Online fashion market is a booming industry because most the people have easy access to internet and they find it a convenient way of shopping. People who are busy juggling between office and home hardly get time to go to shopping malls, look at the different things available on shelf and then buy what they want. This is the reason online shopping stores are high in demand. With online shopping facility busy people can just browse through while working, select the product looking at the picture, read the overview, and make payment. The product they select is delivered at the door step within 7 working days. This saves time and money spent on travelling to shops available in nearby location. Here are some other reasons why the future of online garments store is bright and profitable.
- Easy Access: The customers do not have to take public transport to reach out to the destination.
- Online Payment Facility: Shoppers can make payment using their debit or credit card. Running to the bank or nearby ATM, standing in a queue and withdrawing money is not required when shopping online.
- Choosing Option: Buyers can customize their search and save time. Like, if they are looking for shirts then all they need to do is click on the option and see the different varieties available on the shelf. They can also specify their price band and select item.
With an increase in the number of online garment stores, buyers are keen in choosing the best store that offer variety. One of the main criteria that they look forward while selecting the store is its quality, variety and trustworthiness. This increases the level of competition.
Who can start the business and what are the skill needed:
Anyone can start and earn money out of online shopping business if he/she knows the proper strategy. Here are some tips which will help you get started.
- Understand the USP of your product: Advertise your product by knowing its USP. Tell people why garments available in your store are different from the others.
- Shop Name: The name of your shop should be interesting and one which lasts in peoples mind for long. But while thinking of a unique name make sure not to make it too complicated that it becomes difficult to pronounce and remember.
- Price of Product: See what your competitors are selling and why customers are buying from them. You can offer special discounts and gifts on purchase in order to increase sale.
- Categorize your Product: Place different products in different shelf by categorizing. This will make your store user friendly.
- Visual Effect: Visual effect plays a very vital role. Make sure that the photograph taken for your product is bright and attractive because people see the image before reading the description.
- Shipping Price: Keep a reasonable shipping price after calculating all the expenses incurred for delivering the product. If the product is expensive then you can even try to wave off the shipping cost for customers.
- Product Description: Write a detailed product description so that the customer knows how it will be on delivery. If you are displaying a shirt let the customer know what kind of fabric is used, what are the colors, and size available and its USP.
- Return Policy: If your product description is perfect there will not be much return but you must mention the return policy in your website’s terms and condition page. A fuss free return policy will surely make your business successful.
Level of Risk and Profit Feasibility
These days just all the stores running garments business have an online presence which increases the level of competition. You can only make money if you understand the USP of your product and target the right kind of people. The failure in online business happens when little traps that come on the way of business are left unnoticed. Some of the areas where people normally make mistakes are:
- Selecting the right niche: Here instead of common item where there is lot of competition try to sell something unique which will enhance your search ranking.
- Marketing Plan: Most of the newbie’s just open online store thinking they will surely make money. But proper marketing planning is very important before stepping in the online world.
- Wrong Vendor: If you are not able to find the right wholesale vendor then you will not be able to give discount to customers.
- No Search Engine Optimization: Online stores can only increase their customer base if they have proper strategy for SEO and this the area where most of them lack.
- Website not Optimized for Conversion: Most of the online shopping websites are not optimized to conversions which lead to failure. If the site is not optimized to conversion then it will load slowly and pages will not be clear. This will eventually lose the credibility of the website.
Infrastructure, Admin Work and Staff
Your site should be up-to-date all the time for this you will need a person working at the backend. This person will check the inventory, add and remove product if not in stock. You must also appoint a person who has an excellent creative writing skill and can write attractive sentences about your product. Make sure to get in touch with fast and efficient shipping agencies so that the product reaches the customers door step on time. You can also appoint a delivery boy to make sure that the local orders are delivered fast.
Marketing Plan and Training
- The homepage of your website must be attractive and eye popping. You may use some soothing, yet bright colors keeping in mind that that they are not overwhelming.
- Feature your product properly so that the customers can locate it easily.
- Optimize your site by using proper keywords.
- Let people know that you exist on the Web through online advertisement. You can also use message board and social media forum for increasing customer base.
- You can have an account in different social media platform like Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest etc and get in touch with more people. Through these platforms you can make friends and let them know the offers and discounts.
Training will surely help you in achieving success in the business. If you do not have time to go to a training institute then you must surely look for SEO Training Point. It is a Bangalore based marketing training agency which provides a complete online knowledge to help you achieve success on online garment business. The program will mainly focus on resource management, selecting proper vendor, increase website ranking etc.