How to open a children's clothing store. Selling clothes at home as a type of business

Distance business has long ceased to be an unusual phenomenon. Proof of this is the numerous online stores, where anyone can make a purchase without leaving their home. Saving time and money are definitely benefits of online shopping. From this article you will learn how to independently organize a business selling clothes online, find potential buyers and successfully develop your business.

Anyone can start their own online. Often this does not even require large investments. Enough to have free time, constant access to the Internet and the desire to earn money.

For example, many housewives who are in maternity leave for child care, is attracted by the sale of children's clothing via the Internet. Potential buyers are fellow mothers who are looking for unusual and inexpensive things for their children. Having organized their business online, women are in no hurry to return to their usual routine work and continue to develop their profitable business even after maternity leave.

In order to start your online business, it is absolutely not necessary to make wholesale purchases and be afraid that the product will not be in demand. Selling clothes online allows you to act as an organizer of joint purchases. In other words, people will order the product they are interested in from you, make an advance payment, and you will buy it from the supplier and earn your percentage for the work done. Today, many individual entrepreneurs work according to this scheme, for whom it is much more comfortable to work at home on a computer than to trade on the market.

Let's say you decide to start selling clothes online. First of all, you need to decide on the assortment. The main criterion for successful online sales is the demand and relevance of things in the region where you live. Perhaps there are no beautiful evening and cocktail dresses in your city, or it is completely impossible to find high-quality children's shoes. It is important to carry out comparative analysis available retail clothing stores, read forums and find out the opinions of friends about what they would be most willing to buy from you.

An important factor is the average per capita income in the region where you are going to organize your online trading. Inflated prices can turn off potential buyers, and clothes that are too cheap can raise doubts about their quality. Try to focus on those products for which you will have as little competition as possible.

The wide variety of clothing suppliers can be confusing for a new online retailer. Today you can order clothes both in the CIS countries and far beyond the borders of the Commonwealth. The most profitable suppliers are, of course, Chinese clothing manufacturers. The leaders among resources offering online sales are AliExpress and TaoBao. However, if the latter site is aimed at native speakers Chinese language, then users from all over the world can make purchases on AliExpress.

The advantage of Chinese suppliers is high-quality, inexpensive clothing. Through the Internet you can order quite exclusive things from China that cannot be found in any retail store in Russia.

The main rule for wholesale purchases on such a site is the rating of the selected seller. Make a transaction only after making sure of his integrity and the quality of the goods. You can check this by looking at reviews from customers who have already placed orders with this supplier.

The AliExpress resource protects the rights of both parties, as evidenced by a well-thought-out payment system. After selecting the desired product, the customer pays the full amount of its cost, after which the seller sends the product by mail. The money deposited into the system will be transferred to the seller’s account only after the customer receives his product and confirms its quality and safety during shipment. Otherwise, the buyer has the right to ask for a discount or a full refund. The system guarantees that any parcel will arrive safely, including clothes purchased through the store. The Internet in this case greatly simplifies the transaction process.

Once you have decided on a clothing supplier, you need to start searching for potential buyers who will be interested and profitable in your product. You can try to open your own online store, but this will require financial investments (creating a website, design development, promotion in search engines, finding a hired administrator, etc.) Therefore, the most rational way for a beginner to find buyers is a group or community on social networks.

You can create such a group absolutely free by advertising your services and posting an assortment of custom-made clothes. At first, friends and acquaintances can act as potential buyers. Gradually, people will begin to learn about your online clothing selling community and will tell their friends about it. The principle of so-called “word of mouth marketing” works flawlessly to this day.

However, if allowed financial resources, then you can entrust the promotion of the community to professionals who will invite potential buyers based on the targeting principle. In other words, there will be people in your group who will actually start placing orders. Remember that buying clothes online should be as comfortable as possible for your potential buyers.

For the convenience of transactions, you need to offer customers various ways payment for orders:

• Transfer to a bank card or remittance to a bank account.
• Payment with electronic currency (WebMoney, Qiwi, YandexMoney).
• Postal order or cash on delivery.
• Payment in cash upon receipt of goods.

In addition, in order to insure yourself against the buyer’s refusal to order, you can introduce a prepayment system, which can range from 30 to 50% of the total cost of the goods. This item may even include making payment transactions much easier and more convenient, which significantly saves customers time and money.

Proper organization of delivery of an order to the buyer will not only have a good effect on the reputation of the online store, but will also significantly reduce the time it takes to complete the transaction. You can arrange delivery in the following ways:

• Deliver the order to the buyer's home yourself.
• Deliver the goods at a pre-agreed location on neutral territory.
• Ask buyers to pick up goods directly from the seller's home.
• Hire a courier who, for a nominal fee, will deliver the goods to the right place and time.
• Send goods by mail with cash on delivery.

