Need Advice: Want to start an online clothing business

**nolalove** · 08-03-2010 10:47 AM

Hello everyone,

I need some advice on a business I wish to start up. I appreciate all of your input in advance!

I am a young woman entrepreneur and I wish to start an online clothing store. My niche is Young Women's Plus-Size clothing, with a twist

Nola's Closet is exactly that.

I believe my passion is to offer fashionable and affordable clothing to women of "grande" poportions as well as encouraging beauty at the size they are now. If you google plus size clothing you'll see a lot of competition but most aren't very fashionable, and if so, they are pretty expensive.

Most sites found a niche but care nothing about the actual customer, and her needs.

The twist is that not only will I offer fashionable clothing, I will also sell adult items, lingerie, encouraging figurines and nick nacks, as well as bumper stickers, buttons and pens, and my own clothing line. This will consist of printed t-shirts, as well as high fashion clothing, swimsuits, etc. Think Spencer's Gifts meets Frederik's of Hollywood for plus size women.

This isn't your regular store, I want women to enjoy shopping but leave with a sense of fulfillment as well. This will be a one stop plus size shop. I will have a running blog on the site as well to help market products and encourage happiness.

I also plan on using real models for my ads to give a more realistic feel and help customers with knowing what the product will look like before purchasing.

Because I am a student (taking up International Business) I don't have much money but I know online business take very little start up costs. I do have a business plan, and will have around $3,000 for start up come this spring. As of now I'm doing more research on the industry and speaking to a SCORE chapter in my area.

With my little start up what should I do in terms of products? Should I just offer affiliate sales so that I don't have to worry about shipping and gradualy add my own products? Is a shopping cart, a credited payment processer, and making my site PCI compliant really all I need?

Do you think I should jump right into wholesale, consider drop shipping, finding a manufacter, etc?

**michael_terry** · 08-03-2010 05:05 PM

Glad to see you've taken on the challenge of entrepreneurship. The first thing I asked myself (even though it had been explained) is "what is she selling?" You started out with a great idea. You seemed focused and knew what the purpose of your business was (selling clothing specific to plus-sized women). And then you threw in "stickers, buttons and pens, and my own clothing line [...]" I'm guessing this is your first start-up so I am recommending you focus on the most important need of your target, clothing. At a later date you can bring in the novelty items and your own clothing line.

What I recommend to a lot of young entrepreneurs, if it hasn't crossed your mind yet is working for (full-time or part-time) a business in your niche. You will get an idea of how the business is run, their sources, drop shippers if they use them and so forth.

If you really want to be "legal," yes you need to Incorporate your business, a website, shopping cart, and merchant account...at the least. I'm sure I'm missing a few odds and ends there.

What I always say is "you have to be general, before you can be specific" so write down a general plan that addresses all of the needs of your business and then you can focus on the details and setting up connections with the necessary people.

**nolalove** · 08-03-2010 08:51 PM

Thank you Michael! I will definitely take your thoughts into consideration. However, the whole idea of my "closet" is that it concists of novelties as well as fashion items. I feel that if I wait to incorperate them, some customers will drop considering that I will be selling sex toys. It doesn't make sense to me to leave some items out of the loop and then add them on, I feel if they know what they are getting into with the site, it will catch on for being different. What is going to set my online store apart from the others who are just selling clothing?

**akula** · 08-03-2010 10:06 PM

hi..yeah, i obviously agree with Michael
what he's said is technically correct, textbook advice

i like your opportunity selection, i think you can make a great business selling plus size women's clothing

in terms of a competitive advantage, you can differentiate you self based on price, quality, range, terms or other factors

intuitively, what i suggest you do is apply the group shopping model (i.e. gilt.com, groupon etc) to plus sized women demographic

that would be your best option for a business model, plus it'll give you the capacity to diversify your inventory in the future

**nolalove** · 08-04-2010 03:20 AM

Thanks guys. I have worked in retail 8 years (in stores), I also sold on ebay, craigslist, and some other sites with pretty good reviews doing my own shipping. So start with wholesale manufactoring brands and work my way up? My issue is, I've searched for a lot of plus size manufacters and I really don't see any items I'm too crazy about. I mean, I wouldn't dare wear them. I may just have to take a trip oversees and submit designs myself, but wouldn't that be creating an atual line?

I could start out with clothing, swimsuits, and lingerie and add the rest later

**ironlinx** · 08-04-2010 07:39 AM

Seems like a solid business plan. Make sure you get excellent vendor support, that is CRITICAL with any new startup. If you're lucky, you may be able to work out a partial consignment plan with a vendor who sees a good opportunity with your business. I would recommend looking into an order fulfillment service (like ironlinx.com) to handle your shipping, you'll need to be focused on selling and marketing your business, so leave the shipping to a third party
Good luck!

**neversleep** · 08-04-2010 09:34 PM

i suggest to make a website, if you can't make it by yourself then do outsourcing. at the same time you use ebay to sell your products.

**nolalove** · 08-05-2010 03:13 AM

Thanks everyone. I will indeed stick with the actual need which is fashion. I believe I will leave the novelties to the sex shop industry since I only really want to target a specific customer which are larger women. I do want to still add a few extras like bumper stickers and nick knacks at start up. My clothing line can definitely wait. Since I have a small start up ($3,000) in terms of marketing my product I've decided to use the following. What do you guys think?

