Shoe sizes vary from one country to another. This is why when you buy Nike shoes, they are not labelled in the same sizes as you would expect from UK-made or China-made shoes. If you are a dropshipper of shoes from China, and if the product is made for the Chinese, it is very likely that the sizes are also for China.
This is a problem because if you are selling to people outside china, they may pick the “wrong” size. What I mean by wrong is that they chose the size that they thought would fit their feet, but it turns out wrong because the size labels are different. Small in China does not mean small in America, so there is a difference.
The secret to preventing this problem is t use a size chart for men’s shoe sizes in your store. Today, I will show you the size chart and how your customers can use it.
Why are sizes different?
This is a good question. Why not have a standard size for the whole world? Well, manufacturers cater to their target customers. For a Chinese manufacturer, the target is Chinese people. Since different aces have different averages in shoe sizes, manufacturers label their products based on their target consumers.
Even if we are not in the Information Age, it is difficult to ask the shoe industry to come together and produce a standard for the world. If they do this, it will cause chaos in the shoe market. Customers will get confused.
The size chart conversion for men’s shoes
Take a look at the table below for the most common shoe sizes for men’s shoes.
| US | UK | EUROPE | AUSTRALIA | CHINA | JAPAN |
| 6 | 5 | 38 | 5 | 39 | 23.5 |
| 7 | 6 | 39 | 6 | 41 | 24.5 |
| 7.5 | 6.5 | 40 | 6.5 | – | 25 |
| 8 | 7 | 41 | 7 | 42 | 25.5 |
| 8.5 | 7.5 | 42 | 7.5 | 43 | 26 |
| 9 | 8 | 43 | 8 | 43.5 | 27 |
| 10.5 | 9.5 | 44 | 9.5 | 44.5 | 28 |
| 11.5 | 10.5 | 45 | 10.5 | 46 | 29 |
| 12 | 11 | 46 | 11 | 47 | 30 |
| 13 | 12 | 47 | 12 | 48 | 31 |
| 14 | 13 | 48 | 13 | 49 | 32 |
The method for using this is simple. If your product is from China and you are selling an Australian customer, he has to look at the Australia column. If his size is 10.5, then it means that he has to order 46 in your store.
Why? Because 10.5 is the Australian equivalent of size 46 in China. You need to know this. You cannot order your shoes from your Chinese supplier and say size 10.5. If you do this, things can go wrong.
It is better to ask the customer to select the Australian size, and then you order in Chinese size from your Chinese supplier. It is also a good practice that you confirm your customer’s size selection before proceeding with the order. This way, all questions will be answered and there will be no errors in processing the orders.
Summary
Put a size chart on each of your product pages. Also, make sure that there is a reference size. For example, let us say that you are buying your products in China. You must say that the shoes displayed in your store are in Chinese sizes.
This way, the customer knows that he will look for his US/UK size equivalent, and then order the “China” size.
What you can do so as not to put a size chart on all pages is to just create a single page where the customer can view the size. However, this will take the customer off your product page and may change his mind.