Business owners never stop learning. There are always new skills, terms, and sales tricks to apply and make your business thrive. Apart from having your store online or in a good physical location, you need quality clothing that will attract customers in droves. This is obvious that getting wholesale clothing online is the best thing to do. However, you should understand the following things that might stand in making your business a success.
Distributor minimum order
Knowledge about minimum orders is important since this requirement dictates financial decisions and your inventory management plan. Buying clothing online is different from picking items in a brick and mortar store. Wholesale clothing distributors online have minimum order requirements to meet when placing an order. Perhaps you are required to place a bigger initial order before your next one to replenish inventory after selling the first stock. When selecting a distributor, ensure to find out whether you have the financial capacity to meet their minimum order.
The distributors set a minimum order to ensure that they sell to only serious boutique owners. This minimum order requirement limits actual customers from cutting corners by buying clothing at wholesale price from distributors. These are less likely to have the capital to purchase clothing in bulk. Additionally, a bigger order usually comes much cheaper compared to a small order. This allows making some good profits from your initial inventory inspiring you to keep the business running.
Value of established products
Making your business stand out requires working with an experienced clothing distributor. This will obviously have access to the best wholesale clothing in the USA. You will have access to established clothing with good brand reputation. A reputed supplier will give you best-selling products with a long history of success backed by established brand identity. With a track record of good sales, you will rest assured adding such clothing to your inventory. Your customers will appreciate bringing clothing from a brand they already know closer to make your marketing easier.
Keystone markup
This is another term to understand during financial planning for your business. Keystone markup is related to product clothing and profit margin. Matter of fact, keystone markup is a pricing model involving retailers selling an item at double the wholesale cost making 100 percent markup. However, the keystone model doesn’t fit all circumstances.
Coming up with markups requires considering the prices of other clothing and accessories. You should also consider the pricing of your competitors. This will limit your boutique from becoming the most expensive around. Ensure to set a keystone markup that makes your items affordable by the target market. This should be enough to cover your capital and to generate profits to keep your business running.
Wholesale clothing versus private label clothing
It is very important to understand particular terms in the industry. Wholesale clothing comes from the distributors with labels of the brands in their inventory. This clothing can’t have your branded tags and other boutiques can have the same. Fortunately, wholesale clothing is readily available online making it easy to purchase to replenish your inventory. However, you can’t have wholesale clothing with unique branding specific to your store.
Private label clothing is different from wholesale clothing. This requires working with the clothing manufacturer to make products branded uniquely for your store. You will have better creative control over your inventory but this doesn’t come cheap and not readily available. Replenishing your inventory depends on the efficiency of the manufactures. In addition, their minimum order is usually much larger compared to wholesale clothing. So, wholesale clothing is cost-effective and logistics management is easy making it the ideal solution for boutique owners.
Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price vs. Minimum Advertised Price
These are the most important pricing terms in wholesale clothing. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price is the recommended price for the clothing to be sold in your store. It is a simple suggestion that does not limit you from pricing according to your market and sales goals. This is just a minimal amount that ensures that you get some profits after deducting your capital investment.
Minimum advertised price (MAP) is the product price suggested by the wholesale clothing distributor. Selling below this price means that you are not making any profits. The MAP protects the wholesale distributor’s reputation while stabilizing pricing among the client base. This eliminates the chances of some business owners selling cheaper offsetting the market.
Bottom line
Women love fashion making a fashion boutique a viable business idea. However, you should understand the basics of going about this business including where to get inventory. Purchasing wholesale clothing is the best option. This ensures that you get access to quality clothing at cheaper prices with a chance to enjoy discounts and other perks like free shipping.
