• June 2, 2024
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How to start selling clothes online from scratch

How to start selling things online from suppliers

The parenting industry in Russia is thriving, and the sale of children's products via the Internet is very developed. In addition, they are purchased all year round and quite often. Selling clothes online is a great way to start your business at minimal cost. To understand how to start selling things online from suppliers, you need to know all the stages of this process, from choosing a niche to marketing strategies.

The first step to successfully selling products online is choosing the right niche. You need to take into account the popularity of the category, the level of competition and your own interests. After choosing a niche, it is important to find reliable suppliers.

When opening an online children's clothing store, you should get an assortment that is attractive and unique. You shouldn't sell exactly the same clothes that are already in a thousand other stores. Choose quality over quantity and check out the current trends in children's fashion.

How to choose a supplier

It is better to pay attention to a wholesaler from whom you can purchase goods at an attractive price. You can buy it and store it at home or in a warehouse. However, remember that you will have to consider the entire logistics process - from ordering from a wholesaler to receiving the goods, and then packaging and shipping them.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money at the beginning, use dropshipping. This is a model of selling clothing online, in which there is a virtual collaboration with a wholesaler from whom you purchase his products for your online store.

A markup on clothing is established and only after purchase is the order paid to its supplier, who packs and sends the ordered product to the buyer. In this model, you make money on the difference between the wholesale price and the purchase price. This is an attractive collaboration model, like selling clothes. It can be profitable provided that the prices for products from your supplier are really lower.

When operating a store, not only the assortment of children's clothing is important, but also good after-sales service. Before you start selling clothes, you need to take care of issues such as returns and possible complaints. The buyer has the right to return the goods within 14 days without giving reasons.

How to open an online children's clothing store

Compared to brick-and-mortar stores, opening an online store is easier. Here you don’t have to rent premises, hire employees, or even buy goods yourself. It is not necessary to have technical knowledge and skills, it is enough to have a business idea and work a little on developing your own company.

Selling clothes online where to start

To sell online, you need software that will manage your online store. If you are a complete beginner and do not want to invest a lot of capital right away, try ready-made SaaS solutions. Such a platform will allow you to quickly launch a ready-made online store with the necessary support.

It is better to take advantage of the unlimited help of professionals who, with their experience, will help you present your products in the store and place your first orders. In this form, opening an online store is not difficult.

What should be in an online store

Obviously, online you buy with your eyes, so baby clothes that are put up for sale should have perfect photos and descriptions to leave no doubt. You will also need a size chart and exact clothing measurements. An online store that has all the necessary functionality should attract attention with its appearance.
In addition to the visual part, store design requires:
- domain
- rules and privacy policy compliant with GDPR
- SSL certificate
- various forms of delivery (for example, InPost parcel terminals, couriers)
- convenient payment methods (for example, PayPal)
- company tab
- footer

Opening such a store should be preceded by knowledge of what you will need to legally operate it. With off-the-shelf platforms like RedCart, you get all of this as part of the package you choose. Before you start creating an online store, do a step-by-step analysis and take advantage of the free trial to get to know the software.

If you want to work in the e-commerce industry on a large scale, you need to open your own business. This can be done in a few minutes at the municipal office or online.

How to promote a newly created online store

Novice sellers often ask the question: how to start selling clothes online from scratch? It should be noted that there is a lot of competition in the market and without marketing activities this will simply be impossible. When setting up an online store, you need to pay attention to its position among others in the Google search engine.
Your site should appear after certain keywords. When a customer searches for “children’s clothing,” they should see your store.

The assortment of an online children's clothing store should be visible on social networks. This is where your potential clients are.

It is worth using paid forms of advertising for specific items of children's clothing in Facebook Ads/Instagram Ads or Google Ads. If you don't know how to do this, you can use the services of an external marketing agency and set the budget you want to spend on advertising. Promoting your store also involves properly crafted newsletters and well-chosen blog content.

When setting up an online store, you need to take into account all the opportunities and threats of this form of business. Do thorough research online, find out about customer needs, children's fashion trends. You can also contact influential people who can help bring your idea to life.