How to start selling clothes. How to sell things online - win-win ways to trade online

The online sales market is developing at a cosmic pace; the time is not far off when online stores will completely displace our usual pattern of buying and selling things. The initial capital required to start an online business is quite small, which is why many entrepreneurs just starting to develop their business -sphere, I am interested in the topic of selling goods via the Internet. In most cases, the choice falls on opening an online store, since this method for starting a business seems the most convenient at first glance. Moreover, the percentage of people making online purchases increases significantly every year. But you shouldn’t rush either, because a well-thought-out strategy is the key to achieving success.

Selling via the Internet. Where to begin?

To get started you need:

1. Analyze the online market and, based on the results of the analysis, create an individual concept and determine the volume of the product to be sold.
2. Choose from existing ones or create your own online platform format.
3. Decide on the product to sell.

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Schemes of sale through an online store:

1. Standard sale.This scheme is very popular among entrepreneurs; in most cases, it is chosen for online stores. It involves filling the site with goods divided into categories and having a certain value. Sales are based on the principle: customer order – payment – ​​delivery to the specified address. This scheme is convenient for both the buyer and the seller in that cooperation does not involve intermediaries, but occurs directly.

2.Dropshipping. Suitable for those online businessmen who cannot afford to buy or rent a warehouse for storing things. What is the essence of this scheme? First, you must find a reliable supplier (or several suppliers) from whom you will order products. After that, fill your website with the proposed products. But do not order goods in large quantities for storage. And only after the buyer’s order, you redirect the order to the supplier, and he, in turn, delivers it to the buyer. This scheme is popular among sellers of things from China. Such a transaction involves the participation of three parties who are interested in their own benefit: the supplier wants to get a good profit for his product. The owner of an online store is trying to make money by increasing the cost of items and delivery. And the buyer is interested in receiving quality products. But when implementing this scheme, some problems may also arise: with the speed of delivery of products and when returning them.

The volume of products sold is an important detail when creating an online store. There are two types of sales - wholesale and retail. Wholesale sales are a more expensive and inconvenient way, since you will need enough space to store a huge number of things. Doing business this way requires careful accounting, which means hiring an additional employee. Retail sales differ from wholesale in their ease of implementation and lower costs. Retail sales do not require a large number of documents and registration of an online store. For entrepreneurs planning to open an online business, there is no better option. There is also wholesale and retail sales, but only established online stores trade in this method.

It is possible to sell only one type of product. This is quite simple from an organizational point of view. But from the point of view of making a profit, it is too unpredictable, because you need to know for sure whether the product will be popular and in demand. As a rule, sites selling one type of product have a dubious reputation, and the quality of their goods does not inspire confidence. Still, it is better to choose a standard sales scheme - a catalog with a variety of products on one or several similar topics.

The next step in creating an online store is choosing a trading region. At the start, it is better for an entrepreneur to choose one region for trading, so as not to create additional problems with delivery and unnecessary costs. But choosing this direction requires thorough market research. If the entrepreneur is completely confident in the popularity of the product among consumers, then you can safely choose this sales option.
And after successfully establishing a business on the online market, you can expand your delivery area and select additional regions for sales.

How to choose a product to sell in an online store?

One of the most important points when opening an online store is choosing a product. Inattention to the market in this case can lead to loss of business and profit; you need to carefully think about what exactly consumers need. Of course, you won’t be able to reinvent the wheel, but the originality of the solution can bring more benefits. Go to your competitors' website and see what exactly they have in their catalogues. You shouldn’t plagiarize, but you can and even need to highlight a few ideas on competitors’ websites. It is better to choose a product that is known to everyone. And offer them at a lower price and favorable terms than competitors. This will not immediately bring huge profits, but the customer base will definitely increase, which is one of the most important conditions for the seller.

Characteristics that a product selected for an online store must have:

1. Demand. If you start selling goods unknown to customers, then most likely the business will not make a profit and will not break even. It is better to choose well-known products and brands. In order to find out what products are in demand now, you can look at statistical sites - Wordstat, Adwords.
2.small size. The challenge of selling large items is the packaging and shipping, which can be costly for newbies. Moreover, large-sized goods, for example, furniture, are not the most popular on the market, since expensive shipping and return are not very convenient for consumers.
3. Convincing value. Cheapness cannot always attract a buyer, so the price-quality ratio must be correct. Moreover, if customers always order products whose total cost is less than a thousand rubles, this will not bring you significant profit. Prices must be sufficient for a particular product.
4. Different seasons. Some groups of goods are in demand only at certain times of the year, so if you sell things that are bought only in winter, not only will your profit not increase, but most likely your expenses will be exaggerated. Therefore, it is better to sell things for different seasons, or create several projects, one of which will wait for a certain time of year, the other will make a profit.

What product will be in demand among buyers?

Man Shopping on Internet

From suppliers you can find a variety of products for every taste; the entrepreneur can only choose the product that will be sold in the online store. List of products popular among consumers:

Mobile gadgets and accessories for them;
Products for children;
women's clothing and accessories (shoes, jewelry, watches);
cosmetics and makeup tools;
perfumery.

