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Setting up a clothing retail store is said to be the easiest line of business that anyone can think of. Mostly because the capital required to start a clothing retail store is quite minimal, and that selling them is quite easy because of its huge demand by its devoted community. Now this is a common misconception by many inexperienced businessmen or women that wants an easy way to profit. No businesses profit by just letting them cook under the sun. You’ll have to have that knack for businesses, that sort of inborn or inherited skill in handling a business. So simply starting your clothing retail business with no sort of goal or organization, your business will surely fall quickly.

When you want to start your own business, in this case a clothing retail store, it’s required that you must have the knowledge required to handle and maintain this kind of business. Experience is above all the most important part of it, including a strong will of facing many adversities and risks that comes along the way.

If you do have the experience and a headstrong will to face risks and adversities, then you’re pretty much on your way. Having experience in handling or once worked on a clothing retail store, you must probably know how to manage this business, but starting it is another thing.

Here are some guidelines before opening your own clothing retail business.

Type of Business

So you’ll be asking, is there more to it apart from setting up your own clothing retail business? Well my answer to that is, yes, there are other types of clothing retail business or any other kind of retail businesses other than setting up a business from scratch. There are retail businesses from franchises, business opportunities, and the very common existing independent businesses.

• Franchises

o Apart from their popular and well-known brand, buying a franchise provides some advantages that entrepreneur starting a business from scratch doesn’t have. Perhaps the most advantageous benefits that you can get from a franchise are a proven system of operation and training in how to use it.

o Another thing is that new franchisees can avoid a lot of the mistakes that inexperienced businessmen and women typically make. This is primarily because the franchisor has already perfected daily operations through trial and error.

• Existing independent businesses

o Buying an established business requires a greater capital than that of starting one from scratch, but buying a business allows you to have an advantage such as to realize profits faster and receive a quicker return on your initial investment.

o Another great advantage to this approach is that the business you’re considering spending a chunk of money on has a track record to review. Obtaining outside financing may be easy, and projections should be more accurate because of known historical trends.

o The business already has its financial and marketing plans in action. You are paying for it having an established location, inventory, customer base and trained staff.

But what good does it make when we want to start our own business, in this case a clothing retail business? The good thing about setting up your own business is that you can control the flow of your business. And, you are not restrained by the rules that franchisers give out to their franchisees. Another good thing about setting up your own business is that you can be unique if you wanted to, selling different kinds of clothing different from those of your competitors.

Most successful small businesses provide something attractive or advantageous by taking what’s already there and developing some innovative features. Have you developed an improved technique for delivering goods to the market? Drive-thru coffee and juice bars situated near freeway onramps offer added value for commuters. Or, perhaps you have an idea that will fill a market niche. A few entrepreneurs have started up successful ventures in ecotourism and other forms of adventure travel for those with money, social consciousness and a desire for educational value to be added to their leisure time.

Take some time and decide whether you wanted to run a franchise retail clothing business, an existing clothing retail store, or starting your own business from scratch. It’s important for you to straighten this out from the start before opening your business to the public.

For setting up a clothing retail store business, Seven Wholesale’s wholesale clothingcollection could assist you with the stock and inventory that you needed to ran your business a lot more smoothly and organized.

Location

Location is the most important thing for a retail business, especially a retail clothing business. You may have the best staff, the best set of clothing collections, and the best store decoration, but if customers don’t know that you’re there then there’s no point? You should choose a location that has a high traffic count. A new retail store isn’t going to have a following unless it’s a franchise with a well-known name, you’ll need all the help you can get.

The best retail location combines visibility, affordability and lease terms you can live with. You need to be where the action is, where the cross fires are happening, so deciding where to put your business is every bit as important as the business you decide to go into.

Take some time to make some observation on the place where you want your clothing retail store to stand. Here are some steps on choosing the right location for your clothing retail store.

The first step involves choosing the right city for you business. The first thing that you’ll do is to check the size of the city’s trading area, if it’s small enough for you then choose another city. After that, you should check out the population and population trends; this is to let you know about what’s in and what’s not in the world of fashion clothing. After that, look for Total purchasing power and who has it, so you can target those that can really be of great benefit for you business. You should also check the number and the size of competition in the area; too much competition will make it hard for you to earn profits. And after all that, you should also check the quality and the aggressiveness of competition, so you’ll know what you’re up against.

After choosing your desired city, its time for you to choose the area and the type of location within that city by evaluating these elements:

• Customer attraction power

• The nature of competition

• Availability of access routes to the stores

• Zoning regulations

• Geographic direction of the city’s expansion

• General appearance of the area

• Sales and traffic growth prospects of the trade area

• Demographics of neighborhoods

After doing some observation on all of these, you come out with the following results:

• Traffic flow of customers within that area.

• Complementary nature of neighboring stores around you and what they can and cannot provide with there stocks.

• Adequacy of parking for customers with cars.

• Vulnerability to competition.

• Cost of the site.

Always remember that the location of your clothing store business is the make or break of a business. It all depends on how much traffic that your location can generate. Like I said, what good is it if you have a great staff and awesome merchandise but no customers?

For setting up a clothing retail store business, Seven Wholesale’s wholesale clothing collection could assist you with the stock and inventory that you needed to ran your business a lot more smoothly and organized.

Stock and Inventory

Merchandize and inventory is the blood and soul of retail business, especially a clothing retail business. Selecting your merchandize or inventory for your store is among of the most time-consuming and most expensive part of your business. But do not take this very lightly. Before opening your doors, it’s important that you should make a research on what’s new on the fashion world. You should visit wholesale clothing marts or online wholesale clothing shops to get an idea of what inventory are you planning on carrying. Decide what your mark-up will be and what’s appropriate for your area. Choosing the merchandise can be fun, but remember to maintain a general theme and purpose for your products. If you want, you could talk with some experts and learn from them. You’ll find most people are willing to help and discuss their experiences with certain products. This will help you decide and narrow down [your choices to] products that will do well in your store.

A theme is also important in setting up your stock. The name of you store is very important. The name will give people passing by an idea of what they can get in your shop. If it’s for men’s, for women’s, or for kids.

Every now and then, you should check out what’s new the world of fashion clothing. Materials are always available to let you know what the hottest trend in fashion clothing is. Keep up with local as well as national trends. You might see a particular look plastered all over the TV or in fashion magazines, but know your market. The best thing to do is listen to your customers. Customers will always let you know what they’re looking for, but only if you ask. Visit your nearest wholesale clothing mart or an online wholesale clothing shop to preview upcoming trends and new products.

Always stick close with your inventory, because your choice of inventory and merchandize shall decide whether your business will become a success or a failure. This list is only some of the necessary things that you should plan ahead before starting your clothing retail store. These lists are no more than finished; the rest of the list lies within you. It’s in you how you handle your business. Even though you know all these things, these guidelines, success still lies within how good you manage your business.

For setting up a clothing retail store business, Seven Wholesale’s wholesale clothing collection could assist you with the stock and inventory that you needed to ran your business a lot more smoothly and organized. For more information about Seven Wholesale and its collection of wholesale clothing, visit www.sevenwholesale.com for more details.

by jefferson john babasa

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