How To Start A Fashion Business Online In 7 Easy Steps

Do you know the best thing about having a clothing business nowadays? You don’t need a brick-and-mortar store to sell clothes online to any corner all around the globe. With just an eCommerce store you can set up your own fashion business online and sell your clothing line easily.

Starting an online clothing store and managing from the initial stages was pretty difficult in the previous times but all thanks to the eCommerce industry as it allows everyone to start their own business online, regardless of which niche it is.

The only thing you need is to play your card right and the eCommerce fashion business game is yours. And today as a treat we will let you know how to start your own fashion business online.

You might be thinking that when you are selling fashion clothes online you will need to manage the inventory and other things so let me just tell you that when you are running an online fashion business, everything is online, you can even manage your inventory online by using the print-on-demand strategy.

If you have to explore how to start a fashion business online for a while, then you might have something on your mind which is enough for you to kick-start your journey.

Or if you are coming up with something new in the market, it’s probably the best thing in your business. as per the consumer taste that changes after every while, you can have your target audience to cater to.

Also read: How A Team From Jordan Started An Award-Winning Branding Agency

To make things easier for you, we have divided the whole article into two sections:

Essential factors that you should never forget when starting your own clothing store.
How you can start a successful fashion brand online in 7 steps.

So, let’s get started:

Essential Factors That You Should Never Forget When Starting your Own Clothing Store

When we are talking about the fashion brand and business great designs are not the only things that are going to help your business grow, but also you will need to have a sharp entrepreneurial mind to manage your business and make it successful in the longer run.

Here are some things that you should never forget when in a clothing business startup:

Stay dedicated

Startups usually require more attention, hard work, and dedication. When you will be starting a new business you should stay dedicated to your goal as you will face a lot of ups and down, it is all about your passion, dedication, and vision that makes you successful in the longer run.

Challenges are part of the process

In any business, challenges play a major role in the business development phase. With the challenges involved in the brand-building process, the entrepreneurs and major players of the business get exposure to the business challenges which helps them grow in the longer run.

So the more you fix the challenges the more you will be able to grow in the fashion industry.

Be as much creative as you can be

Evolution is the new normal, so when you are in the fashion clothing business you must not forget to work along with creativity. Consumers love creativity, creativity, styles
& designs are some of the major things that customer looks for when shopping for formal or casual clothing.

So, you better be sure to add creativity, designs, and styles to your fashion clothing line.

Connect with a suitable manufacturer

If you will be running a private label brand, and if you are finding a clothing manufacturer then be sure to connect with a clothing manufacturer who is pro-efficient enough is produce a clothing line for you.

It’s common to have delays in production and there are hundreds more issues to tackle like unavailability of fabric or wrong designs and a lot more to count.

So you are advised to focus on and identify these critical factors before working with a clothing manufacturer.

There are a number of things that you should look for in a clothing manufacturer like their services, specialty, turnaround time, manufacturing facility, tech pack services if they offer sample development, or can the source the type of fabric you are looking for. So there is a lot to consider.

7 Steps to Starting a Successful Fashion Brand Online

Remember, the biggest brand in the fashion industry was also a startup once, but with continuous struggle and innovation they become the biggest brand and the best part is that you can also become one.

There are a lot of things to consider so let’s discuss all of them in detail:

1. Find the need in the market

There is always room for something in the fashion industry, so the best approach you can take is to identify the gap in the market because working on something new is more likely for you to take you success as compared to targeting the same clothing line that your competitors are also offering.

You need to think of a niche that no one is offering and analyze the need of consumers. Analyze and find a consumer market that you can cater to by offering them a unique clothing line or the clothing line that they are looking for.

It can be anything; it can be a custom shirt based on a new design or a T-shirt that can be worn on a casual occasion. Or is it a new style hoodie that can give a new shape to the body?

So you should brainstorm ideas, study the market demands and consumer buying behavior and then figure out what’s can be the best clothing line you can offer.

2. Develop a clothing business plan

Most of the guides miss this business plan step not realizing how important a business plan is.

Even if you are a startup a business plan can make a completely strong base for your business. A solid strong can help build a strong base for your clothing business.

While making your business plan there are a number of things that you need to mention in your business plan such as what is the primary goal of your business, is your business private label, and what’s the background of the industry in which you are operating. A business model can act as a proper roadmap for your business journey.