The most popular product on the online market is mobile phones. Buyers are increasingly ordering phones via the Internet, since the price in online stores, even with a hundred percent markup, is lower than in regular stores, and the quality is the same. With clothing, things are even simpler: most often, clothing is purchased from the same suppliers both for real stores and for online stores, so it is profitable for people to order an item without entering into relationships with a large number of intermediaries.

We do not recommend selling books, since there are established giants in this niche with whom it will be extremely difficult to compete. Moreover, paper books are gradually fading into the background, allowing electronic media to take precedence. Selling car parts is even more difficult. Spare parts, unlike inexpensive books, can be quite expensive and specific, so not every buyer dares to order a part for a car via the Internet. In this case, it is better to open a real car service center and sell car accessories and auto chemicals in an online store.

If you do decide to sell furniture and interior items, then you should choose a specific region for sale, because delivering large items to remote regions can cause serious damage to your budget. Among interior items, the sale of paintings is gaining popularity, especially if they are hand-made paintings. But first, be sure to analyze the online market, and then choose the appropriate option.

What to do after solving the above issues?

Once you decide on the product, delivery and sales scheme, you can begin to implement your own plan. There are still many issues related to the website to be resolved: business registration, website design, filling catalogs, etc. In order to collect the necessary documents for the site, it is not necessary to hire a professional lawyer. Sometimes entrepreneurs neglect to register a business, which does not always have a positive effect on the operation of the online store. It is better to approach solving this problem seriously and register a business, especially since it will not take much time.

Global e-commerce market revenue in 2017 was $1.468 trillion. At the same time, the leader in the e-commerce market is China with an income of $496.8 billion. The second and third places are occupied by the USA ($421.1 billion) and Japan ($96.7 billion). And only then come European countries: Great Britain ($95.1 billion) and Germany ($63.4 billion). In Russia, this figure amounted to 1 trillion Russian rubles, which is equivalent to $16.59 billion.

According to the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART), In Belarus, income from online trading is $568 million, but in the total retail volume this is only 2,8% . For comparison, in neighboring Ukraine 3% of all goods are purchased online, in Russia – 4%. And in China, the share of online purchases already exceeds 19%.

According to MARCH estimates, at the beginning of 2018 44% of Belarusians buy goods in online stores. At the same time, 21% of buyers order goods from China, 11% from Russia. The remaining 68% of buyers purchase goods only in Belarusian online stores and marketplaces. 83% of consumers choose foreign online stores because they are cheaper; 39% - because there are goods there that are not in Belarus; 17% - because they trust foreign stores more than Belarusian ones.

According to experts, in 2017, turnover in e-commerce in Belarus increased by 25% compared to the previous year. According to experts, in 2018 the e-commerce market will grow by 20% and by the end of the year will exceed 1.3 billion rubles or $681 million, provided that no new legislative restrictions are imposed on the online trading industry this year.

Summary

These studies show that, despite economic crises and a decrease in the purchasing power of the population, the e-commerce market is growing both in Belarus and throughout the world.

Moreover, the growth of the e-commerce market in Belarus (25%) exceeds the growth rate of e-commerce in China (24%), and even more so in developed countries: the USA (13%), Japan (10%), Great Britain (10%) and Germany (eleven%). And this indicates great prospects for the development of e-commerce in Belarus and the need for offline retailers, manufacturers, local businesses, artisans and aspiring entrepreneurs to go online.

If you want to have a profitable business in the field of trade or production, then, in the current reality, it will be very difficult to achieve this without online sales. There are many reasons for this.

1. The number of Internet users is constantly growing and will soon approach its limit in all developed countries of the world. Already, as of the beginning of 2018, according to statistics, there are more than 95% of Internet users in Germany, the UK and the USA. In Belarus, currently 67.4% of the country's population are Internet users.
2. The penetration of mobile devices into our lives has influenced the growth of “shopping on the go” from anywhere in the world. People value their time more and more and do not want to waste it waiting in lines at the cash register. They manage to buy necessary things online in a traffic jam, during a lunch break, or in their free time before bed, when all offline sales points have long been closed.

By the way, this is why all modern Internet sites must have a mobile version of the site or a mobile application that provides ease of shopping. In addition, already 10% of Americans buy goods using a voice assistant!

1. Online sales are constantly growing. The growth is due to the creation of new businesses, the access to the Internet of offline players in the b2c and b2b segments, who are also actively starting to sell their goods wholesale and retail via the Internet.
2. Online stores are driving customers away from offline points of sale, gradually winning a share of the income of all retail. With the improvement of service quality, simplification of legislation for online stores and the development of delivery services, this share will actively grow.
3. Different categories of buyers (b2b, b2c and c2c) it is becoming increasingly convenient to search for information about goods and services online. This is due to the growing number of Internet users and the entry of a large number of sellers into the field of e-commerce.
4. Globalization means that distances and languages ​​are no longer barriers to international trade. Online translators and language versions of online stores localize a website page in a second, translating texts, units of measurement and monetary currencies into those familiar to the user, so that it is convenient for a buyer from anywhere in the world to place an order.
5. Today, almost any product can be delivered to any country in the world. The availability of various types of delivery from postal and courier to self-pickup from parcel terminals provides the buyer with a choice of a convenient method of delivering goods. Pickup from parcel terminals is becoming increasingly popular, as it does not force the buyer to communicate with the seller or stand in line at the post office.

