Your own business: how to open a women's clothing store

Retail sale of women's clothing is a business that does not lose its relevance. You can find your niche in it even with high competition. What you need to know when opening your own women's clothing store?

Selling women's clothing is a business that will always be relevant. Even in conditions of fierce competition, the new store has the opportunity to find its audience thanks to its unique assortment. Women's clothing is the largest segment in the clothing industry, accounting for about 60% of the market. Entrepreneurs love women's clothing much more than men's and children's clothing. A women's clothing store is almost never left without customers. Why?

There is a very ironic but capacious answer to this question. If men buy clothes because “it is necessary”, then women have fifteen such reasons: “I wanted”, “nothing to wear”, “to work”, “for the season”, “it is necessary on the occasion”, “I want like a celebrity”, “This thing is suitable for.”, “I liked it”, “this is a trend”, “now there is a discount”, “they recommended a store”, “expensive and high quality - you need to take it”, “exclusive”, “dream”, “there are not many good clothes it happens". In a word, there is always a demand for women's clothing, because for women shopping is not just a necessity, but a fascinating hobby, a ceremony and even a way to relieve tension and stress.

How to choose the right format and concept for a women's clothing store

The main mistake newbies wanting to start a clothing retail business is to think completely out of touch with reality. As a rule, everyone wants to open “that very dream store”, and then suddenly it turns out that their dream was needed only by themselves. When a unique concept remains unappreciated, and the assortment of a new store is not in demand, the understanding inevitably comes that one cannot do without “formatting”. Even the most ingenious idea fails if it doesn't address the needs of the audience in a particular region.

Business has not in vain formed such a concept as “format”. A store can sell clothes of one brand or several - in this case, it will be mono-brand or multi-brand. Depending on the pricing policy, the store can operate in the segment “economy”, “average”, “above average”, “high”, “premium”, “luxury”. The format of a women's clothing store is a kind of mirror of women's needs in certain locations. It is not difficult to pay attention to the fact that brand boutiques gravitate towards large cities and central streets, while stock stores and second-hand shops tend to smaller cities and more modest districts. Let's take a quick look at the most popular formats.

Common clothing store formats:

• “Regular” (multi-brand) clothing store. Most often, “regular clothing store” refers to multi-brand stores. In such stores, clothes of different price segments can be presented, but mainly focused on the middle class as the most massive. A "regular store" can sell both well-known brands and less famous ones.
• Branded (mono-brand) store. This is a store of one manufacturer included in the corporate network. Pricing policy, room design and all business processes in it are fully regulated by the network.
• Outlet clothing store. A clothing store selling leftover collections, items from last year's collections and surplus production from various brands. The format is attractive due to small initial investments, high-quality assortment, and stable demand. An entrepreneur does not need to purchase expensive equipment and create an expensive design. Outlet clothing store is a great business option in small and medium-sized cities. Usually, drains are opened in separate rooms, like second-hand stores.

• Boutique. Usually the boutique format implies a small store and trade in an exclusive assortment: fashionable and, as a rule, expensive clothes. The boutique can be both multi-brand and mono-brand, representing the official outlet of one of the famous fashion houses. The format of stores with replicas of branded clothing is also popular today. The boutique implies a high level of service, exclusive corporate design of the premises. Profits are mainly built on a high margin. Since boutiques are targeted at high-income audiences, it is most advisable to open them in large cities. Sometimes boutiques can call themselves showrooms, but this word has a slightly different meaning abroad: most often, a showroom there means a place with samples of products from factories and enterprises, created for wholesalers.
• Second hand. In fact, second-hand is a store-warehouse of used and sanitary chemical items. As in the case of stock stores, the opening will require a small investment, there is no need to invest in the arrangement of the premises and design. Since second-hand prices are much lower, the store's profits come from high turnover. Second-hand items can be partially or fully sold “by weight”.
• Specialized clothing store. This implies the specialization of the store in a particular type of clothing and targeting a specific audience. These can be sportswear stores, party outfits, lingerie stores, maternity clothing stores, plus size clothing stores, and so on. As a rule, specialty stores open in large cities, where the audience lends itself to segmentation. In small settlements, specialized clothing stores may be irrelevant: often the need for such clothing is covered by ordinary stores, departments in large stores and clothing markets.
• Discount. An economy-format store that sells very cheap products, usually made in China and unknown manufacturers from other countries. It should be borne in mind that the word “discount” can mean not only economy stores, but also stores of one clothing brand. At the same time, the price segment of the latter will not necessarily be “economy” or even “average”.

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