Since the trend of online shops boomed in UK, an astounding 152% increase was noted in five years to 2011. From then on, people seem to love the idea of buying some things they haven’t touched, seen, or even tried on yet. With that buyers’ perception and the ability of the seller to strikingly showcase their products online, online shops continues to grow and evolve throughout.
So, if you are a Top Mum planning to start a business endeavor through having your own stunning online shop, here are top 10 tips that might help you to rock on with the growing trend of online shopping.
- Choose a proper online platform sensibly
Selecting an online platform is one of the most important decisions to make since it will determine who and how many people will be able to see your advertisements. A hosted platform like Shopify is a great choice when looking for where you can sell clothes online. It has many benefits as it is designed to help you build your own online store that can be expanded as you grow. There are many different built-in features and apps that make it easy for you to get started as it lets you sell your items across many different online marketplaces. Of course, it isn’t the only option for a hosted platform and there is a big debate on Shopify vs Woocommerce. You can also look to create your own website, or let a company create and host your website if you would rather build your site from scratch.
- Optimize your site
Your customers first few moments when visiting your site will either make or break your chances of getting sales from them, and having a slow page load times will mean loss of customers. If you opt for a hosted solution, this might be a problem. But if you decide to set up your own website, optimizing your load speed is absolutely essential. Ensuring a fast and seamless user experience can significantly boost site engagement and site traffic, as visitors are more likely to stay on your site and explore your offerings. Additionally, implementing anti-exit methods like Abandonment prevention popup can further improve conversion rates by capturing the attention of visitors who may be considering leaving your site. These popups can offer tailored incentives or product recommendations, encouraging users to complete their purchases or sign up for your services.
- Look for a reliable and quality supplier
Your supplier will serve as the heart of your business. Having a dependable supplier is very important since you will rely on their supplies to have sales. Having a legit and understandable supplier is very important since an approachable supplier will lessen your stress and make you focus more on what’s important. Also, it is vital to have a supplier with complete inventory.
- Stay Unique
If you are making your own products, this isn’t an issue. But if you are just a reseller, there is a big chance that you are receiving same pictures as your competitors are from your supplier. So if that’s the case, you should at least rewrite the product description, and might as well take your own more creative photos.
- Check out your competitors
Obviously, you want people to choose you over your competitors, so check out who they are, what they sell, and what they charge. Also, they say that we can learn from mistakes. While it is very true, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it should be our own mistakes. Checking out your competitors will allow you to see their mistakes and what to do differently so you can have a better online shop.
- Advertise your page content through customer’s input
If you really have a competitive product, letting your customers share their photos and experiences can really help you bump your sales up. Word of mouth and customers’ testimonies will really help you get more attention from potential buyers. You can also create surveys that can help to improve business through customer experience feedback, resulting in more relevant products and better sales.
- Plan how to ship your products
Having an online shop means you probably do not have a physical store where your customers can pick their orders up. So having a consistent courier is important. Find a company who ships well and within schedule because it really has an effect to your customer experience.
- Make returning items a doddle
Defective items will always be there and it is impossible to avoid. Even those top brands and companies still have those. So how are you going to manage if you mistakenly sent a flawed product to a customer or if you sent an incorrect order? Providing an approachable and hassle-free to the customers’ part is essential and will help you receive more positive testimonial.
- Be attentive and observant to up and coming trends.
Since you are into clothing business, updates on current trends are very important. You should be prepared to innovate because if you’re products are outdated, no one will patronize you but if you continuously sell new styles, people will be excited to check your page for new products.
- Use social media
Most people today already have their own social media like Facebook and Instagram. To reach more people, having an account for your boutique will surely help. It will let you interact publicly with your customers and will help gain more customer endorsements. You can also read up on other digital marketing advice that you can find on many websites, so that you gain more knowledge in this area and thus will be able to improve the online presence of your store.
So after reading what we have to share about starting an online boutique, we’d love to hear from you other tips and tricks that may help other people who are planning to start – hit the comments section below if you have any more to share.
And if you are initiating an online clothing store, keep in mind that it may take time before the sales flood in. Remember to not compare yourself to other people’s success as your beginning is not other’s middle. You may have to work harder to make a name for your business in the web and build a customer base.
This guest post is written by Erin Feldman. She is an e-commerce business owner somewhere in California, specializing in activewear and yoga online clothing boutique. You can find Erin doing a BaddhaKonasana somewhere in La Jolla Cove when she’s not busy with her business.