Open Your Dream Fashion Store: 8 Simple Tricks For Success

Clothing stores always presented a good option for kick-starting your career as an entrepreneur. Sure, the trends might be changing but something will always be trendy and keep people knocking at your doors. This venture also requires a relatively low upfront investment so it can be considered low risk.

However (and there is always however, regardless of the industry) you need to be aware that you are not the only one who came up with this idea and that this field is incredibly competitive. So, we can all agree that a healthy dose of precaution is well advised.

Let us take a look, then, at a couple of small tips and good practices that should help you start your fashion gig on the right foot and make your brand pop up on the mainstream radar.

Find a suitable niche

Fashion is a pretty broad term and if you are aiming to catch everyone in your net, the chances are you are going to dilute your brand and actually appeal to no one. Therefore, before doing anything else, it is highly advised to conduct a short market research and determine the demographics and the preferences of your audience. Compare the data you will get with the competition research and you will be able to identify small, nice markets where you can establish a strong foothold with very little competition. Once your fashion store starts generating revenue, you can consider branching out.

Pen down a comprehensive business plan

All stories of success start with a good plan. Starting a fashion store is really no different. Be sure then to write a comprehensive business plan that will outline some of the major components of your future investment. The fewer things you leave to chance the better. But, some elements are seen as essential, so let’s take a quick look at them:

• Executive summary

• Brand description

• Business description (proprietorship, key employees, etc.)

• Long-term and short-term business goals (you should think of them in this exact order)

• Market research

• Financial plan

• Operations costs

• Marketing strategy

Secure financial assets

In the introduction, we have mentioned that starting a fashion store is not overly expensive. But, you need to be aware that you are still putting a lot of money on the table. Knowing exactly how much money will make a lot of decisions you will need to make much clearer. So, for a start try to make a definitive list of all the expenses you will have ranging from rent, down to merchandise, employee salaries, fixtures, lighting, and so on. Once you have the final number, you can reach out to banks to offer a business loan. Engaging in different forms of partnerships may relieve some of the financial burden.

Find an appropriate location

When it comes to fashion stores, zeroing in on the proper location may as well make or break the future of your company. Well, since businesses like these reap a large chunk of revenue from the walk-in business, you need to place your store in a commercial area that features a lot of foot traffic. Also, it's not a bad idea to put yourself close to the other fashion shops. When people go out to buy clothes, they want to check the alternatives, so you are tapping into an already established market. Free parking spaces, chunky shop-window and easy access for the disabled are highly preferable as well.

Develop an e-commerce component

The fact you are going to reap a lot of revenue from retail purchases doesn’t mean an increasing number of consumers won’t be willing to purchase your items online. As a matter of fact, buying in-store, ever since the COVID-19 outbreak, has become somewhat of a nuisance. Keep this growing market in mind, and do your best to expand your store with an online component. This process has become surprisingly simple and even if you are not willing to meddle with the website builders, there are several online platforms that can get you started in no time. So, you really have no excuse not to try.

Sort out the pricing and inventory

These things seem like something that's self-explanatory but, believe us, this is the hill where too many SMBs choose to die. The thing is, your prices need to be high enough to sustain your business but you need to keep them reasonably low to stay competitive. You need to be well stocked but purchasing too many items will put pressure on you to return high investments. There is a balance between these drastically opposing requirements you will need to find out. Going back to market research, your niche, competitor analysis, and the consumer's purchase power will help you along the way.

Create a sensible shop workflow

Modern clients are growing incredibly impatient. They want to jump into the store, easily find the items they need, quickly try them out, and proceed to the checkout with as little trouble as possible. Think of these things when sorting out the store layout, scheduling the shifts, and designing the check-out process. If you don't have experience in the retail industry try to find the data you need in similar stores. Pay attention to peak hours, time people spend at the check-out and rehearsal boots, and so on. These things will make your operation tighter and streamlined.

Set up the KPIs to measure your success

In this case, your business plan, or more precisely long-term and short-term goals serve as a perfect way to get you started. When you find out what exactly you actually consider success and where your bottom line is, try to compose a couple of KPIs that will give you a better idea about whether you are moving in the right direction or not. Also, try to build these KPIs into your plan and give yourself enough maneuvering room to make fixes if you see that things aren't going as planned. Scalable services, pay-per-use inventory, and part-time employment models will give you some wiggle room.

So, these are the top 8 tips that should help you launch your fashion store successfully. Hope you've enjoyed it. And, when you think about it, all the things we have covered are just common sense. But that makes them all the more worth remembering. The most important thing to take out of everything we have covered above is that you should always set up some safety net before you make a leap of faith. The more time you put into preparation, the higher the chances that your fashion store will successfully take off.