I feel ridiculously out of touch right now. The Holiday season is almost over. Everyone I know and everything I see is discussing turning over a new leaf for the New Year. I’m simply trying to put together a better understanding of this past year. I haven’t really laid out any major goals for 2013 other than continuing to sell the inventory of the shoes I made this year. I have another two months to do this since Chinese New Year starts at the end of January and lasts until the end of February. What does this mean for ARCH? If I don’t manufacture the new colorways of the CG next week, there won’t be another sneaker coming out until March/April. I don’t know if the company will sustain until then and proceed off of the very good feedback and reach established during this holiday season. I have major decisions to make and none of them have to do with our US New Year…
On to the discussion for the end of December. My employee Nicole did an incredible breakdown of sales for ARCH. She has enabled me to recognize growth patterns, but more importantly we have an actual count for each individual shoe sold and the money we have earned back on the company. Notice I didn’t say profit? At this point in the company, I am still losing money. I am still giving out a tee shirt with each pair of running shoes sold (well not anymore since the tees are all gone), and I am dropping watches in the casual shoe boxes (and the now the running shoe boxes). In other words, the gifts of appreciation counter any profit made. Not to mention that I ran a reduced price of 35.00 on every pair of the shoes in the ARCH lineup. My philosophy in doing this was to provide a pricepoint that would interest people in trying a new brand. It worked, but as I said, I lost money on every purchase. I continued using Amazon Ads for the brand. I did not start a Google campaign or a Facebook campaign as I planned to do for December. This makes explaining this past month a lot easier.
Two campaigns: ARCH Casual and ARCH Running from varying dates
ARCH Casual featuring The Allen casual shoe in 7 colors. Date: 10-15-2012 to 10-31-2012 I think it’s important to show October for those who don’t feel like looking back at the old reports. The Casual shoes finally showed an increase in returns and were consistent in sales. Write me with any questions.
October
Number of ads: 35
Impressions: 63,802
Clicks: 139
CTR: .22%
Total Spend: $3.53
Average CPC: .03 cents
Orders placed through the ads: 0
Product Sales: 0.00
Conversion Rate: .0%
November
Number of ads: 35
Impressions: 218044
Clicks: 538
CTR: .24%
Total Spend: $18.92
Average CPC: .03 cents
Orders placed through the ads: 3
Product Sales: $105.00
Conversion Rate: .44%
December 12-01-2012 to 12-31-2012
Number of ads: 35
Impressions: 233907
Clicks: 487
CTR: .23%
Total Spend: $18.38
Average CPC: .04 cents
Orders placed through the ads: 3
Product Sales: $124.97
Conversion Rate: .52%
ARCH Running featuring the CG097II running shoe in 4 colors Date: November 11-03-2012 to 11-30-2012
Number of ads: 38
Impressions: 708,791
Clicks: 1432
CTR: .20%
Total Spend: $55.59
Average CPC: .04 cents
Orders placed through the ads: 14
Product Sales: 245.00
Conversion Rate: .70%
December 12-01-2012 to 12-31-2012
Number of ads: 38
Impressions:801858 – This number is a bit misleading because I originally factored in the previous months incorrectly. This total is the difference from the end of November, but does not deduct October. I’m confused… Kanye Shoulder Shrug
Clicks: 1466
CTR: .19%
Total Spend: $51.36
Average CPC: .04 cents
Orders placed through the ads: 14
Product Sales: 640.00
Conversion Rate: .83% – This is incredible!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright, these numbers may not be as accurate as I’d like because instead of separating the monthly totals from Day 1, I’m doing so two months after the initial campaign. Hey we all make mistakes. I should put the screen shot up, but instead of putting up another screen shot, I will share with you the overall picture from sales this month. If you are a person starting a company this should inspire you. I’m trying to think of the best way to present without too much clutter… Okay here is the monthly breakdown of sales, remember this starts in August:
August: $1322.01 – 23 pair sold
September: $669.37 – 12 pair sold
October: 825.77 – 18 pair sold
November: $1194.50 – 24 pair sold
December: $1931.86 – 41 pair sold
Total: $5943.51 – 118 pair sold
This is more important though… I started to track states this month and here is a list of the states that ARCH made it to in December: Michigan, North Carolina, California, Wisconsin, Indiana, Florida, Texas, New York, Nebraska, Kentucky, Washington, North Dakota, Tennessee, and the big drum roll………. International locations: Venezuela and not so international, Puerto Rico!!!
As exciting as all of this is especially with the support being shown by the people purchasing the shoes, the question still remains will the company keep selling in 2013. Honestly I can’t say, but I know this the last six months of 2013 have proven to me that I can take a little known brand and actually extend the reach of the company with very little press coverage and no assistance, it’s a huge accomplishment. I truly appreciate the people who have supported the brand. I hope my craziness and passion has enabled you to pursue a dream of your own. Here’s to a great 2012 (raises glass of juice, hey I don’t really drink you know?)
Stay Motivated
Chris B.
This is truly inspiring, especially since this is a project that was started by a sole individual. Its great that you stay true to the process and post useful opinions and information. Thanks man and keep it up.! Hopefully your success will help to inspire my own with my clothing endeavors.
X
I appreciate your support and I hope all of my hardships will make your road much smoother…. it probably won’t but we all have to each one, teach one. Let me know if you need help with contacts for offshore work or stateside companies as you grow your apparel biz. Stay Motivated