Five Steps To Start An Online Clothing Store In 2023 (2024)

A niche is a segment of the market that you can focus on and cater to. Niches are important because they help build authority in your segment. Do you want to sell streetwear, formal wear or something in between?

When deciding on a niche for your store, consider two factors:

• What are you passionate about?
• What can you offer that other stores don’t?

For example, if you’re passionate about fashion and have an eye for unique clothing, you could open an online vintage store. Alternatively, if you have a background in design, you could start a store specializing in custom-made clothing.

Niche ideas to get you started include:

Your store’s name is important because it will be how customers identify your business. When choosing a name, make sure it’s unique and memorable, but also easy to spell and pronounce. Check to see if the domain name is available, as well as social media channels. Use a site such as GoDaddy to ensure you can secure the domain name.

Once you’ve chosen a name, register your business. Do this through your state’s Secretary of State office for a state filing fee, otherwise use a service such as BetterLegal or Inc Authority. The online filing service you use will typically charge a fee in addition to the state filing fee.

The most common types of businesses to file are limited liability companies (LLC) or sole proprietorships. If you plan on having partners in your business, an LLC is the best option. Sole proprietorships are businesses owned and operated by one person. This is the simplest business structure and can be a good option if you’re just starting out.

The reason we recommend sourcing your products before creating your website is that finding suppliers can take a significant amount of time. There’s no use paying for a website without having products to sell.

There are a few ways to source products for your store:

• Manufacture your own products
• Order wholesale from a supplier
• Dropship products from a supplier

If you’re planning to manufacture your own products, you’ll need to find a manufacturer and set up a production line. This can be expensive and time-consuming, but may be worth it to make something unique.

To set up a production line, you’ll need to:

• Research manufacturers and narrow down a list of candidates
• Choose a reputable manufacturer
• Work with the manufacturer to create your product
• Get samples
• Invest in quality control

If you’re not planning to manufacture your own products, you can either order products wholesale or dropship them. Dropshipping is when you sell products that are shipped directly from the supplier to the customer. This is a good option if you’re just starting out because it requires less upfront investment. You’ll need to find a supplier who offers dropshipping and set up an account with them.

When choosing a supplier, consider:

• Reputation
• Price
• Shipping times
• Product quality

Popular sources for suppliers, wholesalers or manufacturers include DHgate, Alibaba, LA Showroom, Oberlo, Abound, Handshake and FashionGo.

After securing a supplier, you need an e-commerce platform. This is how customers will find and purchase your products. For ultimate customization, use WordPress and WooCommerce or Magento. If you’re not familiar with website design, there are plenty of platforms you can use to create a professional-looking website, such as Shopify or BigCommerce. These programs are easy to use and have a wide range of templates to choose from.

When creating your website, make sure to:

• Include high-quality product photos
• Write clear and concise product descriptions
• Make it responsive (meaning it looks good on all devices)
• Set up payment processing
• Include a blog to show your brand’s personality
• Make your website SEO-friendly

Platforms such as Shopify make it easy to get started with step-by-step instructions and follow the same basic outline for publishing your site:

• Create an account.
• Install product apps. To dropship, you need an app. There are other apps to extend the functionality of your store, such as customer reviews and chatbots.
• Choose and customize your theme. Most platforms offer both free and premium themes.
• Add products. This step includes adding photos, writing your SEO-friendly description and setting prices.
• Create pages and organize your menu. Important pages include an “about me/us” page, shipping policies and contact page.
• Customize your domain name. A domain name is your website URL. For example, forbes.com.
• Set up shipping. Which shipping providers will you use to send customers’ orders to them?
• Create a test order. Before making your site live, click every link to ensure they work, and run a few test orders to ensure things operate smoothly.
• Publish your site.

Now that you have a website and products to sell, it’s time to market your store. There are many ways to market an online clothing store. Some common methods include:

• SEO (search engine optimization): This is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages. An easy way to do this is to use keywords people search for in relation to the item you’re promoting. Popular keyword research tools include Ahrefs and Semrush.
• Paid advertising: You can use platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads to place advertisem*nts for your store.
• Email marketing: Capture email addresses from visitors to your website and then send them marketing emails. To do this, you need an email marketing tool, such as Mailchimp.
• Affiliate marketing: Affiliates are people who promote your products in exchange for a commission on each sale they generate.
• Content marketing: This is a broad category that includes SEO, social media and blogging. The goal of content marketing is to attract potential customers to your website and then convert them into paying customers.
• Influencer marketing: Work with social media influencers to promote your products. Networks such as Intellifluence and Upfluence help brands find influencers to work with.
• Customer loyalty rewards: Offer customers loyalty rewards, such as discounts and free products, for frequently purchasing from your store. You can also offer discounts to customers who promote your product on their social media channels.
• Generate press coverage: Getting featured in publications, such as magazines and newspapers, can help increase brand awareness. An easy way to accomplish this is through Help a Reporter Out (HARO), where you respond to press queries about industry topics.
• Gift bags: Promote your clothing store by adding coupons and other incentives to gift bags offered at in-person events. HARO also has a gift bag feature where event hosts ask brands to send products for swag bags.