Happy Tip-Toeing!

Happy Tip-Toeing!!

Owner and creator Kristen Vander Hoeven invented this product while modeling in Athens, Greece in 2007. She found herself cutting stockings to reinvent her shoes and increase their comfort level as she became accustomed to many wardrobe changes. Then the idea sparked for her and she decided to share her trend with the fashion public at large. Her goal was to make women feel sexy and confident. Try on a pair of Tootsies and you’ll find that she has achieved it.

One size fits all. Value $22 per pair

Click here and enter to win Tootsies from TootsieShoppe.com!

Tootsie Shoppe Foot Lingerie Case Study

Employing an “if you build it, they will come” strategy, Kristen, with the support of her family began designing, prototyping, patenting, and producing lacy and colorfully decorated foot lingerie.  As of September 2007, a large investment had been made to cover legal fees (trademark, and patent application), development of the original website, some paper based marketing material, and three thousand packages of foot lingerie produced in China.

Before Foot Lingerie could go to market, it needed strong marketing messages.  Thus, it was positioned as a new category of lifestyle lingerie that could be worn casually around the home or with high heels on a night out on the town.  They were touted as a must have accessory to finish off any outfit.  Promoted benefits included:

• A new option to conceal your toes if you haven’t had a pedicure in a while
• An alternative to going barefoot when it is polite to take your shoes off when visiting friends, or at a house party
• A new sexy accessory that will get ‘his’ attention
• A more comfortable way to break in new heels
• A way to show off awareness of fashion forward trends

Tootsie Shoppe's early success featured in Women's Post

The launch for Tootsie Shoppe in August 2007 experienced some success.  It was featured on the runway during L’Oreal’s Fall Fashion week in Toronto as a co-accessory to Ginch-Gonch underwear.  It made it onto Breakfast television, where Kristen explained the benefits of Foot Lingerie to the morning audience.  And, Women’s Post magazine put Kristen on the cover, publicizing her as one of Toronto’s up and coming ‘model’ entrepreneurs.  With all this hype, traffic on the website started to creep up, and a more pairs were purchased from stores, but the sales volume was nowhere near the levels they needed to be for Tootsie Shoppe to become a sustainable business.

The original sales and marketing strategy for Tootsie Shoppe was to sell Foot Lingerie both online and in retail boutiques in Toronto.  The website was set up in Flash, and it provided a decent user experience, however, pictures were slightly distorted when viewed up close, and the checkout procedure was sub-optimal.  Also, because the site was designed in Flash, search engines could not easily recognize the content on the site, making it difficult to find in search results.  On the physical retail side, Tootsie Shoppe Foot Lingerie was sold at Canopy Blu (Eglinton St., west of Yonge), TNT (north of Yorkville), and LIT (Liberty Village).  The point of sale display consisted of a plastic foot mannequin wearing one of the popular coloured pairs, and a wicker basket lined in pink cloth, which held approximately 24 packages of Foot Lingerie at a time.  Even though it clearly displayed how the foot lingerie was supposed to be worn, there was not enough medium to educate customers on why they should wear it.  Packages were often found opened and slightly damaged due to customers trying to further understand the design and features of the product.  Because foot lingerie was a new product, with an un-established market, educating customers at the point of sale was very difficult.  At the end of 2009, it was concluded selling in physical retail outlets was not the ideal marketplace for Foot Lingerie, and inventory was pulled from the shelves.  With over two thousand pairs unsold and large amount of unrecovered invested capital, Tootsie Shoppe was at a complete standstill.

In mid 2010, Kristen and her family felt Tootsie Shoppe deserved one last surge of effort before completely writing it off.  Not wanting to deal with the headaches of being in physical retail shops, Kristen decided this time around she would focus solely on online marketing tactics to sell her product. To do this, she researched optimal site designs for selling online, and learned tactics for boosting traffic through SEO and pay-per-click advertising.  The new TootsieShoppe.com site launched in October of 2010, and with the help of a few tweets, was seeing around 500 unique visitors to the site per day. Quite happy with the results, Kristen felt her efforts would soon pay dividends. The site continued to see new visitors throughout the Christmas season, but unfortunately, the traffic was not converting into paying customers at a level Kristen would need to keep the business going. In early 2011, with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Kristen was faced with the decision of whether or not to keep Tootsie Shoppe going.

Case Study Questions:

As Kristen, what would you do at this point?

What marketing tactics can Kristen use to boost sales on the TootsieShoppe.com website?

