The process of starting an online clothing store may seem easy, but it isn’t quite as straightforward. There is a common misconception that all online stores have the same basic setup requirements, regardless of the products that they carry. As it turns out, however, the requirements can vary quite a bit from one category of products to another.

Clothing stores, in particular, present unique challenges. Not only is the retail clothing sector extremely competitive but managing one of these stores means dealing with a large number of products in varying sizes.

If you are planning to start an online clothing store, this article will be quite handy to know how to start an online store the right way. Or else, if you have already begun the process, the ideas discussed below will help you to know how to make your store more profitable with little adjustments.

1. Identify Your Target Market

Making sales is a lot more difficult if you don’t know exactly who you are targeting with your products. Familiarizing yourself with your clients is the best way to figure out exactly what they need. When you understand what your customers want, you can do a much better job of presenting your products to them in a way that captures their attention and makes them want to buy them. To get a better understanding of this concept, check out these examples:

Doña Carmen is a store that specializes in selling clothing and accessories for babies. Think about how inappropriate it would seem if the website had a black background or if it used strong wording. Neither of those choices would match what the customers are expecting.

Conversely, Flip Flop and Fangs is a store that sells clothing specifically geared toward teenagers. This store uses a far different design aesthetic. The language used in the product descriptions and marketing materials is also a lot different, simply because the store is targeting a much different group of users. In order to make sales, you need to figure out how to connect with them through images and language.

2. Choose A Store Structure That Makes It Easy For Customers To Find What They Need

When you are first getting your clothing store up and running, it can be challenging to know how best to organize your products. Separating them by gender is a good first step. You can take things even further, however, by breaking them into categories based on everything from the appropriate age group to the name of the manufacturer or the materials that they are made out of.

Creating all of these different categories makes it a lot simpler for customers to zero in on the exact products that they are looking for. The fewer clicks it takes for them to find what they need, the better. This example helps illustrate one organizational structure that you may want to try:

Undefeated is an online store that sells athletic clothing. Since they carry a wide range of products, they separate them into categories like “summer” or “new arrivals”. Within each category, there are additional subcategories that customers can use to narrow down the selection.

3. Incorporate A Search Engine Like Doofinder Into The Internal Structure Of The Site

Another way to make your site easier to use is by incorporating a search engine like Doofinder into the site’s internal structure. This makes it fast and easy for visitors to find the specific products they are looking for. As a result, selling products becomes a lot easier. If you are interested in seeing how the internal search feature functions in the real world, check out Punto Blanco and Modalia. These are a couple of clients of ours who sell clothing online.

4. Focus On Building Brand Loyalty

It has been proven time and time again that it is easier to sell products to existing customers than it is to try to convert first-time visitors into new customers. Don’t make the mistake of only thinking about how to get new customers. Instead, think about how you can build loyalty among your existing customers. If you are interested in fostering brand loyalty with your current customers, check out this post for five helpful tips on how to do just that.

5. Design Product Cards That Appeal To Customers

Each product that you sell should have its own product card. This is a separate page that explains the product in detail, outlining its key features and providing photos. To encourage as many sales as possible, go above and beyond to create eye-catching, compelling product cards. You can accomplish this through the use of photographs and text-based descriptions.

High-quality photos are a must. The best photos are the ones that show a model wearing the clothing. Capture each item of clothing from multiple angles. Include a close-up photo so that customers can see the texture of the fabric. Net a Porter does a great job of this if you want to see an example.

You should take the same approach when writing descriptions. Go beyond the basics. Inspire people to use their imaginations by talking about how the fabric feels or describing different places where they might be able to wear that particular piece of clothing. If you really want to stand out from your competitors, you should focus on creating captivating product cards.

The Bottom Line:

Running an online clothing store is an entirely different process than running an online toy store or any other type of eCommerce business. So, you need parallel time, effort and expertise to keep up with the changing trends and customer behavior. There can be tens of other moves you may take to upgrade your online clothing store, and the above 5 are great to start with.