Some online shops for shoes have long since recognized the trend: Customers can design shoes online with a 3D configurator according to their own ideas, e.g. for wearing them themselves or as a birthday present.
In this paper we would like to analyze the potential of shoe configurators from the perspective of corresponding online suppliers. The core question is: “Is it worth investing in a shoe configurator at the present time?“.[mfn]Explanations of the technical terms used in this article can be found by clicking on the following link.[/mfn]
Since a shoe configurator is usually provided via a website, the focus here is on an online analysis.
In a first step, we will analyze the demand for shoe configurators with Google’s Keyword Planner using various keywords. This will be followed by a trend and competitor analysis of the most important competitors.
Finally, an overall assessment is made on the basis of the findings.
Analysis with the Keyword Planner.
The following table contains relevant keywords related to shoe configurators according to the keyword planner of Google Ads:
| Keyword | Search Volume | Competition | CPC for high positions (in €) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design your own shoe | 8.100 | High | 0,25 |
| Create your own vans | 8.100 | Middle | 0,09 |
| Design your own vans | 6.600 | Middle | 0,37 |
| Make your own shoes | 5.400 | High | 0,24 |
| Customize your own shoes | 5.400 | High | 0,28 |
| Create your own shoes | 2.900 | High | 0,29 |
With little effort you can find a lot of interesting keywords with medium to high competition. Also the CPCs (costs per click with Google Ads) are relatively low, so that with appropriate investments in Google Ads a positive RoI can be assumed.
Trend analysis with Google Trends.
Design your own shoe.
There has been high and declining demand for the keyword “Design your own shoe” since 2010.
The keyword: “shoe configurator” has also been in high demand in recent years.
Conclusion: There are numerous interesting key terms with high demand. The click costs for Google Ads are very low in relation to the expected revenues, as a result a positive ROI can be assumed for corresponding campaigns.
Competition analysis:
In the following we will take a closer look at the competitive situation. In order to get a more precise picture, we will analyze the websites from rank 1 to 10 based on different keywords.
On the first place when entering the keyword: “Design your own shoe” you will find the website vans.com:
The website has a very good visibility, which shows a slightly increasing trend in recent months.
On the fifth place when entering the search term: “Create your own vans” you will find the domain kattycustoms.com:
The domain has a low visibility. With 21 keywords the website is in the top 100 of Google.
Now we take a closer look at rank seven of the keyword: “Customize your own shoes”.
The domain farfetch.com currently also has very good visibility. Now let’s take a closer look at the second place for the keyword: “Create your own shoes”:
brandyourshoes.com is also a website with low visibility.
Finally, we consider the ninth place for the keyword: “Shoe configurator”. This ranking is currently occupied by havipropel.com:
havipropel.com is a domain with low visibility.
Conclusion: For some key terms, even providers with rather weak to average visibility have been able to achieve good positions.
Although there are some domains with very high visibility such as vans.com, there are also many domains with rather weak visibility in the Top 10 on Google for the relevant keywords.
Overall assessment: Overall, there has been a relatively high and stable demand for shoe configurators on the Internet for years. This demand is currently already being met by some suppliers with more or less high visibility.
However, some domains with low visibility can also be found at the top of search results, depending on the keyword entered.
With an intelligent selection of keywords e.g. in the longtail area, many interested visitors could be made aware of their own configurator.
Whereby with high probability good positions in the ranking should also be possible for keywords like “Design your own shoe” or “Make your own shoes”.
Due to the relatively low click costs, investments should also be made in Google Ads.
Shoe configurators on the Internet therefore offer enormous potential for newcomers to the market at the present time.
We are specialized in the planning and implementation of shoe configurators in real-time 3D. As a reference we recommend our shoe configurator for Birkenstock.
Contact us and get free advice.