How do I open an online store? clothing retail?
371772
I would suggest you start somewhere small like flea markets and garaging just to get a feel.\n\nI want to open a shoe store and I sell used and new shoes at flea markets and garage sales in the summer.\n\nAnd if that works out try selling on eBay (i know, i know, the fees) and after you get so many customers open an eBay store.\n\nOnce your eBay store is open you can open a yahoo merchant store, or a ProStore, and still keep your eBay store.\n\nAnd find clothing wholesalers, they aren't difficult to find.  By low sell high.\n\nAfter that put your online address everywhere: On blogs, 360pages, My Space pages (yours, one just for your store, family members, and friends), and print adds in newspapers.  And if it can be posted anywhere then put it there.\n\nI wish you all the best and if you get your site up I will gladly put a link on my blog and 360pages.
475232
Open up an e-commerce web site.
1163757
You could try online sportswear shops.
317191
A study by the research firm E-BuyersGuide.com found that buyers did not buy apparel over the Web for the following reasons:\n\nUnsure of accurate sizing (27.95%)  \nReturning item could be a problem (18.17%)  \nUnsure of quality (13.92%)  \nDelivery costs (13.71%)  \nPrice (8.61%)  \nCredit card security (6.48%)  \nUnsure of item's exact color (5.84%)  \nUnable to access right information (3.29%)  \nDifficult site navigation (2.55%)  \nOther (10.20%) \n\nIf you could overcome the above common concerns of buyers, then you can be assured of making good money selling clothes on the Web.\n\nOne thing to remember is that the clothing retailers getting big bucks on the Web are those who are selling well known brands. As a small retailer, you have a lot against you.\n\nThe article "Can You Sell Apparel on the Internet?" \n http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol89/sellclothes.htm offers several suggestions on how a small clothing retailer can be more competitive online:\n\n1. Provide as much information on the clothes as much as possible (e.g. sizing, materials used).\n2. Quality of the product's photos must also be ensured.\n3. Offer clear and detailed instructions on how to return purchased items \n4. Focus on improving customer service and developing better relationships with your clients
602698
Want to be a buyer\nQ. I am very interested in becoming a buyer for a major department store or catalogue. Could someone give me more information on the type of background or credentials I would need to pursue this? Also, what would be a good way to get a start? "I'm not really sure what field of the industry I would be good at. I am interested in either fashion design, buying, or stylist. Is there any kind of fashion career aptitude tests out there that will help me in my decision?"\n \nA.You need either a solid retail background or a merchandising degree to be a buyer and preferably both. Requirements vary by retailer, and e-commerce start-ups may want a "fresher" eye since the medium is so new so you might want to think about that.\n\nBuyers need solid math skills (depending on who you work for, you'll be dealing with numbers a large part of your job) and a great ability to translate the trends into salable merchandise\n \nhope that helps
215618
your best bet is to go to Ebay's site: www.ebay.com - it explains the whole process. I have my own store on there myself called "thelackofscents". It's quite easy. www.paradisestation.net is my real website. check out either one to give you some ideas.
1050511
First of all try robertham.com . they have everything from tagging guns, sale stickers. Hangers (personalized even) shopping  bags,tissue, counters, etc. By the way I am trying to start up my own buisness and was wondering if you or anyone knew of a place that would make loans or any small buisness investors that would like to invest in a fashion retail store and future chain?
