How to Start a Successful Online Clothing Business

Step 1: Choose Your Online Clothing Niche

Your first step should be to determine the apparel or clothing niche you want to sell. By choosing your niche, you will be able to pick products and develop your garments business ideas plan around the types of shoppers you want to reach and ultimately secure a unique positioning for your business.

By being very specific, you will be able to identify and market to your potential customers more easily. Also, you will develop your product line to appeal to your specific target market, reducing competition and increasing the chances of long-term customer loyalty.

Here’s an awesome example: the online apparel store HUMAN. What do they specialize in? Celebrity fashion. In what way do they cater to it? The brand appeals to what they call ‘pop culture nerds’ by using bold humor. What appeals to potential shoppers in this niche? I don’t wear fancy skirts or brand-name shoes, but t-shirts, hoodies, and underwear.

The site has so much great content, but it’s its slogan that captures its niche best: “Dress Yourself To Express Yourself.”

What is your niche? To select your niche, consider these four factors:

Uniqueness is the key to standing out from the crowd
You should choose a niche that interests you and you are passionate about
You should consider whether you can add value and/or position yourself as an authority in your field
Asses the earning potential of the fashion niche

For more information on how to choose profitable niches for your online store, read our post How to Find a Profitable Niche for Your Online Store.

Step 2: Select Your Online Clothing Store Products

As soon as you’ve chosen your niche, you need to choose your products. What type of clothing will you be selling? Clothing and apparel are almost infinite, and there are a whole lot of options inside the niche you’re selling in.

It’s tempting to sell everything at once, but this could spell your destruction before you’ve even started. Whenever you start an online store, start small and grow slowly. As you grow, you can add lines as you go.

Content Bonus: Top-Selling & Trending Products to Sell Online in 2022, including Apparel

One of our top sellers, Mrs Bow Tie, is a good example of this. In the UK, Mrs. Bow Tie made its name selling bow ties that are uniquely “Made in Britain”. They were so successful with just one product line they added neckties, pocket squares, and ties to their repertoire within three years Their product lists now include cummerbunds, suspenders, and cufflinks, which are sold to over 300,000 customers.

Take the example of an online clothing store that specializes in yoga clothing and fitness gear. Rather than proposing a wide range of products, choose only those you can launch with. The kind of product you create – whether it’s a hoodie or a pair of socks – will determine how successful your brand will be.

When choosing the right products, what are the factors to consider? We’ve put together our top three tips!

1. Take it slow

Once your product list is off the ground, start small and simple. When you launch your business, having too many products upfront can not only add extra costs every step of the way – from product photo shoots to web setup – but create complications as well. As a new store in an extremely competitive market, great customer service and the appropriate helpdesk software to deliver it, or lack thereof, can make or break your clothing business.

2. Plan ahead

Changing fashions and fashion trends are nothing new. To begin with, choose products that are stable and can be changed easily according to changing styles, such as bow ties and t-shirts. You should plan for changing styles by creating a shop that can adapt, such as dropshipping orders, so that you don’t have undesirably unsellable inventory. The clothing industry is always changing, so your success will depend on your ability to plan ahead and react to those changes in an innovative and creative manner.

3. Focus on what matters

At the outset, you should be as specific and narrow as possible, but keep an eye on the end result. Make sure you’re focused on your overall goal when developing your online clothing brand in the future.

Determine Your Online Clothing Store Business Model

Now that you have your niche identified and an idea of the types of products you wish to sell, it’s time to choose an online clothing business model for your online clothing store. It is here that you decide whether you will use a clothing manufacturer, white labeling, or drop shipping as your clothing supplier.

There are four different business models that apply to online clothing and apparel stores:

A print-on-demand service
Cut-and-sew services
It is a private label
The dropshipping industry

Online business models have their own pros and cons and the choice should be based on your overall fashion store objective, budget, and your ability to hire a team.

Let’s look at each of them more closely.

1. Business Model for Print-on-Demand Clothing Stores

Online clothing businesses that use print-on-demand are the easiest and most economical to run. According to estimates, custom t-shirt printing alone will reach $10 billion by 2025.

It is one of those stores where you can print your logo and design onto blank apparel, and everything is automated.

The types and colors available within this type of business are sufficient, and it is the most cost-effective option when dealing with small volumes of orders.

Print is a good example of a company doing this, which has grown into a mega print-on-demand brand that recently introduced activewear and warehousing and fulfillment services to its portfolio.

A major drawback of this model is that they usually have low-profit margins and offer few branding options, such as labels and tags.

How to Find Private-Label Manufacturers for Your Products: Bonus Content

2. A Cut-and-Sew Clothing Boutique Business Model

Designed for those of you who want to start your own clothing brand and online boutique. In other words, for those of you who want to design and make your own clothing and accessories.

You can use this type of clothing boutique business model if you want to build up an entire clothing line from scratch. At this firm, you design, manufacture, and fulfill your own clothes.

This is an advantage since you are selling something very unique and can customize it as you please. Custom cut-and-sew businesses, however, require a lot of management, as you are responsible for finding and coordinating pattern-makers, manufacturers, and sourcing fabric. To launch your first line, you will need to devote a lot of budget and time ahead of time.

Are you looking for pattern-makers? We have three vetted providers to get you started:

The Clothesline Design Source
The JLD Studio
Creating Patterns

3. Business model for private label clothing stores

There are several private label business models, ranging from print-on-demand to cut-and-sew. Compared to the first, they offer more custom clothing but require less time and budget. You would essentially be purchasing wholesale clothing and accessories, which you would sell and market under your fashion brand.