The advantage of online shopping is that you can buy this or that item without leaving your home. That is why it is better to give preference to delivery to the buyer’s home. It will be convenient if delivery is positioned as free, and you include its real cost in the total cost of the purchase.

A well-drafted service agreement can protect the seller and buyer from possible misunderstandings during the transaction process. And it doesn’t matter whether it will be legal document or a formal verbal agreement. The main thing is that both parties fulfill their obligations.

For example, a mandatory clause of such an agreement may be an advance payment of 50% of the purchase price or a refund if the product turns out to be defective or does not fit in size. The buyer must be sure that he will not lose his money and will receive a quality order that will meet his expectations.

Any entrepreneurial activity in the territory Russian Federation must be legally formalized and registered with the tax authority. Contributions to the state treasury will not only save you from possible problems, but will also help create a confident future. After all, having registered as individual entrepreneur, you will make monthly social and pension payments, from which your pension will be formed in the future.

However, if you are not yet confident in the success of your online business, you can try making a few trial orders for friends or relatives. If you see that selling clothes online is bringing positive results, then it makes sense to continue to develop your business by registering it legally. In the last few years, it has become possible to register online businesses in accordance with the tax code of the Russian Federation.

Selling clothes online is not the only way to organize online trading. You can sell anything. The main thing is that the product is in demand and relevant among the residents of your city or region. Thus, unusual women's jewelry and accessories, various devices for the kitchen and home, car accessories and replica watches of famous brands are very popular. People will always be looking for unusual things that can be easily purchased without traveling abroad.

Online business is responsible and hard work. Selling clothes online or any accessories requires a certain amount of time in the early stages. However, with a properly planned business project, the result in the form of a stable income will not take long to arrive.

There are a huge number of positions and directions in which you can develop a sales network. Some of them are attractive because of their large turnover, others because of their high percentage markup, others because of one-time profits, and others because of their relative stability. Many sellers are let down by the desire to get maximum profit without taking into account other significant factors. Meanwhile, it’s not just the numbers that need to be taken into account net profit from sales, but also requirements for storing goods, consumer demand, seasonality. In addition, a lot depends on the starting capital, which you can spend on purchasing the first batches of goods.

You don't always need to chase the possibility of a high markup. For example, in retail chains that sell food, the retail markup rarely exceeds 10%, however, due to the fact that the products are always sold well, even such a markup is quite profitable. Naturally, when planning to trade products, we must not forget that this is a perishable product that requires storage conditions. Therefore, you must take care of the warehouse space and get rid of excess goods in the warehouse in a timely manner. To some extent, this also applies to household chemicals, although the shelf life here is much longer.

Unlike food products, clothing and footwear provide the seller with high profits due to the possibility of a significant (up to 200%) markup relative to the purchase price. Here, too, it is worth focusing on the average buyer, because luxury clothing brands, although they provide more one-time income, are much more difficult to sell. In addition, the start-up capital required to purchase clothing in the mid-price segment in the required range is much less than when working with the premium segment. An undoubted advantage of the clothing trade is the absence of expiration dates, but this comes at the price of seasonality. Special attention It is worth paying attention to children's things: it is profitable to trade in them, and buyers will come again and again as their children grow up.

As for low one-time profits, you shouldn’t be afraid of them if your product is popular enough to be bought in large volumes. For example, a package in a supermarket rarely costs more than one or two rubles, but given that its wholesale price does not exceed 20 kopecks, it turns out that the markup is up to a thousand percent. The main thing is to ensure the necessary demand.

In general, if there is sufficient consumer interest, you can find many “compromise” categories of goods, the cost of which is five to ten times lower than the selling price, and you do not need to sell several thousand units to ensure an acceptable income. In this regard ideal consumers are children. Even a small retail outlet next to a circus or amusement park can bring huge profits. You can sell cheap Chinese toys, cotton candy or popcorn. For example, the cost of an average glass of popcorn is 4-5 rubles (of which 3 rubles is, in fact, a paper glass), and the selling price is about 50 rubles.

An entrepreneur engaged in trade dreams that his goods will not linger on the shelves, but will quickly find demand. But during a crisis, the financial situation of the population worsens. Accordingly, people are less likely to shop for non-essential goods. It would seem that those businessmen who sell clothes need not worry about this: they say, a crisis is a crisis, and every person needs not only to eat something, but also to wear something every day. However, changing conditions force them to be especially careful when deciding which clothes are profitable to sell and which are almost certainly not in demand.

