How to Open a Trendy Clothes Wholesale Store
Starting a trendy clothing wholesale business allows you to sell your products in bulk to a variety of fashion retailers while you potentially generate significant revenue per order. For example, retailers typically buy multiple quantities of the same product from a wholesaler. Therefore, as a wholesaler, you'll work strictly in a business-to-business setting. With strong business acumen, as well as sales talent and a broad knowledge of product and consumer trends, you have the opportunity to open a successful trendy clothes wholesale store.
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Instructions
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Decide how you will manage your wholesale products -- either through your own warehouse or storage facility or by having items drop shipped directly from manufacturers and/or vendors to your customers. Keep in mind that you'll pay extra fees to dropship items. However, you'll have less overhead since you will not be storing the inventory. An example of a website that manages drop-ship products is Shopster.com.
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Decide if you want to be a general wholesaler of trendy clothes or specialize in a particular niche. As a general wholesaler, you'll be selling clothes of various sizes for women, men and children. As a niche wholesaler, you'll specialize in a certain area, such as petite women.
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Research current trends in fashion, and analyze consumer behavior. Read the latest issues of fashion magazines to understand which clothing trends and designers editors currently favor. Visit various fashion blog websites to see what clothing styles are popular and what looks are gaining considerable attention from readers.
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If you're opening a physical wholesale store, rent a space with ample square footage to display your clothes to customers, plus additional room to store your inventory.
If you're opening an online wholesale store (and choose to store your inventory), rent storage space in a warehouse facility. Alternatively, if you're conducting your online store from home, you have the option to store inventory from your home as long as you have adequate storage space.
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Obtain a tax identification number and a resale permit from your state to collect sales tax from your customers. In addition, if you plan to hire employees, obtain an employer identification number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
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Establish a merchant account with a bank to accept electronic payments; this will also help you keep track of your business expenses and sales transactions.
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Register a domain name to create an online store to display your products, which will give customers easy access to what you're selling. This also allows your customers to set up wholesale accounts with your store and helps you conduct and manage business transactions efficiently.
To create your store, choose an online shopping platform, such as eBay or Amazon. Keep in mind that these websites earn a specific percentage of commission from the items you sell. Alternatively, you have the option to install an online store using ecommerce websites, like MagentoCommerce.com or Oscommerce.com; this way, you'll have complete control and authority of payment transactions.
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Set up a shipping and logistics management system online to coordinate the supply and tracking of your selected products from manufacturers and/or vendors to your storage facility. This also helps ensure prompt delivery of goods to your customers in a professional and timely manner, while providing tracking information of shipments. The website, Aitworldwide.com, is an example of a shipping and logistic service.
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Set your payment and credit terms for your customers, and clearly state all terms and conditions in your website. Also, set a minimum order amount for your customers, since wholesale products are typically purchased in bulk.
In addition, set your shipping and return policies. Visit the websites of other established wholesalers and read their terms and policies to get a clear understanding of how the set up works. Consider seeking legal advice in drawing up your store's terms and conditions.
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Consider creating a professional wholesale catalog or brochure of your current products; this helps establish new business relationships, while maintaining present ones. Send them to a variety of trendy retailers that will seek interest in your store. As you update your stock, be sure to send updated catalogs to retailers regularly.
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Distribute your business cards and advertise the "grand opening" of your wholesale clothing store by displaying ads in various complimentary businesses, like shoe and accessory wholesale stores. Also, it's important to advertise your store regularly throughout the life cycle of your business to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep up to date with the latest clothing trends, and research the most profitable kinds of clothing on a regular basis.
Consider providing promotional offers to promote your new wholesale store.
If you decide to order from overseas manufacturers and/or vendors, be cautious of counterfeit products.
As with any new business venture, it takes time and work before it's profitable.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit new clothes shopping image by .shock from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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Great article, very helpful. Ernest, Zambia.
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I’m impressed, I must say. Really rarely do I encounter a online dropship that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is outstanding; the issue is something that not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.
