How to open a children's clothing store from scratch? Should I open a children's clothing store?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Retail as an option for own business has been and remains extremely popular, so all kinds of outlets appear constantly. Merchants try their hand at competing for a buyer by testing various types of trade and groups of goods in practice. How to open a children's clothing store from scratch, is it worth it to deal with this particular group of goods at all, and what are the prospects for this business? Consider the issue from all sides, this will help determine the choice of assortment and the direction of work.

Speciality of a children's clothing store: why is it profitable?

Even at the decision-making stage, businessmen are interested in a completely legitimate question: is it profitable to open an online children's clothing store, will good sales really go? If we compare the need to purchase new clothes for children and for adults, it turns out that the turnover rate in the children's category is several times higher. The reason is extremely simple: babies reallyin fact, they grow very quickly, and buying dresses and trousers for growth in our society has long been not accepted.

The child's need for a practical wardrobe that successfully combines smart and casual things - all this contributes to the fact that clothes for a child are bought more often than for an adult. Here, of course, it should be understood that this statement can only be considered as a kind of average result. There are families of different incomes, somewhere the preponderance can go in favor of one or both parents, and families without children are not taken into account. However, on average, this is exactly the situation, and the vast majority of parents admit that children's clothing and shoes are a significant expense item. That is why businessmen are interested in how to open a children's clothing store from scratch, what profit it can bring and what you should pay attention to first of all.

Action plan for opening a children's clothing store

When opening any outlet, there is a standard plan of action, tested by many businessmen. So, you have decided to open a children's clothing store. Where to start?

The order of the steps may vary slightly, but the overall course of the process remains the same:

• selection of the district and premises for the store;
• analysis of the consumer audience;
• determining the price category of goods;
• preliminary formation of assortment;
• final budgeting;
• registration;
• store design and selectionstaff;
• opening.

Each of these points can be adjusted to the specifics of the city or district, but registration is standard everywhere. To do this, you need to contact the tax office at the place of residence and register as an entrepreneur. When thinking about how to open a children's clothing store from scratch, you first need to consider the legality of your actions and include the costs of appropriate clearance in your business plan.

You can draw up documents as an entrepreneur's taxpayer both independently and by entrusting all the troubles to professionals. Many firms specialize in getting things done as quickly as possible.

Selection of premises and analysis of the area

For the success of your future business, you should take into account the specifics of the area in which you plan to open a store. If this part of the city already boasts several of these spots, it would be reckless to enter into a fierce competition, especially if you can find other options. In most cases, competition requires significant financial investment, effort and time, and it is better to spend it on business development. Before thinking about how to open a children's clothing store from scratch, it would be worthwhile to first understand exactly where it is most needed.

Children are a rather specific category of consumers, it is not always convenient to go around stores with them, so proximity to customers is an advantage. The absence of a children's store where there are many children is a clear sign of freeniches. However, there is another way to cover almost all areas of the city, and maybe even the country. E-commerce has its own advantages and can be carried out simultaneously with the development of a brick-and-mortar store. Many are wondering how to open an online children's clothing store, what is needed for this and how such a business differs from standard solutions. By and large, such trade is distinguished by a more friendly attitude towards buyers and the opportunity to save on renting premises, utility bills and staff recruitment.

How to decide on the price category

Expensive or cheap? Children's clothing, like adult clothing, can be affordable or cost a lot of money. This is worth thinking about even at the stage of thinking about how to open a children's clothing store. The business plan should include an analysis of customer demand, this will allow you to predict the possible profit and development of a commercial enterprise. The profitability of the entire enterprise directly depends on the price of the goods and the purchasing power of the main part of the visitors.

In a residential area inhabited by middle-class people, a store with luxurious clothes from well-known brands is unlikely to be appropriate. It is better to open such points in the city center or in large shopping centers, because their potential buyers are unlikely to walk. For a bedroom area, mid-priced and good quality products are more suitable to maintain the reputation of the store.

Is it worth it to open a children's clothing store in the market, because there are many buyers by default? The market is likeonce the place where it is better to cover the lower price segment, from cheap things to the average cost.

Assortment formation

What determines the profit of any retail store? This is best seen in the example of a standard supermarket, where you can buy everything you need from provisions, plus related products. In the same way, it is worth forming an assortment of your future store with children's goods. The ideal option is when customers can buy on the spot everything that is necessary for a child, from underwear to a winter jacket, otherwise they will go to competitors.

Is it profitable to open a children's clothing store? If the assortment allows you to reliably retain the buyer and encourages him to become a regular customer, then this is definitely beneficial. In retail, one-time customers are just a nice addition, and regular customers who appreciate your work and make a choice in favor of your company make the bulk of the revenue.

One of the best ways to shape your assortment is to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. To do this, you do not need to be limited by your own imagination, an analysis of the work of other stores helps a lot. It is worth exploring what other stores specifically lack, what you can do better, how to meet customer demand. It is necessary to make a purchase of goods based on the conducted research.