Instructions

Approaching summer period of the year. What clothes should be sold so that they quickly find demand and bring profit to the businessman? Look at this issue from the point of view of basic common sense. What clothes will people most likely buy, even in conditions when their financial situation has become noticeably more difficult? Of course, first of all - inexpensive. But the word “inexpensive” should in no case be synonymous with words such as “bad”, “outdated”, etc. That is, if a businessman focuses on inexpensive summer clothes - light trousers, shorts, shirts, blouses, light windbreaker jackets - and the clothes are of quite acceptable quality, his goods will almost certainly sell out quickly.

Profitable niches for trading: pilaf via the Internet, knives, optics and much more.

Since the establishment of commodity-money relations, trade has been one of the most profitable types of business. However, during a crisis, the question of what is profitable to trade becomes especially relevant. Which product will definitely be in demand: already known and “promoted” or innovative? Low or high price category? Domestic or imported?

To understand which product to choose for promotion, you should analyze the market situation in various segments, prospects for its development, evaluate sales channels and the level of competition.

Nowadays, citizens' incomes are declining, and this entails a decrease in their purchasing power. According to Rosstat, in 2015, real disposable income of Russians fell by 4%, and in the 1st quarter of 2016 - by another 3.9%.

According to Romir research, approximately 70% of our compatriots in 2015-2016. began to save up to 10% on the essentials: groceries, clothing, shoes, and other non-food items of daily demand.

Sociologists distinguish four types of buyers depending on their chosen cost-saving strategy (see Table 1).

Buyer type

Signs

Behavior

Similar trends are observed in online sales (see Fig. 1).

*Data does not include online orders ready food, tickets, digital goods, wholesale purchases

In 2015, according to Vedomosti, they grew by only 3% taking into account inflation (excluding - by 16%). This is 2.5 times less than in 2014 (8% taking into account inflation). In the average online store, the receipt “grew” by 8% and amounted to 4,050 rubles, the number of orders also increased by 8% (increase to 160 million)

According to Data Insight statistics, from electronics and household appliances Buyers' interest has shifted to budget products: inexpensive clothing and consumer goods. At the same time, the share of premium brands and expensive goods has decreased. The leaders are sporting goods, products for animals and children's assortment.

Summary: the market situation makes us think about creating a fairly wide assortment designed for an audience interested in saving money. At the same time, the quality must be acceptable, since competition in the low and medium segments has been and remains high. The sales strategy should be focused on different categories of citizens and take into account their preferred methods of saving.

Let's look at what products are profitable to trade today, using the example of successful startups and the most popular franchises (according to Forbes 2016).

Food products are classified as essential. Even in times of austerity, buyers will never exclude them from their shopping basket. This means you can take your place in this niche. This is exactly what the young entrepreneur Ilkhom Ismailov did. In 2014, he opened an online Uzbek food store, Plov.com.

Start-up capital- 1 million rubles from my own savings - spent on furnishing the kitchen and creating a website for accepting orders.

At first, the entrepreneur and his partners sold only pilaf, but in 2015 they expanded the range and began offering sweets, salads, manti, and baked goods: sales increased by 88%. The revenue of the online store in the period from January to April 2016 increased by 2 times compared to the same period last year.

Our immediate plans include creating a franchise (there are already about 200 requests from potential franchisees) and opening a business offline: “We understand that we need to go offline,” says Ilkhom Ismailov. — In summer, people try to spend more time outdoors, in parks. We have to be where our client is.”

At the end of 2015, I. Ismailov became the winner of the “Young Billionaire School”, held annually by Forbes, and his project was recognized as one of the most promising.

During the crisis, people began to visit cafes and restaurants less, but at the same time they still want to eat tasty and beautiful food. Entrepreneur Alexey Yakovlev noticed this trend and entered into an agreement with the largest manufacturer of steel and ceramic knives, Samura Cutlery. By promoting the products of this company in the middle price category, you can interest amateur cooks in them. The idea has justified itself: today the Samura franchise (TOP 5 in the Forbes rating of 2016) operates 250 points of sale (23 opened in 2015).

Initial investment - 250,000 rubles: includes equipment costs point of sale and purchasing a starting batch of knives. The franchisee's revenue is 3.75 million rubles, profit - 2 million rubles (knives are sold with a 160% markup).

The demand for health products is consistently high. This explains the success of Icraft Optics, a federal retail chain of stores that sell ready-made glasses and make them to order (it has its own lens turning workshop). Franchise TOP-12 Forbes rating. Currently there are 130 of its own and 350 franchise points (120 opened in 2015).

