Do you want to combine your interests of fashion and making money? It’s time to start an online clothing store.
With easy setup, simple stock management, and low startup costs, an online clothing store is ideal for anyone with a passion for fashion. You can choose your brand style, the products you stock, and even become Insta-famous!
Here’s how to set up your own clothing store online in just five easy steps.
Five Tips to Start an Online Clothing Store (That Succeeds)
#1. Pick Your Fashion Niche
It’s easier to grow an online store when it is already selling some items. So, instead of insisting on having a huge product line to start off with, try a limited niche, to begin with.
Whether you want to specialize in fashion for kids, men, women, plus size, petite, or even bridal, having a hand-picked high-quality product selection will help to gain a loyal following.
Once you have a live online store, you can then easily branch out into other areas as you gain loyal customers and profit to invest back into marketing.
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#2. Decide Your Brand Name and Style
Before you create your store, have a logo and brand style designed. This will make it easy to create a strong brand identity that customers will recognize whenever they see it.
Remember to check out potential competitors to ensure you aren’t using a similar brand name or logo. You want to stand out in a busy online marketplace, so make your brand memorable!
#3. Choose an E-Commerce Website Provider
It’s easy to create your own online clothing store without setting up your own website.
There are many e-commerce sites, like Shopify and Etsy, that allow you to create your unique store within their website. This means you can set up quickly and easily, and have integrated payment and shipping solutions already built in.
#4. Decide on Inventory Management: Stock or Drop Ship?
The great thing about online stores is that you don’t need to hold physical inventory if you don’t want to. Rather than buying (and storing) stacks of clothes with lots of upfront capital investment, drop shipping allows you to order directly from the wholesaler only when a customer places an order.
Your shipping is also handled by a drop shipping company like Oberlo, so all you have to do is make sure you’re running and promoting your online store. Everything else is done for you.
However, as your shop grows – or if you make your own fashion for sale – you may want to choose to hold your stock. This improves your quality control methods and allows you to ensure timely deliveries too.
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#5. Consider Your User Experience
How your online clothing store is set out will affect your sales. Cluttered pages, unclear product descriptions, and hard-to-navigate categories will all put your customers off.
You also need to ensure your online store is mobile friendly. More than 63% of online sales are completed on mobile devices, so a store that isn’t responsive on tablets or phones is going to cost you lost sales.
Use original photos, too. Invest in a home photography studio or pay a professional photographer and models to show off your products. Stock product photos are a huge giveaway that you’re a new business.
Take some time to bring your own style to your products and your customers will enjoy browsing your store far more.
Your Final Step to Success: Set up a Marketing Strategy
It’s easy to start an online clothing store but it’s harder to make sure it continues as a success.
A strong social media marketing plan is a great, low-cost, way to get new customers through your virtual shop’s door. Once you’ve established a regular following and a strong social media presence, it’s easier to branch out into email marketing, paid advertising, and other strategies to build your brand.
Check out these hot social media marketing tips to launch your new online store and see success!
