I don’t really have any investors in the company anymore. Unlike most startups anyone who loaned me money got every penny back and some of them got more. In other words, ARCH has been a success from the standpoint that it recouped the initial amount of money it took to start the company and that is huge. Think about it, we were in a recession when ARCH entered the game. I say all of this to let everyone know who reads the site, if ARCH (meaning me) doesn’t move through half of the current inventory by February 28th, the company will sell through the last shoes, but I will not go into production on a new Spring line. It simply would not make sense to do so.
While this may sound like giving up, it is not. I have dedicated the last 4 years to building the company. I didn’t really learn how to do it right until last year in July which means that I should give it another 3 years right? Wrong. I can’t justify another infusion of cash on the hope that this time I might win. What I can do however is to set a clearance price point and attempt to blow the sneakers out and if over half the inventory is sold I can consider that marketing for another shoe release. February is the ultimate measuring stick. I had 200 pair of shoes in stock when I began to realize that I had to give myself a goal/ultimatum. That was at the beginning of January. It is now the beginning of February (tomorrow), just go with it.
Unlike last year where I broke down sales according to advertising cost, I am simply counting how many shoes sold this month. Thanks to my assistant Nicole for going through all of the Amazon sales figures and extracting this information. The columns aren’t lined up properly but you should be able to see what sold and the relationship.
Title – Page Views – Page Views Percentage – Units Ordered – Ordered Product Sales
ARCH Allen Premium Casual Shoe – (Haze Grey/Storm) – (9) – 19 0.16% – 1 – $33.96
ARCH CG097II Run (USA Blue/Haze Grey-Red-White) Limited Edition (8) – 33 – 0.29% – 2 – $66.93
ARCH CG097II (Court Blue/Crawford Red-Wht) Limited Edition (9) – 0 – 0.00% – 1 – $58.47
ARCH CG097II (Court Blue/Crawford Red-Wht) Limited Edition (11) – 0 – 0.00% – 1 – $38.96
ARCH CG097II (Court Blue/Crawford Red-Wht) Limited Edition (8) – 0 – 0.00% – 1 – $63.96
ARCH Casual Shoe: The Allen Olive Suede & Denim (10) – 0 – 0.00% – 1 – $64.95
ARCH CG097II Storm Running Shoe (Black/White/Grey) (13) – 66 – 0.57% – 1 – $38.96
ARCH CG097II Storm Running Shoe (Black/White/Grey) (11) – 63 – 0.55% – 1 – $38.96
ARCH CG097II Lightweight Running Shoe (Grey/White) (10) – 62 – 0.54% – 1 – $38.96
ARCH CG097II Lightweight Running Shoe (Grey/White) (13) – 41 – 0.36% – 1 – $38.96
ARCH CG097II Storm Running Shoe (Black/White/Grey) (9) – 87 – 0.75% – 2 – $92.94
ARCH CG097II Lightweight Running Shoe (Red/Grey/White) Winter (11) – 13 – 0.11% – 2 – $107.92
ARCH CG097II Lightweight Running Shoe (Grey/White) (9) – 60 – 0.52% – 2 – $98.43
ARCH CG097II Storm Running Shoe (Black/White/Grey) (12) – 139 – 1.21% – 3 – $166.88
Okay these numbers might be a little confusing, but here is a simple breakdown: I sold 2 Casual shoes and 18 Running shoes for a total of 949.24. January was not bad at all considering I began the month without running any ads to direct traffic to the shoes. I also was selling the shoes at a higher price. Why did I drop the price? Well, I realized that Chinese New Year meant that I would either have to make another order while I still had 200 pair in inventory or since the New Year basically means that China takes off a month, I could sell the inventory and make a new order at the end of February or at the beginning of March for a late March/April release date for a new shoe.
The numbers are promising and just in the last 3 days I sold 10 pair. If the pace continues I could possibly move through the inventory. While it may not seem that I am being optimistic, I really feel good about the numbers. I’d like to know what you think.
Stay Motivated
Chris B.