Parcel machines arrived in Belarus a little over a year ago. In February 2017, postal machines of RUE Belpochta began operating for independent receipt of registered postal items, and in May 2017, a network of self-pickup points for orders from PickPoint Russian online stores with their own parcel terminals opened in Belarus.

1. The Internet provides sellers with a huge number of tools to attract, retain and stimulate potential buyers to sell. inaccessible to offline channels. This includes retargeting, instant messengers, blogging platforms and social networks, sites with coupons, bonus programs, mobile applications and many other mechanisms that ensure continuous contact with potential buyers.

1. For modern shoppers, the ability to order goods online is increasingly the deciding factor when making a purchase. The presence of a brand on the Internet inspires user confidence in the company and helps them make a choice in favor of a particular seller.
2. Having an online presence allows a business to remain competitive in today's market. If you don't have an online presence, your competitors are stealing potential consumers of your products and services.
3. Increasingly, online payments and electronic money are used to pay in online stores. If you cannot provide an online payment option, you are losing a customer, especially for payments from abroad.

Therefore, it is legally established that the website of an online store must have at least one online payment method protected by a secure data transfer algorithm.

1. The profitability of offline points of sale decreases if they do not have an online presence. This could be an online storefront or an account on the marketplace. Moreover, it is important that all points online and offline are connected with each other by a single database of customers and warehouse stocks to ensure coordinated work and quality service.

Summary

Thus, having an online presence will give your business:

1. The opportunity to be found by a huge audience of potential buyers located all over the world.
2. New tools for promoting business, manufactured goods, services and interaction with clients, new sales.

3. Select and buy a domain name

To trade in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, the website of the online store must be located on Belarusian hosting and be in the domain zone .by or .bel.

4. Create an online store or online storefront

The site itself can be rented or developed on the basis.

The legislation of Belarus obliges all entrepreneurs selling goods on the Internet to have an online store website or an online storefront for legitimate online trading. Unlike online store, which is not required to have an offline retail outlet, and can perform all transactions online, Online online storefronts you can view products available offline, but It is impossible to add items to the cart, checkout and pay online. As a rule, on online storefront sites, instead of a shopping cart, there is a feedback form that allows you to submit a request for a subsequent offline retail or wholesale purchase of the product of interest. You can read more about creating an online store website.

5. Register an online store

According to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, online stores must be registered in the Trade Register of the Republic of Belarus and the State Register of Information Networks, Systems and Resources. In order for an online store not to be denied registration, you need to comply with everything.

It is not necessary to register online storefronts in the Trade Register.

6. Create a product catalog

Based on the chosen niche and the range of products from the found suppliers, you need to create a product catalog for your online store. You will find a guide on our blog.

7. Promote the products offered on marketplaces

To obtain a wider reach of buyers, it is recommended to place goods and services not only on your website, but also on third-party resources: (marketplaces).

8. Set up contextual advertising

9. Engage in search engine promotion of the site and create content useful for potential buyers

High positions in search engines will bring you targeted buyers from search engines, and high-quality content will inspire confidence in the resource and a desire to buy from you.

10. Promote your business, products and services on social networks

Selling your products through social networks is allowed if you have an offline point or online store. Social networks provide online stores with commercial accounts, through which they allow business owners to more easily track visits and orders from social network pages.

11. Set up targeted advertising and retargeting

Social networks and search engines provide marketers with comprehensive information about users, which can be used to find their potential audience and target advertising only to them, so as not to waste their advertising budget.

12. Post information about products on private classifieds websites

Bulletin boards and online auctions on the Internet are extremely popular and can also become a constant and inexpensive source of sales.

13. Build and optimize business processes

And determining whether they will be needed at the very beginning of business development is also very important. After all, no one wants to hire a courier and pay him for downtime in the first month of an online store’s operation.

What do you need to consider when starting to sell online?

The main mistake of beginners in the field of e-commerce is that they spend all resources not on content, advertising and service, but on the expensive development of the design and functionality of the site.

There is no point in investing in a fancy website when:

• No market knowledge;
• There is no sense of niche;
• No experience with online advertising tools;
• No experience or analytics of online sales;
• No skills in working with online audiences;
• There is no understanding of the needs and pains of the target audience.
• Business processes are not built.

With this approach, you will most likely end up wasting time, money and disappointment.