Is wholesale clothing private labeling a good idea?

Your clothing store sells blank or label-less items as wholesale, which you then customize with a label, tag, or design before selling them. Print-on-demand is much more expensive than bulk-buying, but you’ll get better rates when you negotiate.

However, there are some downsides, such as having to deal with fulfillment and inventory management yourself. Platforms, such as Threadbird, allow you to buy and tailor your apparel and clothing to your specific needs. Fulfillment services are also offered for those of you who prefer to hold your own inventory.

4. Online Dropshipping Clothing Fashion Brand Business Model

The concept of dropshipping clothing is similar to print-on-demand; you are able to sell clothing through wholesalers. The cost-effective route is to sell without stock up front, storing, packaging, and shipping. One disadvantage is that your products will not be as unique as others, and you may face competition from a variety of stores.

Setting it up can be fairly straightforward, however. With tools such as Oberlo , you’ll be able to locate and coordinate a lot of suppliers and incorporate them into your online store.

Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Print-on-Demand T-Shirt Business: Bonus Content

Step 4: Outline your business plan for your online clothing store

Your niche, products, and business model are all set; now you need to outline your business plan. You should include:

(divide your potential customers into segments or fashion audiences)
A product (determining what makes it unique)
Your largest competitors (list them here)
A business model or fulfillment strategy for online businesses
Brand identity/clothing store description (how you want your target market to see your fashion store)

A strong brand identity is essential for rapid growth in such a saturated market. The brand identity of a company is more than just a logo or name – it’s how your company is recognized. You might say it’s the human side of your brand. A fashion brand’s look, feel, and voice can all be created here. See our post on how to build a strong brand identity for clothing stores using these 9 branding strategies.

When it comes to eCommerce strategy, you should be able to answer questions such as where the traffic (potential shoppers) will come from and what will make your products attractive to that traffic.

Further, and very importantly, include pricing in your business plan. Consider these important clothing line price factors when budgeting the price per item:

Web development, hosting, and equipment.
Develop and design
Cost per unit of production including samples
Transportation and labor
Supplies

Then, you can calculate margins, which are around 30-50% if you are using cut-and-sew models. As you are setting your prices, you should also look at your biggest competitors, ensuring you are not pricing yourself out of the market.

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Step 5: Creating Your Online Clothing Store

Now comes the fun part: creating your online store.

The first thing you will need is your domain. We suggest buying this separately upfront as soon as you have your main idea. You want to make sure that the domain is still available after you have designed your range and built your site. For this, we would recommend Namecheap.

Alternatively, you can buy your domain directly through eCommerce platforms such as Shopify or WordPress.

Next, you will want to choose your platform and then your theme (or vice versa). This is one of the most important decisions you will make when creating your store.

Why?

Because your website, its design, and user-friendliness are as important as the product you are selling and shouldn’t be rushed. The most popular eCommerce website and store builder options are:

Shopify
WooCommerce (for WordPress)
Magento
BigCommerce
Wix

If you don’t have the budget to hire designers or the time to teach yourself WordPress, then we suggest online store builders such as Wix or Shopify. If you need more help choosing an eCommerce platform or online store builder to launch your clothing company then these guides are a good place to start.

Main Differences Between Shopify and Shopify Plus, and How to Choose
Magento Commerce vs. Shopify Plus – Who Comes Out On Top?
Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento: How to Choose the Right Platform

Pro Tip: Another important part of setting up your store that deserves special mention is your product pages. Online shoppers only have product photos and pages by which to judge the quality and details of your products, so make sure that product photos and pages are of good quality – even when you’re dropshipping. Visit our How to Create Perfect Product Pages for Conversions post for more tips on product pages and CTA copy examples!

Step 6: Launching Your Online Clothing Store

Once your products are in place, an online business plan is set up, fulfillment is organized and the site is done, it’s time to launch your online clothing store. Here are some launch tips to help you get started.

1. Identify Your Launch Plan

A promotion will you be running? YouTube Live video on Facebook? Utilize a current email database to distribute teaser mailers? Whatever method you choose, have it prepared to be implemented gradually as you launch. Before launching, this should include things like proofreading and testing the functionality of the entire store.

2. Set up your social media accounts

Make sure your social media account pages are prepared before launching your website. Before your major launch, in fact, have these operational and filled with content. You will be able to advertise your new store on social media and reach out to an audience that is already expanding as a result of doing this. A content marketing strategy should also be considered in order to promote brand loyalty among your target customers in the fashion industry.

3. Have an automated email marketing strategy in place.

Make sure all of your automation emails are configured, tested, and that you have a three-month email marketing plan in place.

4. Verify that your Google Ads and Analytics accounts are set up.

Before launching, you should make sure that your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are set up. You will be able to use SERP advertisements to generate traffic to your store during its launch and track that traffic in real-time.

5. Verify that your Google Ads and Analytics accounts are set up.

6. Create a Marketing Plan for Your Clothing Store

Prior to, during, and following the launch of your online clothes business, you need have a marketing strategy in place. A wide range of channels and strategies should be used in a successful eCommerce marketing plan. Here are some TikTok video ideas to get you started, as well as UGC, a fashion blog for your eCommerce website, influencer marketing, and other elements of your content marketing strategy.

PPC marketing plan (which includes all of your pay-per-click advertisements on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Google). Alternatively, you can automate your PPC marketing campaign using PPC management software.)

email marketing technique (cart abandonment emails, promotional emails, weekly newsletters, subscriber growth strategies, etc.)

(Blog and website content and) Shopify SEO mark

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