Finding Your Niche: Biggest Considerations for Your Online Clothing Store

Did you know that online clothing stores are a multi-billion dollar a year industry expected to reach a whopping $713 billion by the year 2022? That statistic alone is no reason why more and more people are hopping on the bandwagon to get a piece of that pie! It’s such a big industry that you too have the opportunity to get your start in the industry as well, you just have to follow the right steps.

To start an online clothing store, most people think that all they have to do is purchase a domain name, start advertising your clothing products, and boom, you’re in business… but oh no, there’s so much more to it than that. To have a successful online store, you have to look at all the considerations. Some of the biggest considerations include:

• Finding the right niche
• Your brand
• Quality of your products as well as the quality of your online store
• Customer service

People sometimes think that if they select a popular niche that they’re going to be guaranteed success but what people don’t realize is that when you choose a really popular niche, you have to work even harder to make your brand and products stand out from the other competitors in that same niche. So before you jump in the world of e-commerce clothing sales, make sure you’ve looked at all the considerations first and what they entail.

Choose the Right Niche for Your Online Clothing Store

So first things first, before you can even think about selling your products, you have to think about the clothing niche you want to sell in first. Some people might think that this part isn’t a big deal but finding your niche is integral to your business… this is ultimately what your entire business will be planned around, helping you to determine the types of customers you’ll appeal to.

Start Choosing Your Products

It’s recommended that if this will be your first online store, you need to start out small, selling a particular style of clothing. Are you going to sell only dresses? Will you be selling jeans and jackets? This is the time to decide on all the types of products you want to sell.

Some people choose to just sell everything. Now, it’s very possible to do that and still be very successful but if you don’t approach that the right way, you can get very overwhelmed and set yourself up for failure before you can even get started. It’s best to start small and slowly expand your products as you start to sell more.

Choose Your Business Model

With online clothing stores, you have a few business models to choose from and they range in levels of difficulty… it just depends on what you’re up for. The various online clothing store business models include the following:

• Private Label

Private label is when you buy blank/labelless pieces and add your own customized design or label before actually selling them in your online store. If you decide to use this business model, you’ll want to use woven labels for your pieces, as they are much more durable and can withstand various temperatures when washed.

• Custom Cut-and-Sew

This is the model for those who want to launch their clothing line from scratch. Meaning, you literally do EVERYTHING! From designing your clothes all the way up to fulfillment… if you have the time (and patience) for this model, go for it!

• Dropshipping

This is an easy and convenient method to sell your products… your products are fulfilled by a wholesaler. Although this is an easy and convenient model, the only drawback is that there isn’t really any uniqueness with your products, so that means that there may be other businesses selling those exact same products you’re selling

• Print-on-Demand

This is the easiest and cheapest business model. With this model, your design and logo are printed on blank apparel. Print on demand merchandise is especially popular with t-shirt businesses.

Create Your Online Store

This is the part where all your hard work comes to fruition… you’re making your online clothing store a reality. Sites like Shopify is a great platform to purchase your domain name from… just make sure your domain name is memorable and relevant to what you’re selling so that customers won’t forget it.

In creating your store, there are several factors to consider to make sure it’s appealing to potential customers. You want to make sure your website is as aesthetically appealing as your products are. On top of that, your store also needs to be user-friendly and accessible across multiple devices with clear and compelling calls-to-action, according to Forbes.com. This is what will prompt customers to buy.

You’re Ready to Launch

Your website is now ready to go, you have all the products ready to sell, and the last thing is to launch your site. You definitely want to create social media accounts to drive traffic to your site as well as look into various marketing tactics to promote your site but this is the easy part. Getting your products together was the hardest part and you’ve already knocked that out… so now the question is, are you ready to officially get your business up and running?