open your boutique

When you have decided it’s time to open your own store of fashionable clothes and accessories try to get as unique as possible. Niche shops flourish based on their exclusiveness in the era of online marketplace where you can buy A to Z. So let your creative thoughts shape your business into a beautiful piece of store. Fashion never fades there is something new which is trending, dressing styles or accessories, all you need to is tap the market that will be ready to buy your product.

After sorting out all your ideas here is what you need to know the reality of starting a business

Research and learn

Do researches over the existing business models and draw conclusions from what you learnt from them. Talk to people involved in the same line of work. Get feedback from your friend or families over your products. It is always good to listen what people expect from a product and their feedback, it will give the room to improvise. We may be extremely good with our skills but who knows we may lack in one or two. Take classes if you want to
be sure.

Finances

If you are going to quit the 9 to 5 job and start your venture remember the transition is not going to be easy. It will take time for your business to pick up and you may be short on cash in occasions. So plan ahead and save money before jumping into the hot water. You can also consider not giving up your job and start doing the business, of course juggling them both is tough but it will give you a sense of security. If you are going to take up a loan, plan how you are going to repay it.

Wholesale

Contact the wholesale dealers who can supply goods at the rate you wish to buy them Check out all of them and purchase from a quality dealer.

Platform

Where are you going to sell your goods? You can open a brick and mortar store or go completely online or try them both. If you’re planning to open an offline store, list out all the places where your business can flourish. A good locality with potential buyers surrounding should be your final spot. Your store should go in sync with surroundings you are in. Check out what is trending in your locality what actually people in that location buy.

In online market you can start your own website or sell in the existing ones like Amazon, e-bay etc. Do u know according to a recent survey by PowerReview almost 31 percent of online shopper hit Amazon first to search about what they want to buy and 38 percent of them Google it. After choosing your platform plan your finances accordingly, a store will require rent setting up cost and maintenance. A website requires a web development team and you have to pay for Amazon for an inventory in their store.

If you feel a brick and mortar is too much an investment in the beginning, you can try pop-up shops or become a vendor in city’s artisan market. This will give you enough opportunities to connect with your customers’ face-to-face apart from selling over the internet.

Reputation

What makes you stand apart from the group is reputation. There are big companies and well established brands to grow-up here you need to have quality goods. Nothing speaks louder than quality of products in any business. Apart from this you have to offer something new that only your brand can give to your customers. It may be unique designs or funky looks or exotic color combinations, it may be a small thing initially but this how brand image building is done. It makes your customer to come back to you over the time.

Connections

Establish good connections, talk to your customers or make a conversation with your fellow vendor at artisan market. Nothing works like well established connections with people. Talking to your customers will let you know how they feel about the product and it creates appositive outlook for your brand. Good customers with word-of-the-mouth advertising can do wonders to your business.

Accounts management

Calculating your expenditure and spending takes considerable amount of time. You will be staring at excel sheets to find out where your money is going. Get a get help for this or make sure your good at doing it. When you are in a job your employer will take care of you taxes but now you need to pay taxes. You need to have clear idea of your profits and losses.

Registration and legal work

If you have decided to operate a brick and mortar store you should obtain commercial license and get registered as a legal business. Take legal help if you are not an expertise in this domain. Reading through those endless pages of documents is an uphill task.

Advertisement

It is not possible to invest a lot in budget in the initial stages. Try to get most of the attention through social media and bloggers. Pamphlet distribution may sound a little too old but works well for those who are on a constrained budget. Apart from this what works the best is the recommendation of your customers, a good will among your buyers. Once you have attained it there is no more worrying about advertising or recognition.

Pricing

Price your stocks in a reasonable manner neither high nor low. You need to make reasonable amounts of profits to keep the business running. Not everything that is sold cheap is going to garner attention; a product priced appropriately shows the true sense of your business. Even if you are ready to sell for cheap prices at some point you need to shift gears and make profits, this will be bumpy if your customers don’t like the price hike. Instead create customer loyalty programs and coupon codes where there are discounts for recurring customers.

Shipping orders

When you have an order and delivery system through online market, then you need to have a little bit of assistance to handle the packing, dispatching and maintenance of stock related works. Get a member of your family or friend to help you out if hiring someone is not viable to you. Alternatively you can choose platforms which help eCommerce sectors in delivery system.

Keep upgrading

You may have developed an excellent brand but to stay in any industry change is inevitable. Today’s fashion is tomorrow’s boredom. Things change so adopt as fast as possible

Don’t give up

Yes it is going to be tough and you will face hardships. But it is all worth for your dream venture. Also don’t give up easily. You may not taste success instantly but with dedicated hard work and proper resource you are definitely going to make a mark. No great brand that exists today was an instant hit they worked their way through tough times.

So all the best to all those folks out there planning to become the next big fashion designer, hope all your dreams come true.

Anand Rajendran, CEO of Uptra ConsultancyServices, a leading provider of legal services, including company registration. He is the Head of Communications at Uptra Consultancy Services, India’s largest online legal services facilitator.