What else can Kristen do to keep the business alive?

Should Kristen sell her business to a competitor? If so, who would be a strategic fit?

There are several items that can be considered aphrodisiacs that are very giftable. Roses aren’t just romantic, they are actually an aromatic turn-on for women. Similarly, chocolate not only tastes good, it has elements that have long been known to make men and women feel more amorous. When it comes to sexy gifts, however, lingerie trumps these two in sensual nature and value. While flowers wilt and chocolate gets eaten and forgotten, lingerie is the gift that keeps on giving. So when searching for sexy gift ideas, you should always keep this option in mind.

A beautiful bra and pretty panties are great places to start. And when it comes to sexy lingerie corsets, garter belts, and silk nighties are more great pieces to consider. A woman might like any of these, but there are two things that make them tough to shop for: First, you have to guess at what sizes to buy – which can turn your sexy gift into an awkward gift. Secondly, lingerie can be very expensive and if you are on a limited budget you might not be able to afford the $100+ price tag of high-end teddy. But there’s good news for frugal lovers. The hottest new trend is foot lingerie, and a pair of Tootsies will set you back just $15! Feet are a well-known erogenous zone and this sexy gift will be a fun item to enhance any woman’s wardrobe of private items. Foot lingerie is a unique and affordable item that your lady will love this February 14th.

Since you put a lot of thought into matching your clothing and accessories, if follows that you should do the same with your lingerie. And since you’d never dream of pairing a gorgeous set of satin lingerie with a pair of gym socks, Tootsie Shoppe is here to help you add the finishing touch your bedroom ensembles and sexy costumes. Say you start at Victorias Secret and find yourself a lovely assortment of items – the store is, after all, known for having incredibly sexy bras. It’s a great places get matching sets, but keep the look going by matching your foot lingerie to your bra and panties.

Imagine this scenario: You and your honey are out on a date – maybe a special occasion, or even just something ordinary like a trip to the movies. You are cute and put together as usual, but then there’s a little something extra in the mix. As various times during the evening let you date catch a glimpse of a little bow and some lace peeking out from under your shoe. It’s sure to grab attention! When asked, just give a coy smile. Later, in a private moment, that spark will be ignited when your lover sees that you were simply giving a preview of a full-fledged ensemble of sexy lingerie that had been hidden under your clothes the whole time. It’s sure to be a hot night!

There’s a new trend in lingerie and it covers more than sexy underwear. It’s lingerie for your feet! It’s time this alternative erogenous zone got some attention. You might find a host of sexy bras at Victorias Secret but for foot lingerie come to Tootsie Shoppe. These fun little lace beauties adorn your feet with precious bows and satin ribbon. They are a great contrast for sexy satin lingerie – with a pair of hot heels, or without.

When you are attempting a complete look it’s all about the details! After you’ve
chosen your outfit, perfume, and jewelry turn your attention to your lingerie ensemble. Compliment your sexy underwear with foot lingerie that can be a cheeky addition to your cocktail attire. Men and women alike are sure to notice there’s something special about how you’ve got it all pulled to together. And if you’re creating a sexy costume, they are the perfect finishing touch.

If you love being a trend-setter, and believe magic happens in the details (it does), then foot lingerie should be on your wish list. There’s just something about lace and straps that says sexy and sophisticated. And when it shows up in an unexpected place like your feet, people will swoon and smile. Enjoy!

Tootsie Shoppe girls are healthy, fun, and outgoing individuals. We love it when our bras and panties match, and we feel unstoppable when we step into an amazing pair of shoes. We also love it when we wear something sexy and can tastefully show it off without sending the wrong message! However, with the hectic lifestyles many of us lead, it is very easy for us to forget the small things that make us feel cute and sexy. Office clothes can unfortunately go out of style before we have time to replenish them, and our street clothes… Well, sometimes they just look like street clothes. Tootsie Shoppe girls don’t let this bother them! Instead, we improvise, and we do so without wearing lower necklines and daring skirts to make it happen. Foot Lingerie is all we need to reveal our chic, yet subtle flirtatiousness to grab the attention of those we don’t want passing us by. We wear our foot Lingerie as an alternative to going barefoot in our shoes, because in our busy lives, we never know when or where our feet will need to look fabulous! We’re classy, tasteful, and sexy and we don’t let our busy lives stomp on our sense of style. Instead, we wear Tootsie Shoppe Foot Lingerie, and gracefully let our feet take the lead.