Therefore, at the start you need to invest money and time in studying:

• Presence format and promotion strategy of current and potential competitors;
• Possible options for creating online representations of your business (Internet sites) that are optimally suited to achieving your goals;
• Available tools for online advertising, promotion and online sales that provide quick results and feedback: context in search engines, targeting in social networks, placement on trading platforms;
• Established behavioral stereotypes of potential b2b and b2c buyers;
• The needs of your target audience;
• Planning and building a sales and service scheme;
• Online and offline channels that users use to search for information and order online.

Summary

Useful content solving the problems of the target audience, and quality of service at all stages of interaction in your business - here are the main drivers for attracting customers and successful sales.

If you have high-quality photos, live videos, useful texts and real reviews on your website, then your product will be bought even at an inflated price.

But whether they will return for a second order will depend on the service: the ordering process, communication with the manager, the availability of payment and delivery options, contact with the courier, the condition of the packaging and the quality of the product itself. If you safely guide the buyer through all stages of the purchase, then the grateful buyer will return to you more than once and bring more of his friends.

Useful and necessary information for starting sales has already been collected in groups on social networks.

Explore, open online storefronts or online stores and sell more!

What is the article about?

• 1 Specifics of operating an online clothing store
• 2 Selling clothes through social networks
• 3 How to sell clothes via the Internet on VKontakte?
• 4 Selling children's clothing online

Starting to sell clothes online is not very difficult, but the success of the business depends on preliminary preparation, taking into account investment risks, and a strategy for attracting customers. Just creating an online store and purchasing goods is not enough. It is necessary to develop a marketing strategy in advance, implement an advertising campaign and begin creating a client base.

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Specifics of operating an online clothing store

Selling clothes via the Internet, including through social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki), is profitable. A trading website can be created almost free of charge using a free engine (for example, Joomla, OpenCart, WordPress, osCommerce, Magento) or a social media application. To make a good profit, it is important to find a good supplier. This can be done through search engines, paying attention to offers from factories, wholesale clothing suppliers, official distributors, analyzing advertisements on the Internet, on thematic forums, on social networks, studying electronic catalogs and databases (optlist.ru, suppliers.rf, etc.).

You can open an online store and sell clothes, including children’s, in several formats, which is one of the advantages of such a trade organization:

• creating your own warehouse (allows you to quickly ship goods, but there is a need for large purchases and finding storage space, there is a possibility of a large amount of illiquid goods);
• clothes are sold after the goods arrive from the warehouse of the wholesale supplier (this will reduce the cost of purchasing and storing goods, create a wide range, but the delivery time of the goods to the client will increase, and problems with returns may arise in case of defects);
• dropshipping (the owner of an online clothing store plays the role of an intermediary between the supplier and the client, that is, he transfers the order and money to the wholesaler, and he then sends the goods to the specified address);
• affiliate program (clothes are sold through the partner’s website, when the client clicks Buy, he automatically goes to another resource from which the sale is carried out, the partner pays the assistant a certain percentage for this).

Increasing sales is a pressing issue for any entrepreneur, especially if trading is carried out via the Internet. To monitor the quality and volume of goods sold, it is always worth considering some factors: the number of visitors to the online store over a certain period of time, customers who made a purchase, the average check, the effectiveness of marketing regarding repeat purchases, the percentage of margin. By regularly monitoring these indicators and changes in them, an entrepreneur will be able to make the right decisions and sell things quickly and profitably.

When selling clothes via the Internet (including using the social network Vkontakte), it is important to take into account some of the nuances of online trading:

1. The client must always be warned that the color and appearance of the product may differ from that shown in the picture (if the item is not sent from a personal warehouse).
2. Warn about possible delays or indicate a delivery time with a reserve.

Before launching an online clothing store, you need to formalize your activity and choose its organizational and legal form - individual entrepreneur or LLC. The second format makes sense to use only if several people create a common business. In other cases, it is easier to register as an individual entrepreneur (individual). As for the choice of taxation system, the simplified tax system with a rate of 6% is considered the best option, which can significantly reduce the tax burden on the entrepreneur.

Selling clothes through social networks

Creating a trading website that is correct in terms of interface and SEO functionality will not ensure a successful start to trading. It is very important to conduct a high-quality advertising campaign and develop an effective marketing strategy to tell potential customers about yourself and interest them in purchasing. Selling clothes in an online store based on social networks (VKontakte, etc.) will be quick and easy. It is very easy to create on a free platform (product photos are uploaded quickly), and large product catalogs can be created in a short time. In addition, the organizer immediately gets access to a free tool for attracting customers (friend requests, sending personal messages with an offer to make a purchase) and can advertise their services for free (posts in thematic groups, on the pages of acquaintances, creating and promoting their own trade group).

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Depending on the chosen format of the online clothing store on the social network (Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, etc.), the seller must negotiate with the client all the details regarding the purchase and delivery of the goods. If an entrepreneur sells clothes on the dropshipping principle, then the buyer must be warned that the photo and description of the product are provided by the supplier and may differ in some parameters (shade, sometimes design) from those indicated. After all, only the client will be the first to see the thing in reality. It is also important to ensure the quality of logistics - packaging the goods well and meeting the promised delivery times. To start a successful online clothing trade, you can use the following approaches to organizing a business:

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1. Specify order details and notify about shipment by phone.
2. Indicate additional communication channels in the Contacts section: email, ICQ.
3. Create your own database of clients, accounts, goods (this can be done using Excel, MyWarehouse, Client Base, etc.).
4. Offer several ways to pay for goods (transfer to a bank card, e-wallet, cash on delivery).
5. Organize several methods of delivery of goods (state mail, private, courier services).

