Steps to Starting an Online Clothing Shop

If you love fashion and want to take your passion to the next level, you may want to create an online clothing store. There are many advantages to creating an online boutique, such as lower inventory levels, no need to hire employees and lower cost of establishing the business since it is on an online platform. However, if you want your online boutique to grow and maximize your profits, you should follow these simple steps on how to start an online clothing shop.

Know Your Style and Your Audience

Before starting to sell clothes online, you should take some time to lay out a simple business plan. Ask yourself the Who/What/Where/When/How questions: find out who your target audience is, what style of clothes you plan on selling, where, when and how you plan on selling them. Also pay attention to your boutique’s individual mission statement. Make sure that your online clothing store reflects your personality, style and passions. You have to make your boutique unique so that online customers turn to your company to buy your merchandise, and not somewhere else. Great ways to personalize your online boutique include finding a creative and effective business name and spending time on creating an innovative and audience-oriented website.

Find a Quality Supplier

Now that you have a business concept for your online boutique, you need your actual merchandise. Unless you are making your own clothes or selling used or vintage items, you will need to either find a supplier or rely on drop-shipping. If you chose the first option, make sure that you will receive a full collection of clothes promptly and for a competitive price. If you decide on drop-shipping, you will need to research available professionals to make sure your inventory will be replenished when needed and that you will receive exactly what you buy from them. A great way to verify a drop-shipper or supplier’s professionalism is to order a sample order. To make sure your inventory stays in great shape, store your items in a secure and clean location, away from your house if needed.

Create Your Boutique Website

The next step is to set up the platform on which you will sell clothes online. You can either create a website, which includes finding and paying for a domain name, designing web pages and creating a merchant account to accept credit card payments. You can also go through an online ecommerce software and pay for an already formatted and pre-designed website. Some of these companies make creating your online clothing website easier and faster for you, especially if you have very little experience in web design or coding.

Organize Your Shop

An organized and efficient online clothing store which offers a friendly user experience can make the difference between making and not making a sale. Make sure to categorize your items and add meaningful descriptions to each item, followed by a clear explanation of sizes and colors available for each item. Adding photographs with ‘zoom’ options and size conversion charts can make user experience even better. Be clear about your return policy, and ensure that you either absorb the price of shipping in your items’ prices or offer competitive shipping options to retain as many clients as possible.

 Advertise Your Online Shop

There are many individuals who already sell clothes online. You have to find creative and innovative ways to stand out from the crowd. One way you can market your boutique effectively is to take advantage of all the resources available on the web. Get involved on social media and rely on per-per-clicks ads or online ads. Hire qualified SEO specialist and copywriter to maximize traffic on your boutique’s website.

Starting an online clothing shop can be easy, but you need to take the necessary steps to make your selling experience a successful one.