How to Open a Fashion Store
Women’s fashion stores are more than just a place to buy a new dress. They can be sources of inspiration, empowerment, and community. If you want to create your own women’s fashion boutique, it’s important to plan your store correctly from the beginning to best serve your customers and enjoy long-term business success.
How do I start a women’s
fashion store?
Before you open the doors to your new business, you’ll need to spend time researching, planning, and preparing. This involves tasks like writing a solid business plan, forecasting your budget, securing a location for your store, insuring your business, and being aware of any legal or financial obligations. Then you can move on to exciting elements like creating your visual branding and building a website.
You’re not expected to know everything as a business owner. If you’re not confident in certain areas, such as accounting, brand design, or interior design, it’s wise to invest in specialists who can help you.
How do I decide what clothing to stock in my store?
The best way to start building your product offering is to completely know your customer – and appeal to her. You’ll need to consider your target market’s traits, including:
- How old is she and where does she live?
- How much does she spend on clothing, and how often?
- What motivates her to spend money on clothing?
- Is she loyal to certain brands or does she shop around?
- What are her lifestyle activities and how do they affect what she wears?
- What is her personal style and what does she feel comfortable in?
- Is she influenced by women’s fashion trends?
If you fully understand your customer, you can make creative and strategic choices about the clothing you stock for her.
Where do I source clothing for my boutique?
There are three main methods to stock your women’s clothing store. The option you choose depends on your budget, how hands-on you plan to be, and what makes the most sense for your business.
- Select pre-manufactured wholesale garments from a women’s fashion wholesaler to sell in your store.
- Design your garments internally and outsource manufacturing and distribution.
- Keep everything in-house by designing, manufacturing, and distributing garments yourself.
Each option has its merits and drawbacks. Purchasing stock from an online clothing wholesaler such as Global Fashion House is most effective for businesses looking to stock budget-conscious, high-quality women’s clothing. We offer thousands of commercially-viable SKUs, location-based exclusivity, and practical minimum order quantities.
How do I find wholesale women’s clothing suppliers in Australia?
Traditional clothing wholesaling used to involve visiting multiple supplier showrooms, inspecting their samples, and managing purchases. Although this method still suits some businesses, Global Fashion House makes selecting and receiving stock for your women’s boutique a far more time-efficient task.
As an Australian-based online fashion wholesaler, we use our fashion industry expertise to design, manufacture, and ship high-quality, on-trend garments for your retail business to buy and sell. Our team members are also proud to offer their expert advice if you’d like assistance with product selection and ranging for your store. We can work closely with first-time business owners and experienced retailers alike, ensuring our garments exceed customer expectations. Our ultimate goal is to support you in building customer loyalty, so you can experience being a fashion entrepreneur.