I am currently 29 years old and I own a retail clothing store We are going to be celebrating our first year in business Now on our first months opened, business was booming majority of the money that was made in the first months went directly back in the store for more merchandise and after 3-4 months it started to slow down it slowed down to the point where I had to take out my personal to make sure to get by Overall I know there will be good days and slow days in a retail clothing shop but It seems like there isn’t enough funds leftover and to be able to pay off the suppliers in full I don’t think I am over spending on personal stuff Any tips?
Everyone has provided excellent advice and insight, but unfortunately you have to have multiple sales channels in this day and age to be profitable. Especially if you are paying for retail space. You need to maximize your revenue as much as possible and this entails other channels…
- Instagram Shopping - Take nice photos (videos are better) of your products. Invest in a good quality phone or camera for this purpose. Be consistent and post regularly. No customers in the shop, get to posting. There are also apps which let you schedule out your posts. So if you take 50 photos / videos in 1 day, spread them out so they drip post 1-3 every day. The algorithm will love that, and start to show your posts more often to new people who have interests in what you are posting about. Make sure you use hashtags which may lead to new people finding out about your business #cowboyclothes #cowboyclothing #cowgirlclothes, you get the idea.
- TikTok Shop - I know I know, it’s a horrible platform. But its great for selling stuff. We don’t use Tiktok on a personal level, but we damn well post on here frequently as a business. We recycle the same photos / videos from IG here.
*** Make sure you have an online presence to send these customers to your site to checkout. Both platforms use their own shopping platform, but its good to have your own so that you can control that data / customers.
And also get on these other notable apps and start selling what doesn’t sell in your store…
- Mercari
- OfferUp
- Vinted - completely free to sell
- Depop
- ThredUp
- Vestiaire - International community of shoppers
- Grailed - A men’s clothing platform.
- Swap.com - a great online consignment shop. They only sell 2nd hand, but if you have any returns you got stuck with, this may be a good option.
- Buffalo Exchange - they buy clothes and resell them. They favor higher end brands.
As you can see you have plenty of channels.
TIP: I would create 3x5 flyers with X% off your next order. Track future sales by using specialized discount codes. Say, if you sell on Mercari, include a flyer that has a coupon code “MERC10” so you know that’s where the lead came from. Then you can see which works better and can then prioritize those channels since they bring in more leads.
Well, hope this helps some. I know it sucks to have a retail store and you still have to sell online, but it’s just the nature of the beast now now a days. Hard to compete otherwise. Plus, you’ll be securing your future going this route.