Shoe marketing: 6 techniques to attract customers to your shoe store

Are you new to the business world and don't know how to attract customers to a shoe store? Have you been in the sector for many years and are finding it difficult to attract new buyers? Knowing your customers in depth and having the right product are just the basis of the techniques you need to follow to fill your business. Take note!

1. Influencers, the purchase prescribers of the 21st century

Influencer marketing came on the scene a few years ago and seems to have established itself as one of the best techniques to promote our product and attract new customers to our business. This type of purchase prescribers are no longer a figure only within the reach of large multinationals, but new trends are emerging such as micro-influencers - ordinary people who recommend brands and have social influence - that allow all types of businesses to have these brand ambassadors.

According to the latest industry data, influencer marketing is the fastest growing channel for acquiring customers, surpassing email marketing, organic search and PPC. Are you in on the trendy strategy?

2. Visual merchandising and window dressing, attracts by the sight.

The first image that your future customers will have of you is the one that will push them to cross the threshold of your door. Having an attractive decoration on the outside, if you have a shop window, is the first step to make an impact on them and increase your sales.

The location of the shoes, the lighting and the colours are the main keys to decorating the outside of your shoe shop and getting passers-by to come in. On the other hand, inside your shop it is important to have the right layout and effective visual merchandising to guide the customer in their shopping experience.

3.  Promotions as a shoe marketing technique

Making the most of promotions in your shoe shop will be a great idea. You can use this resource sporadically, when you have surplus stock or with products from other seasons. In general, it is a technique that attracts customers immediately and popularises your business in your area of proximity.

What types of promotions can you activate? There are as many options as you have imagination, here we explain some of them:

• The famous 2-for-1 sales can work very well with low-cost footwear. At the end of the summer, this option will surely allow you to sell your unsold flip-flops.

• Multi-buy discounts are also attractive. For example, you can take 50% off the second pair of trainers your customer buys.

• Discounts on special days. It is about choosing a day to create a habit with your customers and to sell your stock. On Thursdays you can boost your sales with special price reductions. Example: Fridays you win! 20% discount on all our children's footwear.

• The exchange discount. You can reward your little customers with weeks focused on the most popular children's characters in your shoe shop. In Mickey week, all Mickey Mouse footwear will receive a 15% price reduction in exchange for a drawing of the rodent made by the children. 

4. Loyalty programmes, reward your best customers

Loyalty programmes applied to a shoe shop can mean a before and after in the buying habits of your potential customers. This is not yet a widespread technique in the world of footwear and you can take advantage of its potential. In exchange for small discounts, a final bonus or priority in the acquisition of new products, your shoppers will have your business in mind as their first option when restocking their children's trainers or lonettes. How to do it? You have many alternatives, here are some popular ones:

• VIP customer card. Customers who register at the shoe shop after their first purchase will receive an exclusive business card and with it access to special offers on special days, private showrooms, updated information on new products, quarterly discount coupons...

• Stamp cards. Every time our customer buys a pair of slippers he will get a stamp. When he has 10, he will get a small gift (a pair of slippers, a pair of flip-flops of the fashionable character or a 50% discount on his purchase).

• Confidence renewal plan. When your customer's girl's Frozen trainers wear out you can activate the renovation plan. If they bring the old shoes they bought in your shop, you can offer them a 30% discount on the new ones. The customer should keep the original purchase receipt to prove that they bought them in your store.

5. Shoe marketing on social media

Nowadays, even if you don't have an ecommerce, it is necessary to have a presence on the Internet. And not just any presence. It is not enough to just be there; you have to work on the content you publish following a strategy. In this case, if the objective is to attract customers, the strategy will have to be based on making our shop known to new Instagram accounts (or whatever social network we are working on). 

How can this be done? One option is to carry out sweepstakes in which one of the conditions is to tag different friends, so that these friends end up seeing your publication and getting to know your shop. 

6. Transmitting the values of the new generations

Millennial and Generation Z customers are looking for brands that are involved with their values and their generation. They are looking for brands involved with the environment, product traceability, product recycling options or interactive communication of stories from the most emotional part of the item. 

If you want to attract customers from these two generations to your business, try to promote social actions from your business: meetings with a social purpose, clothes recycling workshops, etc.  

At Cerdá, as a distributor of children's licences with long experience in the sector, we know which techniques can help you attract customers to your business. That's why, through our Fidelity Programme, you can get your hands on the visual merchandising of your children's favourite characters. What are you waiting for to attract new customers?