Brown Shoe Co. sells Shoes.com

Brown Shoe Co. has sold its Shoes.com online division to a Seattle company looking to compete in a market dominated by Amazon.com and Foot Locker.

SHOEme, parent of OnlineShoes.com and Shoeme.ca, is purchasing Shoes.com for an undisclosed price, the companies said.

"Our top priorities as we head into 2015 are to continue to broaden our offering of shoes, and provide the best online shopping experience possible for our customers," said Roger Hardy, CEO of OnlineShoes.com and SHOEme.ca. "Shoes.com's strong history with top-tier brands and engaged customer base makes it a natural fit for our business. Together, we can provide a better overall experience for our customers with more access to great brands, with the same great service they've come to expect from OnlineShoes.com and SHOEme.ca."

Founded in 1999, Shoes.com aims to make 24-hour online shopping for men, women and children easy with its wide selection of high quality brands. When Shoes.com is added to the SHOEme portfolio of footwear sites, the combined companies are expected to generate 2015 sales of about $315 million, with 75 percent of that in the United States, Hardy said.

Online shoe sales in the United States will reach $10 billion this year, according to research firm IbisWorld. Market leaders include Amazon, which purchased the shoe site Zappos.com in 2009 for $1.19 billion, and Foot Locker.

Brown Shoe, based in St. Louis, has been closing stores in recent years to boost profits. The company has more than 1,200 stores and generated sales of $2.51 billion in its latest fiscal year, mostly in the United States.

SHOEme recently launched its first original line of shoes, PIKA. SHOEme will continue its aggressive growth in 2015, with more announcements planned, the company said.