6 Steps to Help You Start a Textile Retail Business

Textile industry can be considered one of the most active industries in recent times. We hope to continue to make gains in the coming times. If the idea of opening a textile retail store has fascinated you, it is time to act.

Being in the garment and textile industries means having close relationships with the world of fashion and design, where textile companies supply fabrics to these sub-industries. Opening a clothing store is dangerous. This is an industry that can help you get a steady income every month with a wide margin of progress. Because there are many options in the clothing business, it is important to invest in retail clothing that suits your interests and meet the specific needs of customers.

So, if you are planning to make a fortune in the textile field, you must first decide what type of fabric you want to sell. Before starting the idea, make sure you’re sure where you’re going. In any business, planning plays a vital role. I firmly believe in a famous saying:

A stitch in time saves nine.

If you go with proper planning, it increases your chances of success and will provide you with no harm when you create your brand. Once you decide what your business type is in the textile field, you must adhere to the next steps that will really help you on a successful journey of textile retailing.

• Estimation and Arrangement of Funds

For any clothing retail or textile apparel industry, you must make certain investments that may vary depending on the location of the store, its size, types of products, etc. Some entrepreneurs can finance their own businesses through savings or family assistance. If you need to apply for loans, do so accordingly.

Your start-up costs must include everything you need to open doors, keep them open and plan ahead. Sit down and use brainstorming about all the expenses you can imagine, including toilet paper for the bathroom, then start by checking the cost of each item. Here are details of some of the expenses you should seriously consider.

1) Rent

Make sure there is enough capital to cover the rent for at least two years.

2) Licensing and permitting fees

These include many licenses and permits for things such as the Employer Identification Number (EIN) for tax purposes and state and local licenses as described by the SBA, a resale certificate (if you do not sell exclusive products exclusively), the seller’s statement and the profession certificate. These costs may vary from $ 200 to $ 2000, depending on your business and the country in which you work.

3) Store fixtures

Depending on the type and size of your business, you may need racks, display shelves, cases and furniture, so you should check your needs accurately.

4) Initial inventory

You must have a full stock on the opening day and a product that is sufficient for at least four months. If you do not know the exact price, use an estimated surcharge to return to the prices you’ll likely see from the distributors. For example, if you know that the jerseys you want to sell usually cost $ 20, you can assume that the margin of 25 percent, you can buy from the manufacturer for $ 15.

5) Equipment and technology

Key elements such as point-of-sale systems (POS), computers, Internet access, televisions, mobile payment pads and other IT costs are not cheap. POS systems cost about $ 2,000, with an additional $ 550 per workstation. TV sets can cost between $ 300 and $ 500 each, while internet access can cost $ 100 or more per month.

6) Web hosting

If you want a website, you need a website and host builder to keep it online. There are free construction companies and hosts, but their capabilities are limited and may poorly reflect their brand. Instead, expect to spend at least $ 30 to $ 200 per month for a website.

7) Business insurance

Consider everything from property insurance, including liability for employee compensation and any coverage required for employees or you.

8) Advertising

You can choose to advertise at no cost, including working on any social networking platform you know, or you can hire an advertising agency, which will cost between $ 1000 and $ 10,000 per month.

9) Signage

The poster types you select will determine the price, but you expect to spend between $ 500 and $ 1000 on both internal and external brands.

10) Interior decor and aesthetics

You may have to paint the walls, install the shelves, add a counter, replace the floor and make other changes. While some arrangements can be handled independently, large projects may require a general contractor at a rate of $ 50 to $ 100 per hour, plus the cost of materials.

11) Professional services

It can cost you to work with a lawyer to integrate your business or an accountant to prepare your books and pay your taxes between $ 1,000 and $ 10,000 or more.

12) Operating Expenses
You must cover operating expenses until your business reaches a break-even point. Keep in mind that your business may not be profitable in the first few months, and may also take years.

You must keep the lights, pay the staff and cover all the expenses until you reach the break-even point. This is when your monthly benefits (not sales, but profit) can cover the monthly expenses of your store.

• Textile Product Market

You should start contacting manufacturers and suppliers to determine the type of cloth you want to transport. To do this, you must have a good knowledge of the world’s major textile centers, global textile market size, fashion design agencies, etc. From where you can buy a high quality product for your store at a reasonable price.

The geographical distribution of production in the textile, clothing and footwear industries (TCF) has changed dramatically in the last 25 years, resulting in significant job losses in Europe and North America and significant progress in Asia and other parts of the developing world.

