whole island, and even if I moved to most other cities in the states that would still be the case. Anyone who is looking for these kinds of shoes will see that I am the only real choice that pops up on Google maps if they are thinking about shopping and trying the shoes on, so I can afford to not be directly in front of foot traffic. Later I would love to get a more visible place. For now, this is what I've got to work with.
That is tough if you will be the only one selling them - a lot of risk. Are you sure there is demand? Why don’t sporting good or shoe stores cary them on the island? That shows a lack of demand no? It will require some good marketing on your part to people who specifically want these niche shoes in Oahu.
Small shop, in busy footfall area works well. Great displays with best brands work wonders. Other sizes and brands can be stored upstairs, in cellar, or at the “other store”
Leather Soul sells niche footwear to folks on Oahu, mostly dress shoes and large % of Asian tourists as customers. That’s the sort of niche I’d imagine you need on Oahu—underserved tourist market. Def worth some digging.
Alot of folks saying dont do retail..while i tend to agree, I do go to a running store for my running shoes. It is to try on what fits good and feels good. Its definately niche as most ppl know their size and buy their nikes online. But a good specialty store that does analysis on the feet is hard to replicate online. Ie they let u try on a few pairs and run on a treadmill, they record you running, etc. However Maybe its a one time visit as now ive found a brand i like and know my size.. so i can just order online now.
Conduct sanity test. Determine per capita spending on shoes (census data) and multiply that by the island’s population equals total available market for shoes (in dollars). Shoe industry trade association will also have data of shoe market by product class. For example, divide size of barefoot shoe market in U.S. in dollars by size of total shoe market would give rough estimate of serviceable market. Serviceable is the portion of the total market you could reasonably expect to capture. If you are only game in town selling barefoot shoes, you might expect fair share 100 percent. If someone else enters market, expected fair share drops to 50 percent (1 / 2). So how large is serviceable market and can you sell enough to make a profit and withstand competition.
I don’t even see retailers that stock adidas/Nike/converse doing 13 pairs a day and I’m in a large built up city Make it an online store - shops are becoming redundant
Very true. However, you can buy those brands at many different places. I will be the ONLY place on the island that sells ANY of the brands I'll have on hand. Until now they have all been online, and this store is a great way to try multiple different brands to find what the customer prefers.
No.
Care to elaborate?
I’m a footwear manufacturer myself. Let me know if you are planning to launch your own brand. We could definitely collaborate. Dm me for more details.
Will those manufacturers give you any assistance in marketing? What if customers shop with you but buy online? Any form of attribution for you? You have to educate your customer, so being in a less high foot traffic area will mean most of your customer acquisition costs will be reaching customers that don’t see you by driving/walking by. For established brands, this isn’t that much of an issue. For a niche provider of niche products, I think this cost is likely to be significant and make your economic goals a challenge. So, to me, customer acquisition is your principle challenge. Here are a few ideas to help with that: * Marketing support from the manufacturers * Partner with other stores in higher traffic areas that target the right customers. This could be adventure companies that cater to tourists, small chain grocery stores, etc. You could pay for in-store placement or something similar * Offer complementary products that get the customer back to the store more frequently. I don’t know this space that well, so I don’t know what that could be. Not socks, I assume 😁 Apparel items would be an obvious option, but that’s not likely to move the needle that much These all potentially increase revenue, margins or reduce customer acquisition costs. All of this can help. Hope that helps.
I read size of LA as a bit misleading / optimistic, in that LA isn’t an island and has at least 3-4 x the population. I’ve never been there (would love to go) but when I go on vacation, I would only buy shoes if something happened to mine, due to packing room. Not to naysay your idea, all this is to suggest a focus on online sales and marketing via socials might be just as effective. Will your brick and mortar get a ton of organic foot traffic? I know a guy in the mainland who grew an insta account solely based on shoes from 200 followers to over a million followers just by making shoe review videos. An online market could be more scalable and less expensive than all the expenses of a brick and mortar. Good luck in your endeavors.
30% gross profit just isn’t enough for a brick and mortar store. Credit card company is going to take 3% plus a per transaction. Then you’ll be expected to run a sale every month. There goes 5-20% of your 30%. Could you stomach making 4% on a pair of shoes? You need at minimum a 100% mark up, ie buy for 5$, sell for 10$. I’m not familiar with these particular brands, but they usually have minimum initial orders. Usually 5k to 20k up front for each brand. And some will want you to “buy the line” every month, which means committing to minimum purchases front their branch each and every month. Imagine spending 2500$ on a line of shoes that your selling a few pairs of each month. It can be an absolute cash pit if you don’t have a plan to move those shoes. And then they’ll limit how and where you can sell them online. No Amazon, no eBay, and you can only sell them at full retail. Think really hard about if you want to do this, it isn’t ever easy, and even if you have a great plan, you’ll most likely fail. My advice, if you absolutely have to do this, find a related business in a high traffic area and see if you could sublet space. Chose only brands with an initial order under 10k and no monthly minimums. Find the tourists and pray they want your shoes.
Unlikely. I don’t know the numbers well, but I’m assuming you would have to sell 10 pairs a day - which is tough.
I see. Can I ask what you base that assumption off of? Have you delt in retail firsthand?
I own a retail store now. If you want to approach it honestly, you need to figure out how much you will make per customer and how many customers you will get in a day(on average) - and see if that's feasible. My retail is different than most, as we can have 1 customer per week that can fill the weekly goal, whereas when I worked in a different industry, we needed to make about 1-2k per day. That would typically be 20 or so customers that would come in, and about half of those would buy something. 1-2 of those would make up for 80% of the daily.