Here are the main headers that you should include in your fashion clothing business model plan:

Executive summary
Company Overview
Competitor Analysis
Market Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Products and Services
Marketing strategies
Operations and logistics plan
Financial plan

The above-mentioned plan is the simple and best business plan template that you should work on to create your business model plan. Do you know, you can also get investors by having a strong financial plan?

Read the advantages of having a business model here.

3. Identify a target market

This is pretty much a basic step you must perform in line with step one. The goal is not just to sell a clothing line that just sells exists and is available, but it should be your primary goal to identify the customers for that product.

In the end, even a stunning design can be useless without potential buyers. Think about the advantages and disadvantages of targeting specific groups of people. For instance, younger people are more fashion-conscious and could be more open to online advertising and word-of-mouth, however, they may also be unable to afford the items.

The middle-aged customer might be able to pay an expensive price however; they might not be as much interested in buying fashionable clothes as compared the youth. You should consider these factors when working in the fashion industry so that you can create a loyal consumer market for your brand.

4. Choose a clothing manufacture

Find a clothing manufacture who is able to manufacture clothing time for your according to your needs. If possible, look for an existing company that is willing to assist you by offering you insider connections.

If not, you can create your own list of companies that make the clothing ideas and designs you are looking for. Shortlist your options and Find out who is offering you the best prices.

Find out which brands will deliver the order right on time to you so that you reach to market quickly.

Or if you are looking to get into the business of second-hand clothing you can work with local thrift stores and similar stores that could be your best tools for you to source a diverse range of clothing lines that you can resale to your customers.

5. Select a brand name and logo that reflects your business

Now that you are all set with the manufacturer and creating your own website. You’re now ready to begin planning your profile for the public. This involves choosing a company name, logo, and perhaps a slogan that we use for your business.

Customers prefer brands that have compelling stories, therefore it’s necessary for you to set a proper and easy-to-remember company name or logo for your brand and website.

This process should be completed before the manufacturing process has completed the production. This will ensure a smooth process of selling the clothing line right after its production.

6. Build an eCommerce website

As a fashion brand, you are expected to create a responsive site that is attractive and easy to navigate from any kind of device is crucial. You can request sample pictures from the manufacturer of the garments you offer so that you can create a basic structure for the website.

Moreover, you can add a detailed description of the item, describe its features, and create a whole listing of your offerings. Make sure your descriptions are accurate and thorough so that the customers are aware of what they are buying. You can create your website by yourself or hire a professional to create it.

Meet Iesha Crumpton, the founder of Epic The Collection, you can learn a lot from her about eCommerce entrepreneurship.

7. Start the brand marketing

A responsive site that is attractive and easy to navigate from any kind of device is crucial. Request pictures from the manufacturer of the garments you offer and a detailed description of the item, and how it is arranged the other items, so you are able to list the item.

Make sure your descriptions are accurate and thorough so that the customers are aware of what they are buying. You can create your website by yourself or employ a professional to create it.

Establish a Social Media Presence

As per businessofapps, 82% of users use social media to search for brands and the latest products, and, consequently, having a strong online presence could help you to reach your desired people

Fashion companies primarily utilize social media to promote their products and services, by running their sponsored posts related to fashion. Selling on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook is also a great option for content that is observed commonly.

Here are some helpful tips to establish an online page for your apparel business:

Make use of the business account. It grants access to special features like audience analysis, shopping engaging posts, and paid ads.
Contact influencers. Micro-influencers are typically less expensive to collaborate with. Therefore, they yield a greater return on investment.
Conduct giveaways. They’re great for increasing awareness of your brand. Fashion collection Girlfriend Collective was able to do this by offering free leggings to those who shared their posts through social channels. In the end, they produced 10,000 orders during their launch day.
Encourage content created by users. The possibility for customers to post photos of your product can boost your credibility. One method to use this technique is to request followers to show their purchases with an exclusive hashtag, and then repost photos on your page.

Other methods of marketing to use:

Email marketing.
Blogging
Search advertisement.

Conclusions

So here is all for starting a fashion business selling online, we’d like to remind you that every business is based on planning.

When you are considering starting a clothing business online, be sure to take into account that the estimations of costs only cover the initial development and set-up. It is also necessary to pay annual fees to keep the site, or any additional costs to advertise the site or run ads for marketing purposes.