What size tracking means in a footwear shop
Footwear size tracking means knowing, for every article and colour, exactly how many pairs you hold in each size, and noticing early when the sizes customers ask for most have run out. A shoe shop can look fully stocked and still turn customers away, because the shelf is full of size 6 and size 11 while every 8 and 9 has sold.
Consider a men's formal article in black and brown, made in sizes 6 to 11. That is six sizes in two colours, so twelve items to track. Suppliers often send such articles in cartons with a fixed mix of sizes, heavier in the middle. Once the middle sizes sell, the article is still "in stock" on paper, but it is no longer sellable to most customers.
This guide is for footwear shop owners and managers. It explains how to choose your size system, count in pairs, spot broken size sets, reorder by your own size curve and handle size exchanges without corrupting stock. Garment shops face a related problem with size and colour grids, covered in our guide to garments POS variants.
Choosing the size system you will label in
Many brands sold in India print UK sizes on the box, often alongside EU and US sizes. Your software should store one size system per category as the variant value, the one your staff and customers actually use when they ask for a pair. Keep the other systems in the article description if staff need them for reference.
Men's, women's and kids' footwear should have separate size sets, because the numbers overlap but the products do not. A ladies' 6 and a men's 6 are not interchangeable stock. Kids' sizes often run on their own scale, so give them their own set rather than squeezing them into the adult range.
| Category | Example size set | Point to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Men's formal and casual | 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 | Add 12 only if you actually stock it. |
| Women's | 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 | Keep separate from men's even where numbers overlap. |
| Kids' | The brand's kids' scale | Sizes change quickly, so reorder smaller quantities. |
| Brands with half sizes | 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9 | Each half size is a separate variant. |
| Slippers and sandals in bands | 6–7, 8–9, 10–11 | Use bands only if the product really is sold that way. |
Half sizes cause more confusion than anything else. If a brand makes a 7.5, it is not "a 7 or an 8". It needs its own variant, its own barcode and its own stock count, or your reorder figures for 7 and 8 will both be wrong.
Counting in pairs, not pieces
The unit of footwear stock is a pair. That sounds obvious until a supplier bills in cartons or sets, a display shoe goes missing, or a customer tries on a left 8 and a right 9 and they get boxed the wrong way round. Each of these turns a clean pair count into guesswork.
- Convert at purchase entry: if the bill says cartons, enter the size-wise pair count from the carton's packing list, not the number of cartons.
- Mark display shoes: if one shoe of a pair is on display, the box in the stockroom should say so, so nobody sells an incomplete pair.
- Check boxes at closing: after a busy day, open the boxes that were used for trials and confirm both shoes match the size on the label.
- Write off pairs, not shoes: if one shoe is damaged or lost, the whole pair leaves saleable stock through a stock adjustment.
Billing should always be done by scanning the box label, and staff should glance inside to confirm the shoes match the label before the bill is printed. It takes seconds and prevents the most common footwear stock error.
Broken size sets: why the middle sizes vanish first
A broken size set is an article where the core sizes have sold out and only the edge sizes remain. Customers see the design on display, ask for their size, and are told it is not available. Every such conversation is a lost sale, and the remaining pairs become harder to sell each week.
Define what "broken" means for your shop. One owner may decide an article is broken when any two of sizes 7, 8 and 9 are at zero; another may watch sizes 5 to 7 for ladies' sandals. Write the rule down per category and check it weekly from a size-wise stock list.
| Situation | Sensible action |
|---|---|
| Article still selling well, core sizes out | Reorder the missing sizes only, not a full carton, if the supplier allows. |
| Core sizes out at one branch, available at another | Transfer the sizes between branches before reordering. |
| Article slowing, only edge sizes left | Move the remaining pairs to an odd-sizes rack or a clearance offer. |
| End of season, scattered sizes across many articles | Check your supplier terms for returns or exchanges before marking down. |
Branch transfers are often the cheapest fix, because the pairs are already paid for. Our guide to multi-branch stock control covers transfer entries and permissions in detail.
Reordering by your own size curve
A size curve is the share of sales each size takes within a category, in your shop. It differs between a college-area store and a market-area store, between men's formal and ladies' sandals, and sometimes between seasons. Ordering by your own curve, instead of whatever mix the supplier packs, is how you keep the middle sizes on the shelf without piling up the ends.
Working it out
- Export last season's sales for one category by size from your billing software into Excel.
- Add up the pairs sold in each size and divide by the total to get each size's share.
- Multiply the shares by the number of pairs you plan to order and round to whole pairs.
- Compare the result with the supplier's carton mix and ask for open sizes where the carton forces sizes you do not sell.
| Size | Pairs sold last season | Share | Next order of 60 pairs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 5 | 5% | 3 |
| 7 | 15 | 15% | 9 |
| 8 | 25 | 25% | 15 |
| 9 | 25 | 25% | 15 |
| 10 | 20 | 20% | 12 |
| 11 | 10 | 10% | 6 |
| Total | 100 | 100% | 60 |
Once you know the curve, set low-stock levels on the core sizes so the software alerts you before they hit zero. The underlying logic of reorder levels (average daily sale, supplier lead time and a safety margin) is the same in any shop; our guide to reorder levels walks through it with a worked example.
Size exchanges and returned pairs
Shoes come back for fit more often than for any other reason. The customer bought a 9, it pinches, and they want a 10. Record it as a return of the 9 against the original bill and a fresh sale of the 10, so both sizes stay correct. Before the 9 goes back on the shelf, check the soles for wear and confirm both shoes are in the right box; a lightly worn pair belongs in a separate seconds or damaged stock, not in fresh stock.
If one article keeps coming back for a bigger size, that is information: the brand may run small. Note it for staff, so they suggest half a size up at the first fitting, and factor it into your next size curve.
How MATROP's software supports footwear size tracking
Our garments and footwear shop software stores each article with a size set (numeric sizes such as 6, 7, 8 and so on), colour and style codes, and stock and price at variant level. Barcode labels can be printed for each size, billing is done by scanning, and reorder or low-stock alerts, stock audits and adjustments, and supplier-wise purchase history are part of inventory control. Returns are taken against the original invoice, and exchanges settle any price difference.
For shops with more than one outlet, the optional multi-branch module adds stock transfers between branches and branch-wise sales reports. Sales and stock reports can be exported to Excel or PDF, which is all you need to build the size curve described above.
Before you decide, ask to see your own articles in a demo: a brand with half sizes, a kids' range, a carton converted into size-wise pairs, and a low-stock alert set on a single size. If you mainly sell free-size slippers in bulk to other retailers through salesmen, a distribution system is a better fit; see retail and distribution software. When you are ready to review sales by size alongside margins and ageing, our guide to reports for garment and footwear owners takes it further.
Questions people ask
Should half sizes be separate items in the software?
Yes. If you stock a 7.5, it should be its own size variant with its own stock count and barcode, so it is never sold or reordered as a 7 or an 8.
How do I record a pair where one shoe is damaged?
Remove the whole pair from saleable stock with a stock adjustment and note the reason. A single shoe cannot be sold, so leaving the pair in stock only inflates your size count.
Is it better to put the barcode on the box or on the shoe?
Put the main barcode on the box for fast billing, and a small matching sticker inside each shoe so pairs separated during trials can be matched back to the right box.
How much sales history do I need to work out a size curve?
Ideally one full season of sales for that category. For a new category, start with the supplier's standard assortment and adjust after the first few weeks of your own sales.