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are concerned about the question of which store is best to open in a small town. It all depends on the interests of the target audience, the level of competition and purchasing power. But to start successful trading in an online store, including through Vkontakte, the number of people in the city does not matter, because work is carried out, as a rule, in several regions.

How to sell clothes online on VKontakte?

How to open an online store on VKontakte? The algorithm of actions is simple. A trading platform on this social network is often created in parallel with a full-fledged trading platform based on a free engine. But successful sales will begin only if you pay enough attention to SEO promotion and filling the online platform with quality content and increasing the number of subscribers. If an entrepreneur is not confident in his abilities, it is better to hire a freelance administrator for these purposes.

The first step is to create an online store, fill it, and implement advertising campaigns. Then you need to start attracting new customers, getting them interested in purchasing, especially repeat ones. The main factors that influence this process are assortment and cost. If you fill the catalog well and offer the buyer a favorable price, he will prefer to choose this particular offer. Using hashtags (for example, #obnova, #sale), which simplify the search for the right product, will help attract the target audience.

When selling clothes through VKontakte, you need to create a base of regular customers from the very beginning, do everything to ensure that they are satisfied and make a repeat purchase. It is very important to help with choosing the right size and style of clothing. In order to demonstrate clothes with the highest quality, you can post thematic videos on the site, use programs for virtual selection of clothes, provide a user-friendly interface and quick navigation through pages, and create an online consultation.

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Selling children's clothing online

Trade in children's clothing is a business niche that will always be highly profitable. Starting effective online sales is not very difficult, the main thing is to approach the stages of creating your business responsibly. You can successfully sell children's clothing online in several formats:

• trading on social networks (dropshipping, creating your own warehouse);
• opening your own online store (promoting a website will require a lot of time and investment);
• work in an “affiliate” format.

Some entrepreneurs start their online work by selling used children's clothing. The operating principle of a consignment store is that the intermediary sells the item to the buyer for a certain markup. The owner of the product initially determines its minimum cost (usually 30-40% of the new price) and signs an agreement, which stipulates the terms of sale, return, and the percentage of the seller.

Advice: in order to successfully start selling clothes through an online store or retail outlet, it is advisable to create a business card website. This will help attract new customers and increase sales turnover.

1. It is advisable to create a range of affordable prices (the average price for one thing is 180-900 rubles, only 10% of buyers buy things more expensive).
2. It is necessary to create a wide range of products.
3. It is worth selling only high-quality goods and keeping delivery times to a minimum.
4. When specifying measurements of items, always take into account the possibility of an error of 1-2 cm.
5. It is better to group clothes by season.
6. To attract the attention of buyers, it is advisable to publish useful tips on the main page of the social network or create a separate section of the site for this.
7. It is advisable to regularly hold promotions, sweepstakes, and competitions with prizes.

As an option, you can expand your assortment with original products by making original designs using a printer for printing on clothes.

Save the article in 2 clicks:

The normal profitability rate for a children's clothing store is 10-15%. The success of trade, including through the VKontakte network, largely depends on the preparation of the entrepreneur, the choice of a good supplier and pricing policy. The same rules are also relevant when it comes to organizing sales of items for adults. To start successfully selling clothes online, it is not enough to simply create and fill an online store with content. It is necessary to first think over and implement a plan for its promotion, ways to increase sales, and attract new customers.

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Probably the first niche that comes to any novice entrepreneur who wants to start trading on the Internet is clothing. This is the type of product that people constantly buy, despite the economic crisis and other difficulties, because they need to wear something. The second point is that no matter how carefully you wear your clothes, they wear out and almost every season of the year, we go buy new things. In this article we will talk about how to make money selling clothes online and discuss the main pitfalls of this business.

I would like to immediately note that we will talk about selling things not in the classic form using an online store, but rather in the format of using various platforms, such as bulletin boards, social networks and more. This approach allows even people with minimal start-up capital to start working, avoiding investing in launching and establishing business processes for an online store.

Pros and cons of this business

Before you start selling clothes online, you need to clearly understand what problems you may encounter, and you need to evaluate the risks against the background of the benefits.

Advantages of this activity:

• High demand for clothing.
• The ability to make a good markup on goods.
• A wide range of product categories that you can work with.
• Opening a trading business even with minimal capital.
• Lots of dropshipping offers.
• It is easy to find suppliers of goods.

List of disadvantages:

• High competition in the form of individual sellers and large chain stores.
• The quality of clothing is not always high, especially if you want to work with things from China.
• Returns due to size. It is necessary to clearly work out the dimensional grids and show them in the product card.

