SELL RETAIL
BUY LOW, SELL HIGH
Selling retail is the act of buying from a wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer at wholesale prices, to sell to the end buyer at retail prices. Retail sales can take place in a brick and mortar store or an ecommerce platform (ex: like Amazon or even Poshmark)
HOW TO START
Learn the basics of how to start a clothing business with checklists
HOW TO BUY
Use these tips & get the most out of your inventory dollar
FUNDING OPTIONS
Learn ways to find funding sources for your inventory and other expenses
STARTUP BASICS
Do Your Research
Before deciding to invest your money in any venture, do your research. Learn the pros and cons of selling online retail and make an informed decision based on facts and experienced information as opposed to making emotional decisions.
Understand the Market
If this is your first time selling online, you may want to test the waters first. Using selling apps to gain some experience will help with efficiency and proficiency once you're ready to open your own "doors".
Choose a Structure for your Business
To start a legitimate business, you'll need to decide your business structure:
Sole Proprietor, A Partnership, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or a Corporation.
Do your research to find the best structure for your goals.
Open a Separate Business Account
Even as a sole proprietor with a small budget, it's best to keep your expenditures and profits separate from your personal account(s).
This will be a great way help to get a true understanding of your business' current status as well as making tax time a little easier.
Your Products
Choose the type of products you want to offer. Be sure to research the market to ensure what you want to sell is desired by customers.
Don't make the mistake of assuming what a customer wants and spend precious dollars buying items that will only sit in your store.
BUILD A SITE
Links to the best ecommerce web hosts for small business
DROP-SHIPPING
Learn the pros and cons of starting a drop-shipping business
MARKETING
Learn techniques and get tips on marketing your business
PLATFORMS
Learn about alternatives for selling your clothing without a website
BRAND DESIGN
Get tips and free tools for creating effective business materials
TIMING
Learn how timing impacts expense and the rate of return
PROS & CONS OF SELLING RETAIL
PROS
MAKE MONEY WHILE DOING WHAT YOU LOVE
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If you're someone that has the dream of running a business in the clothing industry, the retail industry can be a satisfying experience.
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This gives you the opportunity to stay up to date with the latest trends, while generating viable income.
DROPSHIPPING OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE
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As a seller that will be buying from a wholesaler or distributor to sell retail, you have a wider option pool when it comes to drop-shipping services.
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You'll be buying items in large amounts and the more you spend with a company, the more opportunities you'll have to run your business using more cost effective methods.
CLOTHING SALES CAN BE LUCRATIVE
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Amazon alone makes about 45-85 billion in clothing sales annually.
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With the right marketing, quality products, effective pricing and quality customer service, you have the opportunity to make a significant amount of return.
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If you choose to run your store on a platform like Amazon,(for example) you'll be on a platform that provides built-in exposure and advertising.
CAN BE EASY TO START
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With the digital age being in full swing and staying that way, it's never been easier to open a business without a huge investment.
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You never have to touch the product. As a retailer, you can literally run online store operations from home and have your sales dropshipped to the customer.
CONS
COST TO START
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Unlike resale where you can start for free by selling your own clothing online, the investment for retail is a little more extensive.
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If you don't already have experience in the retail market, it may be a good idea to try a hand at reselling first to get a better understanding of the flow of things.
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If you choose to not use the drop-shipping option, you'll need to purchase bulk inventory as well as renting space for storage.
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These expenses are costly and can turn out to be even more costly if your inventory doesn't sell.
RELEVANCY
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The retail market in general is a vast array of gidgets and gadgets with available items that can make the most obscure collector happy, but clothing sales are a little more fickle.
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To be successful in the retail industry, you'll need to stay relevant with you style, your message and your prices.
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All products take research to ensure that they'll sell, but staying up to date in the clothing industry is even more essential, as there are many niche's and ever changing trends within each niche.
BRAND RECOGNITION
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As a new brand, it'll take some time before customers can trust your site enough to buy.
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Along with the cost for inventory and storage, you'll need to come up with an effective marketing plan to get your business seen more often.
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This will make your store more memorable while making it appear more trustworthy.
WHAT IS DROP-SHIPPING?
THE BASICS
Drop-shipping is the act of working with the distributor or the manufacturer to ship your sales to customers.
This is an option if you don't have space or if your simply don't want to house inventory. Drop-shipping makes delivery to customers easy, but can also create hiccups if the quality is sub-par or if they take too long to ship to customers.
Surprisingly, it's not hard to find wholesalers and distributors that drop-ship. Many wholesalers offer this option, but the trick is the find the right one.
You're looking to do business with a company that provides quality that is up to your standards and can ship in a reasonable time frame. With businesses that offer same or next day shipping, you do't want to be left in the dust due to your product not reaching customers for 3 weeks.
PROS
THE UPSIDE
$0 initial investment required
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The company houses the inventory for you, so no need to buy upfront.
No need to house inventory
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No need to focus on paying for inventory storage. As stated above, the company takes care of the shipping for you, so there's isn't the worry of finding and investing in warehouse space
Easy Start-Up
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A drop-shipping business can be easily built into your existing ECommerce site.
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Many T-Shirt builder sites offer on-site mini stores
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No need to build and invest in an ECommerce site
CONS
THE DOWNSIDE
Cost to Visit the Facility
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If your company is out of the country the cost to travel to the site can get steep
Quality
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An investment of time and money will be required to ensure quality is up to your standards
Shipping Time
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You will need to ensure that the company ships your items in a timely manner
MORE TOPICS
See more clothing topics on the VALC blog
FREE TOOLS
Check out these free and inexpensive tools for business
UP NEXT
Learn more about starting a wholesale business