The rapid expansion of eCommerce and the spike in online payments have propelled the United Kingdom towards becoming a digital economy. The UK has one of the largest and fastest-growing eCommerce markets in Europe, by 2023, it is predicted that British households would spend almost £120 billion on online purchases, growing at an average rate of 8.8% each year. Multiple factors, including technological developments like 5G networks and an increase in customers using online retail services rather than physical storefronts, have contributed to this surge. With consumers progressively turning away from traditional retail buying, the combination of these two causes has resulted in a surge in eCommerce sales across all industries.
Since 2020, there has been a huge increase in sales via the Internet in the UK as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions that made customers look for remote alternatives for their buying demands. Many companies have been able to modify their services to support online sales as a result of these new customer habits, which has further fueled this expansion.
If you are new to the eCommerce industry and want to know how to start a clothing business in the UK, the following information would be helpful to begin the process.
Guide to Starting an Online Clothing Business in the UK
Step 1: Choose A Clothing Niche
Everyone wears clothes, but not the same kind of clothes. So, you need to decide the niche you want to sell clothes in. Instead of trying to sell clothes in every niche for everyone, focus on something that interests you. Don’t get overwhelmed, and be mindful of the following points while considering your options.
- For your clothing business, be unique to stand above the crowd of eCommerce businesses out there.
- Choose the niche that you’re most excited about. Think of the clothing options you would like to see more in the market.
- Do make sure the niche you choose has earning potential. You may love handbags, but there are so many brands offering the same already.
Step 2: Set Your Business Plan
Focusing on just selling the items and making money won’t bring you the best business output for long. You need a well-thought-out plan to understand how your business will operate at every level, how much your investment will be, how you can optimize your benefits, and many other aspects, including the following.
- An overview of what your company aims to accomplish in a specific timeline.
- A company description that includes information like products, customer socio-economic details, and plans to remain competitive in the industry.
- A market analysis that includes the market stats about average sales, number of fellow sellers out there, and projected growth rate in the coming years.
- A marketing plan that covers online and offline marketing strategies.
- A plan for how the funding will be acquired and how much it will be.
Here, another important aspect is to know what your business model will be like. Since a clothes business can be done in several ways, you can pick from the four most common choices cited below.
- Custom cut and sew
- Print on demand
- Private label clothing
- Dropshipping
Step 3: Select Your eCommerce Platform
To sell clothes online, it’s important to have an eCommerce platform. There are a number of comprehensive solutions out there that you can use to list items, upload photos, add product descriptions, and use an easy and fast checkout process. Before choosing a platform, do ask yourself some questions like:
- Would you need any support once the website is ready?
- What kind of features do you want on your eCommerce platform?
- How much can you spend on the website development process?
Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Wix, and BigCommerce are some of the best channels to make an eCommerce website for your clothing business in the UK.
Step 4: Register a Domain Name
You need to find a domain name that’s in line with your business name and your business goals. While the name should be unique, its spelling shouldn’t be complicated to remember for an average person.
Step 5: Customise Your Store
Make sure your website is easy to navigate. Take your time; check out multiple options to find a template that includes as many useful features as possible. A quality template will allow you to customise everything from navigation to product pages for a great brand presence.
Step 6: List Your Products
Once your clothing business website’s framework is created, you can list the products along with updating quality product descriptions to influence the visitors. At this stage, you also need to make sure that the checkout process is smooth. Studies suggest that approx. 21% of consumers can abandon the purchase if the checkout process is too complicated.
Step 7: Marketing
As soon as your online store is up and running, don’t waste months waiting for customers. Instead, spend some amount on the marketing of your products. Initially, you might want to do the marketing of your website on your own, but eventually, you will need a marketing specialist to help you through it. When it comes to marketing, you can try email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and other ROI-driving practices.
Once you know the ground rules of the industry and work in the right direction, nothing can stop you from making your business a hit. To manage the shipping of your products, set up your free account on NimbusPost, choose a courier partner from 15+ options, and ship across the UK mainland and offshore locations with maximum efficiency and the lowest rates. The tech-enabled shipping aggregator offers the most cost-effective and profitable logistics solution for newly founded, as well as well-established brands.