Due to the fact that such a business is easy to start, we get high competition. But you can work, the main thing here is to monitor the quality of things and pricing policy.

Where to begin?

If your budget is limited, then you should start by choosing a narrow niche in which you will work. You can look in the following directions.

• youth branded clothing.
• men's clothing.
• sports orientation.
• large sizes.
• women's clothing.
• pajamas.
• children's.
• sale of workwear. For example, camouflage for fishing or hunting, or overalls for companies with their attributes.

You can choose a niche, such as women's socks or men's shorts, and sell different types of products depending on the season. If your budget allows, try to expand the range of your online site, this way you will increase the income from this business. If you look at what is the most popular among sales on the Internet, it is women's and children's clothing. But men also order very often, especially when it comes to branded clothing.

Have you chosen a niche? Come up with a name for your store, as this is what you will use to build your online reputation. It wouldn’t hurt to draw a logo, which will be one of the design elements of the sales pages.

Clothing Suppliers

And here a stupor may set in, because for a novice entrepreneur it is not clear where to order clothes for sale on the Internet, at wholesale prices, or at discounts. We will try to bring all working methods for searching for goods for implementation.

1. Second hand. If your budget is minimal, then this is a good place to start. With the right approach, you can buy branded items in good condition at a low price, and then resell them by multiplying the cost by x2 or x3. In order to find high-quality goods, you need to study the delivery schedules in various second-hand stores in your city, then go ahead and get in line to enter the top ten and choose the top items from what is available. But there is also a minus here. Firstly, it is highly competitive, because many schoolchildren work in this business, and it is not always possible to get in line on time. Secondly, these are stereotypes of people who do not want to wear used clothes, and this can play a negative role when selling.
2. Wholesale markets. The main advantage is that you can go and look at the product in person, and even agree with the seller about the possibility of selling upon receipt of the order, without purchasing the product in bulk. A huge selection for any price tag, in the end it all comes down to quality. But there is also a minus - many people work according to this scheme, and the same type of product on the same bulletin boards can seriously differ in price, and you will be limited in the level of markup. In addition, most often goods in markets are brought from China and one should not forget to carefully check the quality of each product so as not to end up with defects.
3. Drains. Here you can look for branded clothing from well-known brands and quality items from lesser-known brands, the main advantage is that it is new here. Stock items are much more expensive than second-hand ones, but there are periods of promotions when discounts can be 25% - 80%, most often at the end of the season. You need to subscribe to newsletters from various stocks and visit them during promotions to purchase the required volume of goods.
4. Chinese sites. These are Aliexpress and Taobao. The main advantage is cheap clothes. But the downsides are customs payments in case of exceeding the limit and the quality of these things. Yes, you can find luxurious products there, but the price tag for them will be rather high. As an option, you can consider and try to order several items for sale.
5. Sewing workshops in your city or throughout the country. You can negotiate with them on good wholesale prices and batch sizes. In addition, you can make your own adjustments to the design of products and independently choose materials, the cost of which will directly affect the final price tag of the product. Alternatively, you can find novice designers and organize cooperation in the format of them selling goods from you.
6. Dropshipping. You will be generators of targeted traffic for the product sold by the partner store with whom you will cooperate. When you receive applications, you send them to your partner, and he independently sends the order for the client. You do not invest your own money in the product, but only generate sales. Carefully monitor the honest approach to work on the part of the partner, so that in the end you are not left without legitimate profit.

In fact, you can find many options for supplying goods for selling clothes on the Internet. Google and Yandex will help you find the right contacts. In addition, there are paid supplier databases, but you can figure out this issue yourself.

In stock and second-hand stores, people usually look for items from the following brands: Stone Island, Supreme, Gosha Rubchinsky, North Face, Raf Simons, Y-3, Napapijri, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, and sports brands: Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Puma.

What sites can be used to sell clothes online?

Let's look at the platforms you can work with to trade and find clients.

1. Social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Vkontakte. Interaction with clients in most cases occurs in two formats. The first is the creation and promotion of your own pages, with the subsequent sale of clothes through them. The second is advertising in well-promoted public pages or accounts where your target audience is. You can also promote your page using paid advertising.
2. Boards of announcements. Perfect for this business. They allow you to generate traffic to your ads and make sales. This is not always free, as you will need to pay for commercial ads or paid placement at the top of the page. Selling clothes on Avito (Russia) or Olx (Ukraine) can be a good source of income and you definitely need to use this channel to attract customers. A beautiful ad with a large number of photographs and a text description will allow you to convey information to the client, and an adequate pricing policy will allow you to make a sale in a short time.
3. Groups in messengers: viber, telegram.
4. Own online store. It will be relevant if you sell new clothes on the Internet and have catalogs from manufacturers, or have purchased a stock of goods and store them at home. The store will need money for a developer, hosting and domain. Traffic on the site comes from three sources: search queries, contextual advertising and redirecting visitors from social networking pages and message boards. The store can become a springboard for completing a transaction with a client. In addition, a full range of products will be presented here.