Store design

After you have decided onthe area in which you will open your store, have found a room and are almost ready to start working, it is worth paying attention to the design of the room. In addition to attractive design, there is another important aspect - practicality and foresight. It is no secret that people come to such stores with children, so you should think about the safety of goods. Restless kids will certainly try to restore their own order on all the shelves that they can reach. Therefore, it is worth taking care that goods are placed on the lower shelves in such a way that there is nothing breaking or very expensive. You may ask, what can break in a clothing store? In the supermarket example, toys or baby care products can be used as related products, or they can be broken by accident.

It is much easier with the development of design if you open a children's clothing store on a franchise - usually the contract package specifies the general design of the outlet, because it must correspond to the general design of the chain of stores. For example, Chicco brand stores have design recommendations, and the quality of goods is confirmed by many buyers.

Recruitment

Another important point in the store's success is qualified staff. Working with children's goods has its own specifics. Sellers should be ready to give comprehensive information on any type of product, to answer many questions. Customers in such stores are particularly picky,And THEM can be understood, because we are talking about children. What does it take to open a children's clothing store? Sometimes they don’t even think about the staff, and it is the seller who can directly influence the success of the work.

In addition to the ability to advise the buyer and sell him the right goods, sellers must have a high degree of stress resistance, be able to handle other people's children, be able to quickly and effectively stop conflicts. At first glance, any person can work as a seller in such a store, but not everything is so simple. It may even be necessary to organize a special training, and this is already a material investment in staff.

Children's clothing online store

Another business option that is often overlooked is to open an online children's clothing store, from scratch or as an addition to an existing outlet. What is needed for an online store and how does it differ from the usual form of trade?

In most cases, the advantage of an online store is the absence of the need to rent or buy premises for trading floors, to hire sellers. This is not entirely true, premises are still needed, although not trade pavilions, but rather warehouse space, where, in addition to storing goods, orders can be quickly and efficiently generated. You can’t do without staff at all either - someone has to take orders, consult online or by phone, complete the ordered goods and deliver them to customers.

In this case, the room can be selectedinexpensive, on the outskirts of the city, you do not need to pay impressive sums for advertising lighting and utilities, and a qualified online consultant is able to reach a much larger number of buyers than one seller on the trading floor. And yet, how to open an online children's clothing store?

In this case, the same procedure remains true, which has already been considered above, but with some amendments. If you don’t need to design trading floors, then you still have to spend money on website design and creation of functionality that allows visitors to comfortably place an order directly on the site.

Children's Thrift Store

Due to the fact that children really grow up very quickly, many parents are faced with a situation where some nice jacket or dress was not worn at all or managed to be worn a couple of times. What to do in this case - throw it away, give it to someone or try to sell it? It is a pity to throw away, there is no one to donate, and there is no time or talent to sell. A thrift store can be considered an excellent outlet, useful for both the seller and future buyers, who can purchase an almost new item at a reduced price.

How to open a children's clothing consignment store and will it be profitable? By and large, the procedure for opening a thrift store is no different from any other store, but there are certain advantages here. By accepting things for a commission, you do not spend money on the purchase of goods. The initial seller himself takes care of bringing the nurseryclothes in a marketable condition, bring it to the store. Profit in this case consists of the mark-up that the store takes for itself for providing retail space and services of the seller.

You can combine the types of profit and open a commission department in a regular children's clothing store. At the same time, the store owner sets the rules for accepting goods on his own, for example, only things of a certain price category and only in perfect condition can be accepted for a commission.

How to grow a business?

After the grand opening of the store, harsh everyday life begins, the flow of visitors gradually decreases. This is a natural decline after the hype, so it is worth considering how to keep trading and grow further.

If you have correctly decided on the question of where to open a children's clothing store, and there are really a lot of children around, there is a kindergarten and a school, then a stable flow of visitors is guaranteed. It is important to turn visitors into buyers, for this you need to constantly analyze customer demand. The attentive attitude of the staff towards visitors can help, because it is the seller who compiles the initial survey and provides data on requests that the store could not satisfy.

If the work of the store is duplicated on the Internet, then this gives an additional volume of sales and expands the territorial coverage of the service. Considering that the store has its own warehouse space, the cost of creating an online store will be relatively small.

Business promotion can be helped by a loy alty program for regular customers - discounts andbonuses are well received by consumers. In addition to standard advertising, you can unobtrusively remind customers of yourself. For example, order special questionnaires for customers and send congratulatory messages on a child's birthday, while mentioning the replenishment of the assortment.

At the same time, the assortment should be expanded, because even in a children's clothing store you can add toys, accessories, goods of impulse demand. In the price category, it is better to stick to the chosen policy if it suits the buyers, but it is good to have an assortment of an adjacent category. If in one store you can buy both an expensive item and its more affordable counterpart, this can benefit the business.