Geography of business - more than 100 cities. There are no royalties or lump sum fees. For the start-up fee (1.4 million rubles), franchisees receive retail, lighting, medical equipment and a basic batch of goods.

The franchisor offers partners the opportunity to make up to 300% of the retail markup and, as a bonus, gives 50% compensation for advertising costs.

Revenue - 6 million rubles, franchisee profit - 3 million rubles.

Most parents consider investing in the younger generation to be paramount and most profitable, therefore, among everything that is now profitable to trade, goods for children occupy one of the first places. Let's look at them in more detail.

If we talk about the offline format, the franchise for selling creative kits “Orange Elephant” is successfully promoting (TOP 15 in the Forbes rating): 10 of its own and 422 franchise points. Franchisors have their own production in China of kits for drawing, modeling, design, and decoration. Today it is one of the most recognizable and rapidly growing chains of goods for children, represented in 61 cities in Russia, as well as in the CIS, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. In 2015, 85 new Orange Elephant locations opened.

Initial investment - 250 thousand rubles. Estimated revenue - 7.5 million rubles, profit - 1.9 million rubles.

Today, almost anyone can create their own online store. But not everyone knows what to fill it with. The editors of Segodnya invited experts to clarify this issue. Here are some of the categories they recommend for promotion and their marketing features that are worth paying attention to (see Table 2).

What to pay attention to

But not everything depends on the popularity of a particular product. In order for trading to be successful, professionals recommend selling what you yourself are well versed in. If the seller is an expert in his product, the buyer trusts him and quickly becomes a regular and recommends him to his friends. This must be taken into account when choosing your trading niche.

2. MAKE THE INITIAL MARK UP OF 100% AND HIGHER

It is a fairly common myth that the price should be as low as possible; it is better to make a smaller markup and make money on turnover. However, to earn the same amount at a lower markup, turnover must increase by geometric progression. For example: if you want to earn 10 thousand UAH of profit with a 100% markup, then the revenue should be 100 thousand UAH, and to earn the same amount of profit with a 50% markup, then the revenue should already be 450 thousand UAH. Now think about whether reducing the price by a quarter will give you a 4-fold increase in sales?! This leads to the third rule:

3. PLAN A BUDGET FOR PRODUCT PURCHASE

The experience of successful clothing stores testifies to an indisputable fact: they planned to buy goods on an advance payment basis, thereby receiving the lowest possible purchase price and increasing the markup. The costs of creating inventory make up the lion's share of all investments in opening a store and often reach 50-80% of this amount. Ignoring this truth and the eternal hope for “maybe”, characteristic of our compatriots, from the very beginning transfer the project into the category of stillborn. As the classic said: “Money in the morning, chairs in the evening.” If you want to sell a product, take the trouble to buy it first. If you do not have enough funding for this main article expenses when opening a store, it’s better not to open. But let’s say the financing problem is solved and you are ready to buy clothes. How much does it need to buy?

4. BUY MORE THAN YOU PLAN TO SELL, CONSIDER THE NEED FOR REMAINS

The law of the genre is the constant presence of sufficient remainders. It is unrealistic to sell goods “for zero”: a store cannot operate successfully with empty or half-empty shelves. A trivial truth, and the majority of already working entrepreneurs, having read it, will say: “Of course,” and move on to next rule. But take your time: not everything is so simple. Let’s say, with a full display, you can display 100 pieces in your sales area. What do first-time entrepreneurs usually do? They buy just 100 pieces, promise the supplier to come in a week, and, happy, cut the red ribbon of the new store. Buyers on the first day buy 10 pieces, naturally the most interesting ones, the next 5 pieces, then 3 pieces... and the trade stops. Why? Because the Pareto law comes into effect, which states: 20% of the assortment gives 80% of the profit. But you did not replenish the product display on the sales floor in a timely manner, and now buyers are forced to choose the best from the worst. And 20% of your retail space is idle. Conclusion: it is necessary to maintain the balance of goods in the hall every day, and for this you should have bought 150 or even 200 pieces, depending on how often you have the opportunity to receive new product from the supplier. If you don’t have a warehouse, it’s better to fence off a part for it trading floor, but in no case reduce the exposure; bring and lay out clothes every day to replace those sold. In addition, nothing prevents you from finding out the client's needs and offering him something special, especially for him, from the warehouse. Psychologically, this very well encourages the visitor to buy.

