It’s 2020 and you’re ready to try something new. And that something is a clothing business. The problem is where to start, what to do and how complicated is it to start this type of business?
It can be a complicated and overwhelming process at first if you don’t decide to follow the next couple of steps.
On the other hand, if you decide to follow these steps your clothing business can turn out to be a very rewarding and successful endeavor.
Decide your clothing niche
When starting your own business, first thing you need to decide on is what kind of clients you want to cater. This will help you determine what sort of clothes you want to sell and which market you want to target. For example, you want to sell children’s clothes, women’s clothing, maybe men’s clothing, expensive or cheap stuff etc.
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If you have trouble deciding, or if you don’t have a particular idea about which of these options to choose from, you should do some research. Market research will help you narrow down your options and it will also tell you which market has the largest gap. This gap is where you should base your niche. You need to pick a niche that has enough demand, but not too many competitors.
Gender, age, and lifestyle play a big role in deciding which niche to go for.
Budget and other paperwork
The next step on our list is to make sure that everything is legal and that you have the budget to start your business. This will be achieved by making a solid business plan.
When it comes to the legal aspect of the business, you’ll need to get all the required permits and licenses. This will largely depend on the country or city, even the area you live in.
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But before doing all the legal work, start with a business plan. It will structure your idea, will tell you the exact amount of money you need in order to get started, the amount of competitors in your niche, plan of action, your weak and strong points. If the money and the budget is not the problem, then you can start with the legal work.
Wholesale/selling your own designs
This step is all about finding wholesale suppliers and building relationships. The best idea is to find a good wholesale clothing online option.
Online platforms have made finding wholesale suppliers extremely easy. Online wholesale marketplaces are ideal places to find wholesalers, distributors, and retailers. Similarly, online wholesale directories are platforms that can connect you to over 8000 wholesale and dropship suppliers that offer over a million products.
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This is the easiest way to find a website of clothing brands that are willing to sell. The next step is to contact the supplier. In most cases, the wholesale supplier will ask you to provide necessary paperwork that is proof that you’re conducting a legitimate business.
Once you have successfully contacted the wholesale supplier and provided all the necessary paperwork, you can buy clothes in bulk. For this, you will need a place large enough to store all these clothes. You as a retailer would have to test and package the clothes before you sell them.
If you decide to sell your own designs, you’ll need to go through several different stages from design to sewing and only in the end selling. This is definitely a more complicated and longer road to the successful clothing business. But once you have a finished product in your hands you’ll see how rewarding the whole process will be.
Create your online clothing store
Your first move should be getting a domain. Once you have your domain bought and your name chosen, you can move to the design of your website. Your web page should be professional and user-friendly. The design of your web site should be made with the customer in mind, meaning that you should know who your target audience is. However, don’t forget to add your personal touch as this is your business!
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Then start adding your products to your online site. Make sure that those products are organized nicely, by certain groups or by price. Think about what you like to see when you decide to visit an online clothing store and then add your personal touch to it.
The next step is setting services that allow you to take credit card payments from your customers that are also known as a payment processor.
Launching and marketing
Before launching your business, you should be sure that customers can find your store online. This implies optimizing search engines to get more traffic to your site. Usually, this is an SEO job, so you can always hire some help in this department if you’re not sure how everything works.
Once the site was launched, the next part is to do some marketing. This is easily done on most social media platforms. Social media is an inexpensive way to introduce your clothing store and brand to the world. You can even sell your products on Instagram or Facebook. And that is basically it!
Starting any business is a daunting process in the beginning. However, don’t let the initial fear deter you from starting your clothing business. Bottom line is that the clothing business is one of the most profitable businesses in this day and age, especially if you’re selling online.
Just follow these couple of easy steps and in no time your clothing business will thrive.
What do you think, girls? Did you find this article helpful? Let us know in the comments below.