Facebook
Twitter
Search Engine Optimization
Youtube- I've been wanting to start a plus size fashion on a budget video series
Ads
Blogging on actual site
Vendor- there are actual plus size social conventions where I can expose my site to hundreds of women

**FishBowl** · 08-05-2010 05:54 AM

Hi Nola,

Wow you certainly have passion for your idea! Sounds like you are very focussed on what you want to achieve.

My advice would be to cater everything to your target audience, and to understand them completely. Your website, your marketing, your branding, the layout of your shop - everything need to be focused on your end user.

Good luck with your business and well done for taking on the challenge of entrepreneurship. You could even apply to be featured as a business on inafishbowl.com and get free business advice and promotion from doing it - Apply to be inafishbowl.com | inafishbowl

**nolalove** · 08-05-2010 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by ebizsubmit

I also suggest you to make a website...If you can't make it by yourself then visit ebizsubmit.com it helps you in establishing your site

Thank you for your offer but it's pretty obvious that I will have a website as this will be an online store. I will either invest in a fashionable but clean looking website to draw in my customers with a professional website building company, or hire a friend of mine who has a degree in website building.

**DangerousCurves** · 08-06-2010 01:56 PM

Hi Nola,

If you want to go the design route, you can always start out selling other brands to keep your inventory selection filled, then slowly start replacing the inventory with your own designs as you can create them.. This way you don't have worry about the expense of designing, manufacturing and stocking an entire line or multiple lines. This will also give you the flexibility to test new designs and see how customers respond prior to a large manufacturing run. If you can find a local seamstress to make samples for you, that's the quickest and cheapest way to get your own line started. Once you have a sample from a design you're happy with, you can proceed to the next step..

Feel free to PM me anytime if you want some insight to the process.. i've already made all the mistakes for you.. so you don't have to..

Larry Garman
Dangerous Curves
DCswimwear.com

**nicolebeckett** · 08-06-2010 04:13 PM

Congratulations! You seem like an incredibly motivated soon-to-be business owner! Your promotion ideas are good - and I'd like to suggest a couple more. Try your hand at some guest blogging. It will help with SEO (by giving you a valuable backlink), but it also gives you a chance to get your name and link out in front of a highly-targeted group of people. If readers like what they see in you guest post, they could very well become loyal readers of your blog - or simply be impressed enough by your guest post to link to it (thus giving you more backlinks!)

I would also try some article marketing. That gives you a chance to do some writing that's a little more "formal" that blogs. You could always write about topics like self-esteem issues for plus-sized women, etc. Article marketing will also give you valuable backlinks, and also establishes you as an expert in your niche.

I would also find some forums for plus-sized women, add your link to your signature and become a valuable member of the community. Each post will give you another backlink, and, again, you'll get your name and link out in front of targeted traffic.

Good luck!!

Originally Posted by nolalove

Thanks everyone. I will indeed stick with the actual need which is fashion. I believe I will leave the novelties to the sex shop industry since I only really want to target a specific customer which are larger women. I do want to still add a few extras like bumper stickers and nick knacks at start up. My clothing line can definitely wait. Since I have a small start up ($3,000) in terms of marketing my product I've decided to use the following. What do you guys think?

Facebook
Twitter
Search Engine Optimization
Youtube- I've been wanting to start a plus size fashion on a budget video series
Ads
Blogging on actual site
Vendor- there are actual plus size social conventions where I can expose my site to hundreds of women

**nolalove** · 08-07-2010 12:01 PM

Thank you so, so much Larry! I will definitely be sending you a pm soon. I have so many questions. I was also fortunate enough to be able to talk to and email the head of Torrid's marketing manager, I'm still hoping she can answer a few more of my questions.

Originally Posted by DangerousCurves

Hi Nola,

If you want to go the design route, you can always start out selling other brands to keep your inventory selection filled, then slowly start replacing the inventory with your own designs as you can create them.. This way you don't have worry about the expense of designing, manufacturing and stocking an entire line or multiple lines. This will also give you the flexibility to test new designs and see how customers respond prior to a large manufacturing run. If you can find a local seamstress to make samples for you, that's the quickest and cheapest way to get your own line started. Once you have a sample from a design you're happy with, you can proceed to the next step..

Feel free to PM me anytime if you want some insight to the process.. i've already made all the mistakes for you.. so you don't have to..

Larry Garman
Dangerous Curves
DCswimwear.com

**nolalove** · 08-07-2010 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by nicolebeckett

Congratulations! You seem like an incredibly motivated soon-to-be business owner! Your promotion ideas are good - and I'd like to suggest a couple more. Try your hand at some guest blogging. It will help with SEO (by giving you a valuable backlink), but it also gives you a chance to get your name and link out in front of a highly-targeted group of people. If readers like what they see in you guest post, they could very well become loyal readers of your blog - or simply be impressed enough by your guest post to link to it (thus giving you more backlinks!)

I would also try some article marketing. That gives you a chance to do some writing that's a little more "formal" that blogs. You could always write about topics like self-esteem issues for plus-sized women, etc. Article marketing will also give you valuable backlinks, and also establishes you as an expert in your niche.

I would also find some forums for plus-sized women, add your link to your signature and become a valuable member of the community. Each post will give you another backlink, and, again, you'll get your name and link out in front of targeted traffic.

Good luck!!

Thank you! Those are some great ideas, I'm very in tuned with the plus size community and I have also started a blog on a very popular site. I will definitely take your points into consideration. I love the article marketing idea as I love to write as well and eventually start a small plus size women's fashion magazine. First things first of course