Running a Fashion Business from Home

*This is a collaborative post

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own business? I know as a teenager I always dreamt of running my own fashion shop. Not a physical shop with a real life premises on the high street, but an online boutique, making the most of living in a technical age by having my own website selling a range of modern and on trend wholesale men’s and women’s clothing.

Nowadays, establishing an online business is easier than ever, with a whole host of technology at our finger tips, meaning that it can be a relatively low cost and straightforward way to work from home around the needs of your family / childcare.

Setting up your own fashion boutique with J5Fashion

Here are some hints and tips for setting up your own fashion business from home:

1. Choose your brand name carefully – You’d be amazed at how many people don’t do this, and I will be honest and say I hate my blog name now – but it was the first thing I thought of 7 years ago, and I didn’t do much research into other options. I now feel it is too late to change it so I have to work with what I have got. Don’t make that mistake! Do your research! Think of terms that will appeal to your target audience, and check that the name (or something similar) isn’t already taken.
2. Set up your online webpage – selling online can be done via plugins on most WordPress websites such as Shopify, which allows you to update your online ‘shop’ with imagery of your products and product numbers. You can then automatically flick to showing as out of stock when the inventory has run low. You can also set featured products (for those items you really want to push) as well as showcase New Products and Popular Products from your range. You don’t need to be a computer wizard to do this, and there is lots of online support to help you create your webpage relatively quickly.
3. Know your target market – What does your customer base look like? Who are you targeting? What kind of age group will your boutique be trying to appeal to? There is no point having an online boutique selling men’s and women’s wholesale clothing and attempts to appeal to everyone – with fashion that simply isn’t possible. Have a long and hard think about exactly what ‘vibe’ your online boutique is going to have and stick to it. You want your customers to know exactly what they are going to find when they come to your shop.
4. Choose a reliable clothing wholesaler – Choosing where to source your clothing is really crucial – as there is a fine balance between quality and price, and you want to make sure that the products you are stocking are actually what your customers want to buy. Reliable online fashion wholesalers such as J5Fashion are ideal – they supply some of the biggest retailers such as Prettylittlething, Boohoo, and Asos with the latest designs in fast fashion, so you know that you are getting wholesale men’s and women’s clothing products which will definitely be in demand!
5. Work on your SEO and social media – By far the biggest challenge at the moment is getting your online boutiques seen – invest some time in your SEO and make sure that your page is ranking highly on keywords that your target market would be searching for. Blog regularly, take LOTS of photographs and make the most of ‘The Gram’ to showcase your products in the most astheically pleasing way possible. You want people following your accounts to see what’s coming next.
6. Make the most of your networks – Growing your social channels can be tough – start off by making the most of your current social networks, asking friends and family to support your page and share with their own social networks. Ask them nicely if they would be willing to share and engage with your posts, as this traction can increase exposure to others and improve followers. If you know any influencers or bloggers, why not ask if they’d be willing to share on their own channels in exchange for product? This initial investment can really help spread the word. PS – Don’t expect them to work for free.

If your considering setting up your own fashion boutique, I hope you find these tips with J5Fashion helpful! Running an online fashion boutique selling men’s and women’s wholesale clothing can be fun and lucrative when done right! The world is, quite literally, your oyster!