Opening a clothing store requires meticulous planning as the start of any other business does. Importance of planning can not be over emphasized. As the famous saying goes planning is for a business as foundation is to a building. By planning properly in advance the ordeal of opening a clothing store can be made easy and just right.
Planning Phase
Write down your plan in words. This is essential as things become more refined and sharp once they are expressed in words and figures. If you have a written plan that will make things easier for you when you implement them. A written plan will also serve as a benchmark to evaluate the efficiency of the implementation.
Opening a clothing store – Five Crucial Decisions!
Before you actually open a clothing store several important decisions are to be made regarding its various features. Of all five decisions are very crucial that ensure opening a clothing store is successful. Here are they for you!
1. Decide on the location: The location of your clothing store is an issue of significant importance. Opening a clothing store at a location that is less accessible to consumers can prove detrimental to your business. While deciding on location you should consider many issues like renting and leasing, their relative cost and decide accordingly.
2. Shop's Layout & Interior: This aspect is often not given much importance it deserves. Nevertheless this is an essential ingredient of the success formula of opening a clothing store. How your shop looks inside and how the clothes are displayed there is very significant in the long run. The interior should create a positive impact on the visitors and should be attractive.
3. Type of clothes you sell: This is a major criterion in opening a clothing store the right way. A shop that sells kids wear is completely different from a clothing store that caters to women. So you should decide on what exactly you want to sell and to whom. In addition to the kind of clothing you wish to sell you should also decide on the range of colors and sizes that you want to encompass and also the style and cut.
4. Where to purchase from: The place where you buy has direct effect on your pricing and hence on your customer base and your profit. You should buy your merchandise from people who offer at competitive price. You should have the required license that would help you get things for cheaper from listed manufacturers.
5. Financial Viability: Though it is at the last in the list of decisions, this is the most significant of all decisions to be made when opening a clothing store. You should work out everything from startup cost to purchase price and selling price to profit margin and ensure that opening a clothing store is a financially viable business venture. You should also be clear about how much you need and where does it come from-the source of finance!
If you could make the above listed five decisions diligently, opening a clothing store would be a risk free business venture for you.