Shoes are everyday life apparel and a showcase of our style and identity.
The market trend for shoes has soared in recent years, adapting to the unlimited customization options offered by Print On Demand technology.
Here are the basic steps that teach you how to sell Print on Demand shoes:
- Niche Brainstorming
- Choose The Custom Product
- Create A Unique Design
- Sell Your Shoes
We will talk about this as it follows but first we wanted to show you some stats.
What About The Shoe Industry?
The shoe industry is the second most important segment of the entire fashion market.
Customizable shoes can be of any kind: from simple running sneakers, to work shoes, to hiking boots, to more luxury products.
Your store should definitely provide them, simply because they are largely used on a daily basis.
Suffice it to say that, in 2019 alone, the sales volume has been around 400 billion dollars, with an expected growth of 5% per year. This soaring expansion was made possible by the print-on-demand development, which allowed the creation and customization of every kind of product, following the fashion trend of the moment.
How To Create A Shoe Store
As we know, the necessary steps to run an online store are: choose a niche, create a brand, select the provider (a Print on Demand one in this case), and, finally, promote the product.
We will analyze them as follows.
Niche Brainstorming
The niche is that market segment filled by passionate people who are attracted by a specific hobby or a product.
To choose one, you have to make extensive market research and discover what their needs and main tastes are.
Later on, you can focus on creating tailored products of their liking, including shoes.
For this purpose, we recommend visiting worldwide marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, or Alibaba, to get some inspiration for the current trend, both in terms of product and design.
Then select the ones you think are more suitable for your niche.
Choose The Custom Product
Luckily, today it’s not difficult to find custom shoes in common Print on Demand platforms.
From simple sneakers to boots until slippers, the products you could choose from are wide.
Dare to choose one or two of those and center your store around them.
Create A Unique Design
Once you’ve achieved the previous steps, it’s time to create your unique design. You could perhaps ask professionals to help you or manually try to make it on your own, with free/paid software.
Many solutions are depending on your availability of time and money.
What is important is to generate a unique and professional design for your shoes.
Sell Your Shoes
The last step is choosing the right distribution channel for your sales.
If your focus is on dropshipping, we can not mention Shopify, the largest e-commerce platform in the world.
With Shopify, you have the opportunity to create your own store with a real domain name, and customize it according to your preferences.
You may not have your own store, but, unlike Shopify, you can benefit from their great visibility (in the case of Etsy, we’re talking about millions of visitors every day).
Alternatively, you might think to host your store through WordPress or Wix website and benefit from their endless customization options.
From a technical point of view, Wix is more immediate than WordPress, which requires a higher learning curve (but offers more integrations as well).
Furthermore, with a website, you could also publish valuable articles for your audience, and raise your brand awareness in that field.
Trendiest Footwears
1. Pop Art
Pop art became famous all over the world in the mid-50s to 60s, due to international artists like Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
It’s still one of the hottest trends for t-shirts and clothing in general, but also for shoes.
This vintage concept has been discovered again thanks to the extraordinary customization options offered by print-on-demand technology.
Instead of focusing on the current trend, you could rediscover the past one and readjust it in a modern way.
2. Minimalism
This genre has become very popular in recent years, especially among millennials, aged 18 to 34, who prefer a frugal lifestyle to a more lavish one.
This is often reflected in their dress code, which is likely simple and inconspicuous.
Therefore, keep in mind this new trend and create a couple of minimalist sneakers next to other types.
3. Maximalism
The complete opposite style is Maximalism, which instead exhibits bright colors and shapes, and eye-catching designs.
It’s typical of those highly self-confident people, who are not afraid to show off their style.
An example of this style is Graffiti.
These can be combined very well with shoes, through their vibrant images in which tags alternate with shapes and colors.
They can give a unique touch of creativity and eclecticism to your shoes, like real graffiti do to a naked wall.
4. Streetwear
Streetwear is one of the leading products on the footwear market, considering its versatility and comfort.
The simplicity of their fabric makes them so easy to customize. With the right design on, they can truly become a hot seller in a short time.
Obviously, on the other hand, you have to face high competitiveness in the market. To emerge from the ocean of sellers, you should focus on quality materials and appropriate marketing strategies for your shoes.
Otherwise, it will be quite tough to have success in this saturated market.
5. Cartoons
We have previously discussed how Maximalism lets you to better express your personality.
Another option that is having great success is the “cartoons effect”, which consists of alternate shapes and lines to create a visive effect quite similar to a cartoon.
It may sound bizarre but it’s actually very popular. You could check on Etsy or Redbubble for many examples of these themes.
Conclusion
We have seen in this article how the shoe market has soared in the past few years.
Shoes are great commodities in our daily life and, above all, a showcase of our style and identity.
With the unlimited Print on Demand options available today, you could create your dream product in just a few clicks.
Start with researching your niche, create a professional design, choose the right provider, and promote your products. This step-by-step process has to be followed to the letter.
Either way, it’s important to periodically review the results. Compare your sales with the goals estimated and evaluate what was wrong with your products.
Remind that, today, a profitable store cannot fail to mention a quality shoe in its catalog.
Are you ready to launch your new pair of shoes?
BONUS – Great Print on Demand Providers In Europe
T-Pop
T-Pop is a french Print on Demand company founded by Marie Boulogne and Julien Bernard in 2015 and based in Nîmes.
They offer fully automated printing (mainly organic clothing and goodies) and shipping (custom parcels) services for online shops.
They’re enthusiasts to affirm that everything is done in-house: storage, printing, shipping, and application development!
Their commitment is to do their best to produce “ethical” products and to ship them cleanly, without using plastic! Passion and quality are granted in every part of the process.
For every issue, they are well available to answer you through the contact form in the app.
While other Print On Demand fulfillments order the custom product from the manufacturer or wholesaler after the customer order, in T-Pop all the goods are actually in stock, allowing them to dispatch the parcels way quicker!
OPT OnDemand
OPT OnDemand is a Czech printing company, leader of ecological printing in Europe.
Due to their efforts in making their manufacturing ethical and sustainable, they have achieved Europe’s strictest and well-known “Global Organic Textile Quality” certification.
OPT OnDemand has a lot of experience in all available printing techniques: DTG (Direct to Garment), Screen Printing, Paper&Wall Art, Flex/flock, Dye-Sublimation, and Embroidery.
With more than two hundred employees they can ensure you the best customer experience, including fast delivery times and high-quality materials.
They offer three shipping options: Tracked (1–5 days), Untracked (2–7 days), and Express (next day delivery).
OPT OnDemands’ major customers belong to the fields of E-Commerce, advertising agencies, entertainment industries, plus over two dozen global partners (from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic).
Their service is fully integrated with Printify, a worldwide famous Print on Demand platform.
With their latest updates of product categories (tote bags, mugs, stickers, greeting cards, and even mousepads!), they are set to become the best print-on-demand fulfillment in Europe.
The company was founded in 1992 and it’s located in Prague (Czech Republic).