5. SYSTEMATICALLY INTRODUCE NEW PRODUCTS

Systematically means preferably weekly. Your regular customers have already seen your collection and they will visit you as often as you update your exhibition. If they come again and don’t see anything new, they will be disappointed. If they get used to the fact that you have, for example, an update every Thursday, then visiting your store will become a habit for them. And your new supply is almost guaranteed to sell out. In addition, to bring new models into the hall, you will have to change the location of old models, and most likely, your visitors will see them in a new light and purchase them along with the new product. Systematicity in this case ensures stable sales and high customer loyalty. If, by the time of your next purchase, for some reason you have not managed to sell what was planned, then you should still update your assortment. Typically, entrepreneurs do not do this and wait until something is sold out before making another purchase. As paradoxical as it may sound, such an attempt to stay within the budget has an extremely negative impact on future sales and the profitability of the project as a whole. And so that you are not afraid to go against what you think common sense, but in fact it is not, we will talk about the sixth, strategic rule:

6. LEFT LEFT IS NO PROBLEM! DON'T ATTEMPT TO END THE SEASON WITH ZERO BALANCE

It is known that businessmen understand that money invested in store renovations is not returned. They also do not expect to sell the equipment at the purchase price if the store closes or moves and are ready to make a very significant discount in order to get rid of it. However, few of them realize that getting their investment back inventory almost as difficult. The structure and composition of product balances will constantly change, but their value will constantly grow due to the remains of new seasons. Some part will have to be written off, and some will have to be discounted. But selling your stock completely and immediately is only possible at a price several times lower than its cost. Otherwise, there is only one option left: to give these clothes to someone for sale without any guarantees. Therefore, when assessing your business, we strongly recommend making a reserve to cover losses associated with the markdown of the minimum inventory balance. We usually do not want to think that any store will have to close sooner or later, deluding ourselves into thinking that if this happens, it will not be soon. But life usually adjusts our plans without our consent, and those who are honest with themselves can avoid unnecessary disappointments. The practical benefit of this rule is as follows: when the season comes to an end, entrepreneurs begin to reduce prices and stop current purchases in order to finish the season with minimal balances and use the freed-up funds to buy clothes for the new season. Everything is logical and such efforts are necessary, but within reasonable limits. You need to understand that it is impossible to finish the season without leftovers, and that such attempts lead to a sharp and unjustified decrease in turnover. Moreover, the reduction will affect not only the current one, but also next season. For example, if you finished summer season with balances equal to at least half of your product display, then in January-February, when winter sales begin to fall sharply, your visitors will be happy to purchase this summer product at a discount, which will help maintain trade turnover during the off-season. That is, the balances are not just not problem, and their availability in sufficient quantities is vital to ensure good sales throughout the year.

We are opening a store selling women's clothing!
Trade in women's clothing is the most profitable area in the clothing sales business. Women spend more time and money buying clothes. They go shopping much more often than men.
That's why we open a store exclusively for women.

The Cleopatra store began operating on December 12, 2007, in the city of Nevyansk with the goal of providing city residents with non-food items (clothing).
Organizational and legal form of the store "Cleopatra" individual entrepreneur.
The main goal of the Cleopatra store is to make a profit from the proceeds.
The main activities of the trading enterprise are:

The Cleopatra store serves a contingent of customers with different income levels. The store is mainly aimed at middle-income customers. The trading organization has a very comfortable spot location in the city center, close to schools, a clinic, a savings bank, a cafe, and a chain of stores. This means that there will always be buyers there.
In this business plan, it is planned to open another women's clothing store, “Cleopatra”. It is necessary to purchase premises for a store on the street. Malysheva, Nevyansk. Malysheva Street is gradually becoming saturated with retail stores and pavilions, has a high traffic volume, and in this case is most advantageous for opening a retail outlet and choosing a store location. The source of funding will be equity. The area of ​​the premises including the warehouse includes 100 m².
The organizational structure of the store is presented in Figure 1. The number of store employees as of October 1, 2010 is 8 people.
The organizational structure of the Cleopatra store is the simplest linear-functional. The essence of a linear-functional management structure is that control influences on an object can be transmitted only by one dominant person - the manager, who receives official information only on behalf of his directly subordinate persons, makes decisions on all issues related to the part of the facility under his supervision, and is responsible for its work to a superior manager.
This type organizational structure management is used in the context of the functioning of small enterprises with simple production in the absence of extensive cooperative connections with suppliers, consumers, scientific and design organizations, etc.

After studying the tables below, you will understand how profitable it is to open a clothing store.

Sales forecast for 5 years, thousand rubles.

Current expenses by quarter for 2011, thousand rubles.

Profit forecast, thousand rubles.

Find out more: Is it profitable to open a clothing store and you can download the business plan for a women's clothing store