Are you thinking about starting your own business? Internet trading is suitable for both those who are first experiencing themselves in the role of an entrepreneur, and for those who already have business experience behind them. If you want your business to really develop and bring maximum profit, you need to take note of these tips regarding how to start a clothing business.
Table of Contents
Deciding your Target Market and Product Type
Before you start trading on the Internet, you need to develop a simple business plan. Think about who, what, where, when and how to sell. Choose your target audience, what to sell, where and how to do it. Also, pay attention to the individual task setting. Products should reflect your personality, style, and preferences. Your boutique should be unique – in this case, buyers will purchase goods from you, not from competitors. Creative and effective company names; as well as advanced customer-oriented web design are good ways to show your identity in this business area.
Find a reliable supplier
Now that you already have a general idea of how to conduct business, you need to purchase goods. If you do not sell your own products, used clothing, or vintage items, you will either have to find a supplier or rely on dropshipping (direct delivery system of orders from the manufacturer). If you choose the first option, then make sure that you receive a full set of clothes quickly and at a competitive price. If you focus on direct deliveries, you will need to study the available professionals and do everything possible to ensure that the product is replenished as necessary and you receive exactly those products that you ordered. A great way to check both a regular supplier and a supplier in the field of dropshipping is to order a copy of any product from them. To prevent products from losing shape, store them in a safe and clean place, even outside your home, if necessary.
How much money you need to invest in the project
Now – without text. Only numbers.
- Web design and development – 500-2000 dollars.
- The purchase of the first batch of goods – 2000 – 5000 dollars.
- Monthly business maintenance costs:
- advertising – 100-1000 dollars depending on the volume;
- purchase of new consignments – $ 1,000;
- delivery of goods (possible costs for the courier) – $ 100;
- Branding Packages – $ 200.
Total: starting costs – $ 7,000, monthly – $ 1,600. The amount is half lower than would be required to open a standard store.
But in this business plan, the creation of a rather big clothing store is described. You should not give up immediately at the sight of such numbers, because part of the work can be done independently like branding packages and delivery of goods if made within your city limits. Though not as high quality and not as fast as specialists could have done. But the most important thing is that at the initial stage, this will also work.
Create an online store
The next step is to create an online platform on which you will sell the goods. Web design and development includes searching and paying for a domain name, developing a page and creating a trading account for accepting credit card and different payments. You can also choose software (CMS) and pay for an already designed and pre-designed website. Some of these sites make it easier and faster to create an online store. This is especially useful if you have little experience in web design and code development.
Properly optimize the site
A well-designed and an efficient online store that is convenient and easy to navigate can be a decisive criterion for customers to order products from you. Divide the product into categories and provide sensible descriptions for each item. Descriptions should include size specifications and include information on available color schemes. Photos with the zoom function, as well as size conversion tables, will only benefit you. On a freelance site, you can order content filling the catalog so as not to waste time yourself.
Clearly, describe the return policy, including the shipping price in the price of the product or offer decent delivery methods. It is important to attract and retain as many customers as possible.
Advertise and promote the online store
Many entrepreneurs sell clothes online. You need to find creative and unusual ways to stand out against their background. One way to promote products is to use all possible online resources for advertising.
Promote the product on social networks, use contextual advertising. Hire a qualified SEO specialist as well as a copywriter to maximize your website traffic. It may not be difficult to open an online clothing store, but efforts should be made to make the business successful.
The Why Questions of Online Store
Why are women’s and children’s clothing stores the most profitable?
The success of the enterprise is largely dependent on the human factor. Knowing that women are more prone to impulsive shopping, and also that mothers rather than fathers buy clothes for their children, you can predict and compare the success of women’s, children’s and men’s clothing stores.
If the average man allows himself new things every six months to a year and buys only those things that he needs, then the woman replenishes the wardrobe once every two to three months, or even more often. A woman, even planning a purchase, can easily change plans and instead of one thing buy two or three.
Choosing a wardrobe for a child, mom will definitely pamper the baby with an additional element or accessory, try to have a lot of bright interesting things. Do not lose sight of the fact that children grow quickly and their wardrobe needs to be updated most often. And also the fact that choosing clothes for a child, mom cannot resist the temptation to get something new for herself.
In this section, I specifically avoided numbers to make you understand how to make a profit on purely psychological points. Therefore, I rely on the information received, you should decide for yourself whether it is profitable to open an online clothing store?
Why is it profitable to open an online clothing store?
If you already have your own store or an off-line point where you sell clothes, unfortunately, you will not be able to hang out your entire assortment on your premises. You just don’t have enough for showing to customers.
In addition, after all, in the online store, clothes can be shown to a potential customer on order, that is, without even having the necessary copies in their warehouse. In this case, your online store acts as an online showcase that will allow you to significantly expand your retail space without renting new areas for displaying products. The online store will operate 24 hours a day, even without you, and will acquaint potential buyers with your assortment.
If you agree with a large supplier of clothes, you can unload his models in your online store and accept user orders. As soon as the order has arrived, you can contact the manufacturer and send the goods to the buyer. In this case, you will not need to freeze money and invest in goods.
Not the fact that all the goods will be sold, so the best option is the following:
Keep in your warehouse the most popular and popular models and sizes of clothes, and upload to the online store a large list of offers from your supplier on order or on a pre-order basis.
How can I deal with clothing returns?
Option 1 – If you sell clothes in your city, you can always give the courier for delivery of several sizes for fitting. In this case, if the desired size does not fit – the courier can offer the next size (larger or smaller). This option will work if you have a large assortment of each type of product.
Option 2 – if your online clothing store is in the same city where your customers are located, you can use your online store as a showcase for ordering. A customer places an order and comes to your fitting room to put on a thing and pay on the spot.
Option 3 – if you deliver clothes by region, you can include return shipping in the cost of the clothes. At the same time, you can inform the client that if the selected size does not fit him, the buyer can return the item and get a different size with free shipping.
Get ready that your online store should support and show the product parameters that are necessary for the order. This is a set of attributes or combinations, in other stores, they are called options.
In conclusion, I will say that all these requirements in this article will help you stand out and gain a foothold in the Internet commerce market if you want to sell clothes online. Well, then, your desire to grow and develop!
How not to “burn out” and not to sit when you start an online store – read my recommendations here – Buying an online store is still half the battle!
Good luck with the opening of a clothing store online!
Alex is fascinated with “understanding” people. It’s actually what drives everything he does. He believes in a thoughtful exploration of how you shape your thoughts, experience of the world.
