Identify your goals

The very first aspect that will make or break your future performance as a new clothing store owner is how clear and specific your ambitions are.

Kind of like a business plan but it has to do more with yourself personally.

Break down your goals for this new shop:

• How much time do I have to start it?

• Do I want it to be my main source of income?

• How do I want the financial goals of the store to be in 5 years?

• Am I willing to manage a big staff?

… and plenty of other questions that you can ask yourself and start the work with a clear sequence in your mind. (Important: make those notes a success plan, meaning that make your goals so that if you accomplish them, you will have a successful store as you want it)

In this way, you will be able to prioritize things, make adjustments and optimizations in difficult times and to know how to handle situations on a rainy day.

For instance, should you meet a drop in your sales in the future you will get back to these notes… What were my starting goals? Which’s unaccomplishment led to the current problem? What did I say in the beginning will do to accomplish this goal?

And in this way you get over the bigger number of bad situations.

Budget your Capital

With the similar philosophy, you have to establish in the beginning your available Capital.

Don’t leave things on their own luck and say: “I may find money for this”, ” I will determine later if I make this purchase for the store”…etc

Now, in your scratch, write down any potential expense you may have to deal with, concerning your store.

(Without meaning that unpredictable cases will not arise. Just try to be prepared for the most potential expenses)

Then, consider your sources of funding that will create your capital, even though you were thinking about something small without huge capital.

The point is to know what is going on with the money you have and the money you will spend. Keep in mind that also in the future of your store’s operation.

Establish your target audience and your competition

With the above said, we get into the 3rd step of your strategy, establishing your target audience and your competition.

Why is identifying your target audience important?

Think of it as a close person of you, like a relative, and someone unknown to you.

Which of them could you treat and persuade better?

I suppose your relative… someone that you know his character, his tensions, his attitude.

So, a key for successful customer traffic is to identify your target audience. This can be executed by categorizing the people your brand’s provisions are more suitable to.

For example, filter them by: Age, financial situation, sex, style.

And by identifying your target audience and adapting your marketing, your sales strategy and your provisions to them you gain ground over your competition.

When you specify in the exact niche in which you will sell (in this case, the target audience) you have an instant advantage, as you can put more effort on mastering in one separate sector!

Find out your wholesale supplier

The supplier is the one who will assure the basic thing, namely the clothes! In the process of this research it is vital you have some criteria in your mind before making the decision and opt for a supplier who meets some basic requirements!

• Originality in the products

Originality ensures your brand’s identity and engages more customers and interests. 

• Market knowledge

Your retail supplying brand should know what sells and what is in interest by the consumers – on a permanent basis, as the preferences are constantly changing. 

• Availability

Suppliers with high availability should be capable of providing fast and helpful customer support in agent moments as well as a system that receives complaints or an inner method of communication for partners 

• Organization – Updates

Suppliers are entrepreneurs and as every entrepreneur, they should be organized, when it comes to their niche and duties.

Pricing structure

The final step of your strategy has to do with the factor that will determine your income, the price of your products.

Obviously, we cannot evaluate the price of each one of your products, however we can provide 3 effective pricing strategies.

1) How to determine the price

The best formula to apply is a formula that says: The price of a product should be double than the wholesale cost and 10% off the average price for the same product of your competition. 

For example, you buy a piece at wholesale price for $10. Your competition offers it at retail for $18. You should offer this product for $16. Make the calculations…

2) A pricing mind trick

On the price tags, you can remove the symbol of the currency! When the buyer sees it, it reminds him that he has to pay and nobody likes to pay. It’s a psychological trick that is proven to have results.

You can try it yourself!

3) Cheap vs. Expensive

In your store you want to have some more pricey pieces but the issue is how to sell them.

The only thing you have to do is to separate the costly products from the cheaper ones. In your store you will make a “section” with the more qualified clothes and in this way you will tell the buyers that here is the high quality where you pay accordingly.

By demonstrating such products among the more affordable ones it is normal that people will decide by their wallet. But, by making clear that here are the next level products which are a bit more pricey the possibilities of purchasing are in favor of you!