ARCH Footwear Spring/Summer Sales Report 2013

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Started with the box now we’re here 🙂

What’s up everybody! There have been some pretty cool accomplishments for the little engine that could. We sponsored our first athlete. Sidney Boyd IV out of Atlanta. Sidney is a former collegiate basketball player and runs in the 40+ category. He recently ran the Cruisin for Christmas in July 10K and finished with an overall ranking of 8 in a field of over 300 runners. The best thing was that he wasn’t really in the best shape he could have been in. I’m excited for Sidney and his addition has been a great inspiration for me at a time where I’ve been contemplating selling the company or simply letting the shoes hang out to dry. The other very cool information is that I’ve been running a Facebook Ad campaign and the likes have been pouring in.

Okay you never lead off a sales meeting with bad news. That was the good news. The reports will show the bad, and boy it’s pretty rough (I know that’s an oxymoron, just shush and keep reading, lol). As I wrote a few months back I went into production on the Spring Summer line from ARCH. I started production in February when the company was rolling along and sales were very good. Here is that report. This is when things got really rough. I hit Chinese New Year and the manufacturer shut down for one month. This pushed production back to March which aligned me with the larger shoe companies and pushed my production back. I didn’t get my footwear until June basically. Now what does this do to a small shoe company, or any company? People forget about you. I had to develop a new marketing campaign, get the shoes QA’d and then get them up for sale as quick as possible to catch the time before people basically quit buying shoes at the beginning of summer. I didn’t make it. This report is about how critical it is to catch the wave and ride it to better performance. Let’s get started.

Facebook Ads

I started advertising on Facebook once the shoes were ready to be posted for sale. There is never a good time to begin promotion and there is no such thing as the perfect time. So here are the stats:

6/3/2013 – 6/30/2013

  • Page Likes
    391
  • Campaign Reach
    35,034
  • Frequency
    1.6
  • Clicks
    529
  • Click-Through Rate
    0.928%
  • Total Spent
    $239.43
    That’s a lot of money for advertisement. This was before I realized it was better to actually optimize for clicks. I think Facebook depends on small biz people to make mistakes like this. Then again, this wasn’t that bad. I was only paying .61 cents for each like. Check out the switch and let me know what you think. There is a slight gap because I didn’t feel like setting up a custom report so this one begins on
    July 7th – Today
    • Page Likes
      64
    • Campaign Reach
      58,727
    • Frequency
      2.2
    • Clicks
      342
    • Click-Through Rate
      0.264%
    • Total Spent
      $89.79
    Alright, epiphany… I thought I was right about adjusting my clicks to manual bidding. I was wrong. With manual bidding I am now paying an average of 1.40 for each like. Damn, I’m glad I decided to write this report! I would have never known that I increased my cost per like so much. I am going in adjusting my ad right now. SMH hard as hell right now!
    Sorry about the poor alignment in the article now, but cutting and pasting these stats has messed up the alignment. On to the Amazon Ads and the actual sales. If this is too long, make sure you let me know to split these reports into Facebook and Amazon.
    Amazon Ads
    Starting on June 6th I began running my Amazon ads. I had a lot of success with this on the previous colorways in the Fall/Winter so why fix what’s broken? I set up an ad for each colorway.
    Black Steel: I had a daily budget of 5.00.
    6 Ads
    Impressions: 83,759
    Clicks: 205
    CTR: .24%
    Total Spend: $7.36
    Average CPC: .04
    Product sold: 1 at 39.99
    ARCH Casual: Daily budget 5.00
    Ran from May 8th to July 31. I already had these in stock but I’m including it.
    32 Ads
    Impressions: 161,028
    Clicks: 505
    CTR: .31%
    Total Spend: $18.85
    Average CPC: .04
    Product sold: 3 pair $99.86
    Black Storm: Daily budget 5.00
    Ran from 6-9 to 7-31 (I am not consistent with the way I write these dates at all, lol)
    9 Ads
    Impressions: 56,620
    Clicks: 93
    CTR: .16%
    Total Spend: 3.29
    Average CPC: .04
    Product Sold: 1 pair 49.99
    Dallas Blue: Daily budget 5.00 (Obviously I didn’t list these correctly and there wasn’t any advertisement for this shoe at all)
    Ran from 6-17 to 7-31
    7 Ads
    Impressions: 380
    Clicks: 0
    CTR: 0
    Total Spend: 0
    Average CPC: 0