We advise you to experiment and try different sites and platforms for selling clothes, because, for example, Instagram can take off for pajamas, and Facebook for men's bags. All this needs to be tested and ultimately the budget must be redistributed to the most profitable advertising channels. This is an effective method of how to increase sales of your clothing without wasting your budget in the hope that everything will “go” soon.

What documents are needed?

At the beginning of your business, you will test niches and check which categories of clothing you will sell. If your number of sales is small, and you will resell clothes through bulletin boards as personal items, then you probably don’t need to register. But if you take the matter seriously, launch groups on social networks and your own online store, then you will need to draw up the appropriate documents.

• open IP.
• indicate OKVED for selling clothes online. In Russia this is code 47.91. For Ukraine – 47.91.
• register staff (if you hire workers).
• have quality certificates for the product, which can be requested from the manufacturer or supplier.

Collecting and processing all the documents will not be difficult. If something doesn’t work out for you, you can turn to an experienced lawyer for help.

Content

To sell clothes online, you will have to create high-quality content that will fill the product card and describe its advantages.

What is included in the list of required content?

• Photos. The better quality they are and the more of them, the better for sales. After all, the client will be able to fully evaluate the item he needs.
• Description. This includes color scheme, size, what it is made of, season and other characteristics.
• Video review. An additional plus for filling out the product card.
• Size table. This information is provided so that a person can accurately assess whether a given item of clothing will suit him or not.

The description can be short, but must contain all the main parameters of the product.

How much can you earn?

When selling clothes via the Internet, it is difficult to predict the level of earnings, since everything will depend on where you got this or that product. For example, if you found a branded item in a second-hand store, say a sweatshirt for $10 - $15, then it could retail for $30 - $45. If you buy new things on the market, then the markup is 45% - 70%, depending on the type of clothing.

conclusions. Nowadays, the older generation still has a huge number of prejudices, for example, how you can buy clothes without trying them on, or how to find out what quality they are without touching them, and this is quite logical, because before, everything was bought that way. But the younger generation already thinks completely differently, they are driven by the desire to buy something unique, especially if you live in a small town where everyone dresses from the market, and finding original things is a real problem. Therefore, selling clothes online is profitable and there is no decline in this niche in the future.

Starting to sell clothes online is not very difficult, but the success of the business depends on preliminary preparation, taking into account investment risks, and a strategy for attracting customers. Just creating an online store and purchasing goods is not enough. It is necessary to develop a marketing strategy in advance, implement an advertising campaign and begin creating a client base.

Specifics of operating an online clothing store

Selling clothes via the Internet, including through social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki), is profitable. A trading website can be created almost free of charge using a free engine (for example, Joomla, OpenCart, WordPress, osCommerce, Magento) or a social media application. To make a good profit, it is important to find a good supplier. This can be done through search engines, paying attention to offers from factories, wholesale clothing suppliers, official distributors, analyzing advertisements on the Internet, on thematic forums, on social networks, studying electronic catalogs and databases (optlist.ru, suppliers.rf, etc.).

You can open an online store and sell clothes, including children’s, in several formats, which is one of the advantages of such a trade organization:

• creating your own warehouse (allows you to quickly ship goods, but there is a need for large purchases and finding storage space, there is a possibility of a large amount of illiquid goods);
• clothes are sold after the goods arrive from the warehouse of the wholesale supplier (this will reduce the cost of purchasing and storing goods, create a wide range, but the delivery time of the goods to the client will increase, and problems with returns may arise in case of defects);
• dropshipping (the owner of an online clothing store plays the role of an intermediary between the supplier and the client, that is, he transfers the order and money to the wholesaler, and he then sends the goods to the specified address);
• affiliate program (clothes are sold through the partner’s website, when the client clicks Buy, he automatically goes to another resource from which the sale is carried out, the partner pays the assistant a certain percentage for this).

Increasing sales is a pressing issue for any entrepreneur, especially if trading is carried out via the Internet. To monitor the quality and volume of goods sold, it is always worth considering some factors: the number of visitors to the online store over a certain period of time, customers who made a purchase, the average check, the effectiveness of marketing regarding repeat purchases, the percentage of margin. By regularly monitoring these indicators and changes in them, an entrepreneur will be able to make the right decisions and sell things quickly and profitably.

When selling clothes via the Internet (including using the social network Vkontakte), it is important to take into account some of the nuances of online trading:

1. The client must always be warned that the color and appearance of the product may differ from that shown in the picture (if the item is not sent from a personal warehouse).
2. Warn about possible delays or indicate a delivery time with a reserve.

Before launching an online clothing store, you need to formalize your activity and choose its organizational and legal form - individual entrepreneur or LLC. The second format makes sense to use only if several people create a common business. In other cases, it is easier to register as an individual entrepreneur (individual). As for the choice of taxation system, the simplified tax system with a rate of 6% is considered the best option, which can significantly reduce the tax burden on the entrepreneur.