577475
You may start by reading the article "Starting a Clothing Line or Apparel Manufacturing Business" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/clothing.htm . The article contains information on the startup steps, knowing your market, how to enter the market, the question of production and financing the business\n\nFor in-depth information, you may want to read the following books http://www.powerhomebiz.com/bookstore/clothing/clothing.htm  :\n\nThe Official Step by Step Guide to Starting a Clothing Line \nStart Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) \nThe Business of Fashion: Designing Manufacturing, and Marketing \nThe World of Fashion Merchandising \nSo You Want to Work in the Fashion Business? A Practical Look at Apparel Product Development and Global Manufacturing \nThe Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing \nFashion: From Concept to Consumer \n\nYou may also want to check out the resources of the following associations:\n\nProfessional Apparel Association http://www.proapparel.com \nAmerican Apparel Producer’s Network http://www.usawear.org/ \nWorldwide Responsible Apparel Manufacture http://www.wrapapparel.org/ \nAmerican Apparel and Footwear Association http://www.americanapparel.org/...\nNational Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers http://www.nafad.com/ \nFashion Group International http://www.fgi.org \nApparel News http://www.apparelnews.net/
1019894
You could save up all your money in the bank and invest in savings bonds. You could also start your own business. Some of the easier things are doing web templates. You could also join www.cafepress.com (design clothes + merchandise) and become a shopkeeper there. It's kinda hard at the beginning, but you have to make better designs and advertise more to get better sales.\n\nGetting a job is prolly the best solution.
1053316
Will you be selling online or will you be selling from a shop? \nDo you need a list of wholesale suppliers or will you be selling your own stuff? You need to be a bit more specific. Good luck.
191367
I recommend that you start by reading the article "Starting a Clothing Line Business" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/clothing.htm\n\nYou may also want to read the following books http://www.powerhomebiz.com/bookstore/clothing/clothing.htm :  \n- The Official Step by Step Guide to Starting a Clothing Line \n- Start Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) \n- The Business of Fashion: Designing Manufacturing, and Marketing \n- The World of Fashion Merchandising \n- So You Want to Work in the Fashion Business? A Practical Look at Apparel Product Development and Global Manufacturing \n- The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing \n- Fashion: From Concept to Consumer
593927
Start up an Ebay Shop
454246
You may want to start by reading the article "Starting a Shoe Retail Store" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol136/shoe.htm . The article covers information on factors affecting demand for shoes, level of competition, business planning, registering your business, finding the right location, startup expenses, choosin your merchandise and key success factors.\n\nTo get inventory and connect with suppliers, you may want to attend trade shows. The following shows are a must for anyone in the shoe retailing business:\n\n- World Shoe Association http://www.wsashow.com   - the largest and most comprehensive footwear and related accessories event \n- Magic Marketplace http://www.magiconline.com - mainly apparel and accessories, though includes footwear as well\n- Fashion Footwear Association of New York http://www.ffany.org - largest shoe show in the East Coast\n- Shoe Market of the Americas http://www.smota.com  - held 3 times a year in Miami\n- North American Shoe and Accessories Market http://www.northamericanshoe.com  - the 10th largest shoe show in the world\n- Los Angeles Shoe Show http://www.californiamarketcenter.com  \n- Southwest Shoe Expo http://www.southwestshoeexpo.com  - held 5 times a year at Dallas World Trade Center\n- Chicago Shoe Expo http://www.chicagoshoeexpo.com  - a small regional trade show held 4 times a year in Chicago\n- Micam Shoevent http://www.micamonlin e - international trade show for medium to high end footwear held twice a year in Milan\n- GDS http://www.mdna.com  - the premier shoe event held twice a year in Dusseldolf, Germany\n\nYou can also visit the websites of the following associations and check out their resources:\n\nNational Retail Federation http://www.nrf.com \nAmerica Apparel and Footwear Association http://www.americanapparel.org/ \nElectronic Retailing Association http://www.retailing.org \nNational Shoe Retailers Association http://www.nsra.org/ \n\nYou may also want to read the books:\n\n- Profitable Footwear Retailing  \n- The Complete Footwear Dictionary  \n- Clothing and Footwear Industry: Market Review  \n- Footwear Retailing
