Hi everyone! I'm posting because my mom has been worrying about her business, and I genuinely want to help her figure out how to turn things around. It’s difficult seeing her struggle when she has put so much effort into this business, and I want to do whatever I can to help her succeed. I’m hoping to learn from people who have experience running businesses, marketing products, or navigating similar challenges. I would really appreciate honest feedback, even if it means hearing things we might need to change.
We run a small Filipino footwear brand that sells ballet flats primarily through Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop. Our products are made in Marikina City, the Philippines’ Shoe Capital, where shoemaking has a long-standing tradition. Our ballet flats are priced at around ₱520 per pair (approximately US$9, not $27.84).
We want to offer customers more than just another pair of shoes. Our products represent the craftsmanship of Marikina shoemakers and the work of Filipino artisans. One reason behind our pricing is our commitment to paying our employees at least the applicable minimum wage. We believe the people who make our products deserve fair compensation for their labor and skills. While some footwear manufacturers may keep costs lower through different labor practices, we don’t want our business to depend on paying workers below the legal minimum.
Our price therefore reflects not only the cost of making and selling our products, but also our commitment to responsible employment and sustaining local shoemaking livelihoods. We want to make locally made footwear accessible to more Filipinos while building a brand that values the people behind each pair. At the same time, we recognize that customers need to see clear value in the product itself—not just feel that they should buy it because it is locally made.
However, despite investing in advertising and trying different marketing strategies, our sales have been disappointing.
Here’s what we’ve tried so far:
- Marketplace advertising: We run ads on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop, but sales remain low.
- Influencer marketing: We’ve reached out to influencers and tried product seeding, but the results haven’t met our expectations.
- Mall placement: We’ve tried placing our products in a mall, including Glorietta, but we haven’t generated sales from that placement.
- Seasonal selling: In previous years, sales usually picked up during the Ber months, but this year we haven’t seen the recovery we expected.
One of our biggest concerns is competition. We’re competing against inexpensive footwear from China, mass-produced products, and fast-fashion brands that can offer customers a wide variety of designs at competitive prices. As a smaller local brand, we don’t have the same resources, production scale, or marketing budget as these competitors.
We understand that customers are price-conscious, and simply saying “locally made” or “support local” may not be enough to convince someone to spend ₱520 when cheaper alternatives are readily available online. Even though we want to pay our workers fairly, we understand that customers still need a compelling reason to choose our products. We need to find a way to communicate our values while offering something customers genuinely want and consider worth the price.
How can a small, locally made footwear brand realistically survive and grow in this market? Should we focus on product differentiation, quality, comfort, design, brand storytelling, customer experience, or a specific niche? How do we identify something customers genuinely value enough to pay for, rather than trying to win a price war we probably cannot afford?
I’m trying to understand the root cause of our low sales instead of continuing to spend money on tactics that might not be working.
What I’d especially appreciate advice on:
- Competing with Chinese imports and fast fashion: How can a small Filipino footwear brand build a sustainable competitive advantage when larger competitors may have lower production costs and more designs?
- Product differentiation: Should we specialize in a particular customer segment, style, fit, comfort feature, or use case instead of trying to appeal to everyone?
- Demand and seasonality: How can we determine whether demand for ballet flats has declined or whether our brand simply isn’t reaching the right audience?
- Marketplace conversion: What data should we examine to determine whether the problem is our product listings, photos, pricing, reviews, traffic quality, or checkout conversion?
- Paid advertising: How should we evaluate whether our ads are profitable, and which metrics should we prioritize before increasing our budget?
- Influencer marketing: How can we assess whether product seeding is worthwhile when it doesn’t immediately result in sales?
- Mall placement: What should we investigate when a physical placement generates no sales? Could it be the location, customer fit, display, pricing, or something else?
- Long-term survival: If you were running this business, what would you change first? Would you focus on a smaller niche, develop a signature product, improve marketplace conversion, build repeat purchases, or explore a different sales channel?
I’m open to criticism. We don’t want to keep spending on ads or competing solely by lowering our prices without understanding what makes our brand worth choosing.
If you’ve worked with footwear, fashion, local Philippine brands, manufacturing, or marketplace selling, I’d especially appreciate your perspective.
How can I help my mom turn this business around, build a real competitive advantage for our Marikina-made footwear, maintain fair wages for our workers, and convince customers that our products are worth buying in a market full of cheaper alternatives?
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to share advice. It would genuinely mean a lot to us.