Fashion might be considered a luxury, but clothes are a necessity, which is why going into fashion retail can be a good move for someone who feels inspired by stylish designs and has business acumen to burn.
If this is something that you have been considering, but you have been reluctant to take the plunge on starting a business of your own in a bricks’n’mortar premises, you might want to think about establishing a home-based business, to begin with.
The overheads for this kind of set-up are much lower, and with many consumers shopping online these days, you will likely find your ideal customer base with some clever marketing, too. If this sounds appealing to you, read on for some basic tips to help you get started. Here’s how to turn selling clothes online into a lucrative home business.
Your Business Website
First things first, you will need to create a professional website where your customers can purchase your clothes and accessories securely. Ideally, it will be something that’s, visually, reassuringly professional so as to confirm to customers that your operation is legit and the clothes in the photos are real and of the quality you promise.
There are many eCommerce website builders that you can use for free or at a low cost, such as Wix, Shopify, and Zyro. You can choose to get a bespoke website designed for you if you would like, but this is likely to be a relatively large expense to create and keep running smoothly.
The main things you need to look out for when designing your website include how easy it is to navigate, the quality of the content you put on it, such as checking for grammatical errors, using keywords in your product descriptions and making sure the photos of your items are clear and of good quality.
You’ll also need to make sure any links to internal and external pages work correctly and that it is easy for your customers to make a secure payment at the checkout. Your business branding should also be visible and consistent throughout your website.
If you are intent on designing your own website, then YouTube is the place to go for a good WordPress tutorial for beginners. Considered the easiest open-source website creation platform to learn, it’s a great skill to have under your belt, even if your clothes selling business doesn’t take off!
Read: 9 ways to improve your website for your customers
Or, Do Things More Informally
You don’t even have to set up your own website to sell your clothes online. There are plenty of different online outlets that you can use such as eBay, Depop or ASOS Marketplace, and branded clothes in a good condition could make a fair amount of money. What’s more, you’ll be contributing to a positive, circular fashion movement rather than adding to demand for new items, which in turn harms our planet.
Alternatively, consider social media for selling your clothes, which is a fantastic platform for selling all types of clothes, tech and household items that you’re keen to get rid of. That said, it’s also a fantastically informal way to do things, for better or for worse, and it pays to have your guard up to scams and misinformation if you’re to get the most from the platform.
Some of the more popular platforms are local area groups, such as Next Door, Gum Tree and Craigslist, which allow you to advertise bits’n’bobs on forums via location. The biggest and most popular platform by a long chalk, however, is Facebook and its dedicated Facebook Marketplace facility, which has millions of users all over the world, as well as hosting various local groups on the omnipresent social media network.
Storing Your Products
Another issue you will need to be mindful of is how and where you will store your products until they are bought and sent out to customers. If you have a spare bedroom in your house that can be used for this, it could be beneficial. Or, if you’ve got designe
However, you might want to think about leasing a climate-controlled storage unit if you have a lot of products and want to keep them in good condition. You’ll also need garment rails, covers for the clothing, retail hangers, a steamer to help keep certain items clean and fresh, and perhaps even some mannequins or a dressmaker’s dummy for when you want to photograph your items for the website.
Or, if you’ve got designs on a bigger operation still, then consider outsourcing some of the organisational tasks to a clothing fulfillment company. These guys can cover shipping, storage, inventory management and more. Should you truly believe in your business and its potential for lucrativeness, then this is the path you should probably pursue.
Promoting Your Business
You might have amazing clothes to sell and a beautifully designed website, but you’ll also need to promote your online business and market it efficiently if you want to attract customers. Social media is an easy and cheap way to do this, but you should also think about reaching out to fashion bloggers who might be interested in doing a piece on your business, getting involved in local markets, or even offering special discounts to entice people to try your products.
The Bottom Line
So, there it is. This thing needn’t be stressful or expensive to get off the ground. If you would like to start an independent fashion boutique, consider starting with an online business that you can run from home and see how it can help your business grow while keeping the initial overheads low.
Check out these tips for shifting your belongings online for more of the same!