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Steps to starting an Online Business\nSo you have a product or service and you wish to sell these products or services online. Consider the steps you will need to start an online business. So assuming the you have done your due diligence as far as knowing whether or not your product or service will sell and have priced your product accordingly you will need to do several things.\n\n1. Incorporate your company\n\n2. Build a web site\nRegister your domain name\nPurchase a web hosting account\n\n3. Get a merchant account to accept credit cards online\n\n4. Build an online marketing plan\nOpen a Google Adwords account\nOpen a Yahoo! Search Marketing Account\nConsider search engine optimization (depending on your industry)\n\nIncorporate your company\nYou will need to incorporate your company and there are some extremely affordable ways to do so. You may not think you will need to incorporate but it makes things such as accounting, getting a merchant account and limiting liability much easier. You can incorporate and have all your letters within a couple weeks time and for less than $500 so be sure to shop around online for the right company to do your incorporation. One of the main reasons you should incorporate is to get a merchant account so that you can accept credit card payments online. Most merchant companies deposit and withdraw money from your bank account and they like to see a proper business bank account so in order to expedite your approval process get incorporated.\n\nBuild a web site\nOf course, what's an online business without a website. There are essentially three steps to building a website. You will need a domain name, a web hosting account and a web design with developed functionality. Register a domain name and set the name servers to those of the web hosting company you choose. You will need to ask the web hosting company what name servers to set your domain name to. There are hundreds of domain name registrars, I would strongly recommend going with an ICANN Accredited Registrar rather than an authorized reseller. Some domain name registrars are more affordable than others. There is no difference in the actual product you are buying as domain registrations are all the same therefore we recommend the more affordable options such as GoDaddy or Enom. Both of these companies have telephone support which is very important. When choosing a web hosting company you should find a web hosting company that offers a package that will accommodate your web development. If you need a SSL certificate to go along with your merchant account to accept credit cards you will need to find a hosting account that will allow for this. If your developers build your site in Php and MySQL you will need a web hosting account with MySQL. Talk with your developers and ask them what type of technologies you will need built into the web hosting account. Once again, do your research and ask other webmasters who they recommend. If you have a development team you work with then you will need to portray what you are trying to accomplish so that the team can build the right applications and implement the right design. If you don't have a development or design team you work with try eLance which is a free lance marketplace.\n\nGet a merchant account to accept credit cards online\nDefinitely do your research when choosing a company to set up your merchant account. Ask the merchant account company for some testimonials and if you can find a webmaster forum and ask what company the majority of the webmasters use. Different companies offer different monthly rates and discount rates. Some companies do a great job of locking you into a lengthy term agreement with a hefty cancellation fee. I have heard of merchant account companies seizing funds for different reasons. I don't know about you but if I sold $10,000 in goods one month and my merchant account company decided they would only release $2000 I would reconsider the partner. Be sure to
352607
Buyers for the large retailers are who you'll need to talk to but its premature to talk to buyers.  The clothing industry is extremely competitive.  If you are into the mass market the only chance is to have them made overseas.  Find a production source in Taiwan, India, Pakistan etc (possibly Mexico).  Then you are talking large minimum orders and long lead times both of which cost you money.  Specialty shops would be the place for high end, one of a kind items and it would be an easier market to penetrate than the huge retailers. Good luck and get out your check book.
1002634
The best routes to take are to research the process of starting a business as well as the industry you're interested in.\n\nI recommend checking out the SBA, Entrepreneur, The Start Up Journal & Nolo. All 4 are great informational resources for the new/small business owner. I posted links for you in the source box.\n\nAssociations may be a good avenue to explore as well. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for general retail association links.\n\nResearch, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:\n\n* Start and Run a Profitable Retail Business by Jim Dion, Ted Topping\n* Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel \n* Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store Revised by Carol L. Schroeder\n* So You Want To Own The Store: Secrets to Running a Successful Retail Operation by Mort Brown\n\nThere are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.\n\nHope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!
331023
You might want to start by contacting the manufacturers of the shoes and clothing and ask them their criteria for allowing someone to become an authorized dealer of their products.  If you don't have a business plan, yet, you might want to consider drafting one soon, as they will likely want to see such a plan before they commit to anything.  Good luck with your venture.