Currently, more than 60 per cent of world garment exports are manufactured in developing countries. Asia is the world’s leading supplier today, producing more than 32 per cent of global apparel exports.

Here I do some textile marketing research and make a description of some important markets to buy your textile products.

1) China, a big Giant in Textile Industry

China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of textiles in the world. With its rapid growth in the past two decades, China’s textile industry has become one of the main pillars of the country’s economy. Clothing,  textile yarns and textiles are among China’s main export products. In 2017, the value of Chinese textile exports amounted to about 110 billion US dollars, which corresponds to 37.2% of the world market share.

2) European Union, 2nd largest market

The European Union, with 23 per cent of the global market share and a market value of $ 69 billion, is the second largest textile export region in the world. Italy, Germany, Spain and France are the leading countries in the apparel industry within the EU. In 2017, there were more than 170 thousand textile and clothing companies in the EU. Nearly 70 percent of them are clothing companies, 30 percent are textile companies, while synthetic fiber companies make up less than one percent.

3) India, the 3rd largest textile market

India is also one of the leading countries in textile production in the world. With a market value of US $ 17 billion in 2017. The country is also one of the largest producers of cotton. In 2017/2018, cotton production in India reached 6.21 million metric tons, making it the main producer of cotton. Textile retail business plan in India is also a big deal.

4) Fashion Design Agencies

If you are looking for modern and elegant textile products, think seriously about these fashion agencies. Such as Alexander McQueen is the leading British fashion agency known as the British luxury fashion house. Similarly, Armani is a famous Italian fashion house especially for its luxury leather products. Kirribilli is another fashion design agency wholesale, especially for products for girls. It was created to make every girl feel like the nicest in the room. Ralph Lauren Corporation is a US based holding company and is publicly traded and headquartered in New York City. Through its subsidiaries, the company designs, markets and sells clothing to men, women and children.

5) Marimekko

Marimekko was founded in 1951, a Finnish clothing and textile design company known for its original styles and colors. The company designs and manufactures high quality garments, textiles, interior decoration, bags and other accessories. You can also visit there to find your textile product.

If you wish, you can also visit exclusive textile shops or local craftsmen specializing in hand-woven fabrics or knitted fabrics. These types of fabrics will add value to your regular offerings.

• Landing Station

The landing station is where the customer will buy his own textile products. It can be an e-commerce store or a shop or an office in a big store. No matter what type of landing station you choose for your business, you should understand science to showcase your product.

1) E-commerce Site

If you are planning to start online textile business or want to know how to start textile business at home, you must have to consider these things seriously.

a.Ease of navigation (the customer can easily find the desired product).
b.The focus of an e-commerce site should be on products available for purchase.
c.Easy payment method (Ideally, payment must include a minimum number of steps and should be as easy as possible for buyers).
d.Many buyers are influenced by branding in their purchase decisions, so the need to create a strong brand is important for online and offline sales.
e.Many e-commerce sites seek to show items that may interest visitors, obviously intended to help visitors find something they buy.
f.The online sale is different from selling in a physical store because the buyer can not touch or see the product himself before making a purchase decision (unless you have seen it elsewhere). Providing high-quality images that accurately describe the product can help you overcome this challenge and make it easier to purchase from visitors.
g.Effective side search (although navigation is necessary so visitors can easily find what they’re looking for, there’s still a need to let them search). Some visitors will still have a hard time finding a particular product, even with good navigation and with larger e-commerce sites, which can often be more meaningful to do than navigate through multiple layers of links).

2) Textile Outlet

If you are planning to set a textile outlet, you must have to consider these things:

a.The threshold area, also known as the “decompression zone”, is the first space potential customers enter when they enter your store. At this stage, buyers also make critical judgments, such as the adequacy or cost of your store and how to coordinate lights, fixtures, screens, and colors. Since they are in a transition mode, customers are likely to lose any product, signage or vehicles they put there.
b.A well-known fact in the retail community is that 90% of consumers in North America are unaware when they enter the store. The first wall they often see is called the “energy wall”, which acts as the vehicle’s first high-impact impression of their goods. So, make sure you pay special attention to what you choose to show and how you’ll show it.
c.Your next task is to make sure that while doing so, they also continue to walk through your store to get the maximum exposure to their products. This not only increases your chances of making a purchase, but the track may be an excellent way to strategically control the flow and flow of pedestrian traffic in your store.d.You may already be familiar with something known as “the effect of the back brush” formulated by the consumer behavior expert Paco Underhill. He discovered that the typical client, especially the women, would avoid chasing goods in the gallery where they could arrange the bottom of another customer’s bottom or clean his ass. This is true even if the customer is very interested in a specific product. An easy way to avoid this problem is to make sure that your corridor, floor, and screens allow customers to have enough personal space when browsing their products.
e.If customers turn, of course, to the right when they enter and guide them to go to a full circle, you will find that the left front is probably the perfect place for your square. However, this decision also depends on the size of the store and its design, which means that you will have to use the best judgment you have at the most natural point to get the counter out.