Selling clothes through social networks

Creating a trading website that is correct in terms of interface and SEO functionality will not ensure a successful start to trading. It is very important to conduct a high-quality advertising campaign and develop an effective marketing strategy to tell potential customers about yourself and interest them in purchasing. Selling clothes in an online store based on social networks (VKontakte, etc.) will be quick and easy. It is very easy to create on a free platform (product photos are uploaded quickly), and large product catalogs can be created in a short time. In addition, the organizer immediately gets access to a free tool for attracting customers (friend requests, sending personal messages with an offer to make a purchase) and can advertise their services for free (posts in thematic groups, on the pages of acquaintances, creating and promoting their own trade group).

Depending on the chosen format of the online clothing store on the social network (Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, etc.), the seller must negotiate with the client all the details regarding the purchase and delivery of the goods. If an entrepreneur sells clothes on the dropshipping principle, then the buyer must be warned that the photo and description of the product are provided by the supplier and may differ in some parameters (shade, sometimes design) from those indicated. After all, only the client will be the first to see the thing in reality. It is also important to ensure the quality of logistics - packaging the goods well and meeting the promised delivery times. To start a successful online clothing trade, you can use the following approaches to organizing a business:

1. Specify order details and notify about shipment by phone.
2. Indicate additional communication channels in the Contacts section: email, ICQ.
3. Create your own database of clients, accounts, goods (this can be done using Excel, MyWarehouse, Client Base, etc.).
4. Offer several ways to pay for goods (transfer to a bank card, e-wallet, cash on delivery).
5. Organize several methods of delivery of goods (state mail, private, courier services).

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are concerned about the question of which store is best to open in a small town. It all depends on the interests of the target audience, the level of competition and purchasing power. But to start successful trading in an online store, including through Vkontakte, the number of people in the city does not matter, because work is carried out, as a rule, in several regions.

How to sell clothes online on VKontakte?

How to open an online store on VKontakte? The algorithm of actions is simple. A trading platform on this social network is often created in parallel with a full-fledged trading platform based on a free engine. But successful sales will begin only if you pay enough attention to SEO promotion and filling the online platform with quality content and increasing the number of subscribers. If an entrepreneur is not confident in his abilities, it is better to hire a freelance administrator for these purposes.

The first step is to create an online store, fill it, and implement advertising campaigns. Then you need to start attracting new customers, getting them interested in purchasing, especially repeat ones. The main factors that influence this process are assortment and cost. If you fill the catalog well and offer the buyer a favorable price, he will prefer to choose this particular offer. Using hashtags (for example, #obnova, #sale), which simplify the search for the right product, will help attract the target audience.

When selling clothes through VKontakte, you need to create a base of regular customers from the very beginning, do everything to ensure that they are satisfied and make a repeat purchase. It is very important to help with choosing the right size and style of clothing. In order to demonstrate clothes with the highest quality, you can post thematic videos on the site, use programs for virtual selection of clothes, provide a user-friendly interface and quick navigation through pages, and create an online consultation.

Advice: To get additional income in your free time, you should take advantage of the offers of sites where you can earn money by completing tasks (for example, SEOSPRINT, PROFITCENTER, Vktarget, Free-lance, etc.).

Selling children's clothing online

Trade in children's clothing is a business niche that will always be highly profitable. Starting effective online sales is not very difficult, the main thing is to approach the stages of creating your business responsibly. You can successfully sell children's clothing online in several formats:

• trading on social networks (dropshipping, creating your own warehouse);
• opening your own online store (promoting a website will require a lot of time and investment);
• work in an “affiliate” format.

Some entrepreneurs start their online work by selling used children's clothing. The operating principle of a consignment store is that the intermediary sells the item to the buyer for a certain markup. The owner of the product initially determines its minimum cost (usually 30-40% of the new price) and signs an agreement, which stipulates the terms of sale, return, and the percentage of the seller.

Advice: in order to successfully start selling clothes through an online store or retail outlet, it is advisable to create a business card website. This will help attract new customers and increase sales turnover.

1. It is advisable to create a range of affordable prices (the average price for one thing is 180-900 rubles, only 10% of buyers buy things more expensive).
2. It is necessary to create a wide range of products.
3. It is worth selling only high-quality goods and keeping delivery times to a minimum.
4. When specifying measurements of items, always take into account the possibility of an error of 1-2 cm.
5. It is better to group clothes by season.
6. To attract the attention of buyers, it is advisable to publish useful tips on the main page of the social network or create a separate section of the site for this.
7. It is advisable to regularly hold promotions, sweepstakes, and competitions with prizes.

As an option, you can expand your assortment with original products by making original designs using a printer for printing on clothes.

Save the article in 2 clicks:

The normal profitability rate for a children's clothing store is 10-15%. The success of trade, including through the VKontakte network, largely depends on the preparation of the entrepreneur, the choice of a good supplier and pricing policy. The same rules are also relevant when it comes to organizing sales of items for adults. To start successfully selling clothes online, it is not enough to simply create and fill an online store with content. It is necessary to first think over and implement a plan for its promotion, ways to increase sales, and attract new customers.