    Product Sold: 0

    I removed the Power Pink, but I had three sales on that shoe. I deleted the listing once I donated the shoes to the Laura House. Another positive thing!
    Okay, here are the overall statistics on sales. Once I put the chart in for this, it becomes hard to write in the blogspace so I am going to write as much as I can here and ask if you want to do further analysis and discussions leave a comment here or on Facebook.
    What I am noticing is that Running my Facebook campaign has to be looked at as building brand awareness. However, it has to have had a direct affect on shoe sales overall because according to my reports from Amazon Ads, I only sold about 5 to 7 pair. I have to make this assumption since I removed the Power Pink and the Dallas Blue didn’t register. I have not checked my website statistic to check where traffic is coming from which is not good at all. I need to install Statcounter since it integrates so easily into my website and allows me to check the direction of traffic with one click. I am also noticing that Amazon Ads, while inexpensive is not producing the results thus far this campaign. I think that has a lot more to do with color choices for the production of the shoes. Because the shoes took so long, people were buying bright colored shoes by the time they arrived. This probably accounts for the poor performance. I did gross 1217.29 from 23 pair of shoes sold. That’s an average of 52 dollars per pair. When you factor in Amazon takes 15% and the advertising, the costs of production and boxes and complimentary tees… wwwwwoooooosaaaahhhhh, I really don’t want to think about how much I am losing because that can trigger negativity. What I have to realize is that my little engine is attempting to enter into a space that is designated for millionaires and billionaires. I have to remember, somebody actually cares about watching a small brand grow. I truly appreciate that.
    Stay Motivated Fam!
    Chris B.
    ARCH CG097II (Black Steel/Pitt Yellow-White) Lightweight Running (10) $144.89 3
    ARCH CG097II Women’s (Power Pink/Storm Grey-White-Blk) Limited Release (9) $99.92 2
    ARCH CG097II (Star Grey/Dallas Blue-White) Lightweight Running (11) $166.92 2
    ARCH Allen Premium Casual Shoe – Haze Grey/Storm (11) $29.95 1
    ARCH CG097II Run (USA Blue/Haze Grey-Red-White) Limited Edition (13) $50.95 1
    ARCH Casual Shoe: The Allen Black Suede and Denim (10) $36.94 1
    ARCH Casual Shoe: The Allen Olive Suede & Denim (11) $46.94 1
    ARCH Casual Shoe: The Allen Merlot Suede and Denim (9) $46.94 1
    ARCH Casual Shoe: The Allen Oak Suede and Denim (10) $46.94 1
    ARCH Casual Shoe: The Allen Oak Suede and Denim (13) $29.95 1
    ARCH CG097II Lightweight Running Shoe (Grey/White) (13) $50.95 1
    ARCH CG097II (Black Steel/Pitt Yellow-White) Lightweight Running (11) $54.96 1
    ARCH CG097II (Black Steel/Pitt Yellow-White) Lightweight Running (13) $44.96 1
    ARCH CG097II (Earth Suede Limited Edition) Lightweight Running (10) $78.12 1
    ARCH CG097II (Earth Suede Limited Edition) Lightweight Running (9) $78.12 1
    ARCH CG097II (Black Storm/White) Lightweight Running (10) $64.96 1
    ARCH CG097II Women’s (Power Pink/Storm Grey-White-Blk) Limited Release (7) $54.96 1
    ARCH CG097II Women’s (Power Pink/Storm Grey-White-Blk) Limited Release (8) $34.96 1
    ARCH CG097II (Star Grey/Dallas Blue-White) Lightweight Running (13) $54.96 1

4 thoughts on “ARCH Footwear Spring/Summer Sales Report 2013

  1. Man from what I can see for a new company, with the production hassles described — this actually does not look too bad. Also don;t overlook the other benefit of advertising–branding–getting others to learn about your business.

    1. It doesn’t look real bad until you realize I lost 6K last year, lol. Even that isn’t really very bad at all considering how much I accomplished alone. It typically takes six figures to launch a shoe company, but I’ve been able to utilize my writing skills to open the door to opportunities.

  2. This is powerful info and I appreciate the time you took to share. Analytics take time and not always fun but really important and insightful, good and bad. Hang in there!

    1. Thanks!!!! I pride myself on transparency and showing the reality of the business. I’m currently running a Kickstarter to prepare for the Fall 2015 release and to make a new mold, but I am definitely going to keep posting stats and updates.

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