• Promotion

Marketing is the backbone of any business. In the modern age, there are contemporary means which are used to market the product. You must try these to enhance your sales. Few of them are discussed below:

1) Social Media Marketing

At a time when the Internet community is growing rapidly, this will lead to a service in your company if you create your online presence. One of the easiest ways for people to see you as an expert in your field is through Instagram and constantly blogging about fabrics and fashion styles. You may also want to take advantage of social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc., to make your textile business known. The most important thing is you must pay attention to the biggest SEO platform–Google.

From example, you can search “Elmendorf Tear Tester” on Google now, through effective SEO skills, we successfully ranked this key word from the tenth page to the 5th within one month, and brought us a very considerable inquiry.

2) Catalog preparation

One smart thing you can do for your business is to prepare a complete catalog that contains all kinds of textiles and sewing accessories. The catalog must be the first marketing tool, so you should ensure that it is designed and of high quality. You should always be ready to update your catalog when you have new fabrics.

3) Make network and grow

Another key factor that can help you develop your business quickly is to take advantage of existing platforms. You can join an association for owners of textile stores in your area.

4) Television

TV is an effective multimedia media tool that allows advertisers to reach a broad audience. The large size of the audience increases the chances of sales from a TV-based advertising campaign.

5) Viral Marketing

Viral marketing includes improved online communication channels, including videos and emails that can reach thousands of people in a short period of time. It costs a little to reach potential customers this way.

6) Promotional Products

Promotional products, such as bags, umbrellas, pens or laptops that contain the company logo, are effective advertising tools as they lead to the emergence of a long-term brand, as long as the owners use them.

• Order management and payment system

There must be a full professional and dedicated team for system management and payment system. There should be no unnecessary delay in completing the order requirement, and you should seriously consider that different customers prefer different payment options. All possible solutions must be provided in accordance with the state regulations for the facility of customers. Here are some common ways to get to the owner of a retail textile store:

• Payment with cash
• Payment via bank transfer
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via credit cards/Point of Sale Machines
• Payment via mobile money transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft

• Market conditions in different regions

At the end of the 20th century, a great change took place all over the world. People began to change their businesses in the least expensive countries (cheap labor and utility services). Thus, competition began between product prices. With the global textile industry statistics, these countries have received good benefits and ruled on market with economical prices.

1) Market Conditions in Asia

The Republic of Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan achieved excellent results within their borders, but then started cutting production and investing heavily in other less expensive countries. As a result, production in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia increased significantly between 1985 and 1990 and led the global export market. These countries have begun to invest or redistribute part of their production to the third wave of countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and, more recently, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam.

However, China has become the largest producer and supplier of clothing in the world, which currently generates nearly 13 percent of the world’s supplies, without benefiting from outsourcing from other countries. Instead, the country flourished as part of a government policy aimed at developing the garment industry and open textiles to the outside world.

2) Market Conditions in America

In the Americas, NAFTA has transformed Mexico into a distinctive clothing supplier for textile industry in USA and Canada, the main buyer of clothing, which imports 24 per cent of the world’s supplies. In addition, foreign investors who signed the FTA have developed the garment industry in Mexico, which, along with the 8,000 garment companies, is in a strong position against its Latin American rivals.

3) Market Conditions in Europe

In Central and Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic have gradually become important suppliers to the European market. Each country has tended to specialize in a specific set of products, and its exports to the OECD countries have increased steadily since the mid-1980s ($ 2.4 million in 1987, $ 5.2 million in 1991).

Since 1991, the place left by the former Yugoslavia has left empty foreign investors and businessmen to change their activities to other countries. Croatia, the Russian Federation, Slovenia and Ukraine have become host countries for the relocation of European clothing factories.

Final Words

To start a textile activity, you must first ensure that you gather enough knowledge not only about how to prepare the work, but also about the product you want to sell. Similarly, the sufficient amount of funds to run business activities without problems. Deep knowledge of the fabric, in this case, such as the way it is manufactured or the way to produce better quality than its competitors, will help you climb the ladder of success.