Create an Online Fashion Store that Leads to Sales
The retail e-commerce revenues from apparel and accessories sales in the US alone reached over $180 billion in 2022. Statista predicts a whopping increase to around $300 billion in just another three years.
With more brands with digital channels becoming more mobile-friendly and other technological innovations, it’s no wonder the fashion industry has skyrocketed in recent years. So, if you’re an entrepreneur focusing on the fashion industry, including the swimwear business, there’s plenty of room to get in the action!
Start an online fashion store for your product
The best time to start selling your product online was a decade ago when the online market was growing. However, the second-best time is today, and this is why you shouldn’t miss it.
There is so much potential on the horizon, and taking a leap into the e-commerce space can help you to focus on a trend instead of letting yourself miss out on excellent opportunities.
Before you begin listing your wares for sale, you need to have a foundation that will bring you in the right direction from the beginning. Here are 7 steps that will help you succeed in creating your online fashion store.
- Have a business plan.
- Choose your business model (B2B/B2C e-commerce).
- List your products.
- Your product’s description.
- Product display.
- Navigation.
- Market your swimwear store.
Have a business plan
Before starting a big or small business, having a well-thought-out plan is a must. A good business plan will get you far more than just “sell times and make money.” Instead, the plan should operate based on these factors:
- A detailed summary offers an overview of your brand or company’s goal.
- Your brand or company’s description. This includes product lines, customer demographics and your plans to stay ahead of your competitors.
- Analyze the market and look at the data and stats of the marketplace. This includes the average sales, the top sellers and the estimated growth rate.
Choose your business model (B2B/B2C e-commerce)
E-commerce is essential if you’re looking to sell your product online. Fortunately, numerous high-performing e-commerce platforms in the market can boost your storefront. But instead of going for the cheapest or easiest option, you should consider a few things first:
- How would you like to run your business? Do you need support, or will a hands-off platform meet your needs?
- How is your technical knowledge? Are you ready to handle any coding to offer a fully developed site?
- What features do you want to provide? This can include an email marketing strategy, SEO, SSL certification or a custom domain.
List your products
Once you’re confident and have established your site’s framework, the next step is to list your products for sale. Remember that your displayed product, description quality and even your e-commerce navigation page can significantly impact your sales.
Your product's description
It may sound mundane, but quality product descriptions can make a big difference. These descriptions are a primary driver for SEO on e-commerce sites. It’s also incredibly crucial to tell your customers the products you have to offer and why they should buy them.
Use engaging and colorful language that clearly pictures your product. Product descriptions are the next best thing because your customers won’t be there physically to observe your product. To help you make more compelling product descriptions make sure you also have a good understanding of the words that are now trendy as well as the ones that aren’t. For example, the word “slimming” is no longer popular; data has shown that this word has decreased by 32% in the market search since 2019.
Product display
A product display should completely complement your product description and offer a way to show and tell what to expect. Remember to add more than one picture; provide images of your swimwear from every angle, from distant shots to up close. This way, your customers can make informed decisions.
Add photographed swimwear on models, if possible. If not, then a mannequin will do. These pictures should be high quality and show off the fabrics and all the details from the front, back, and side, along with the styling options if possible.
Navigation
Almost 80% of web users state that a poor experience on a site eventually drives them to another to look for their needs. This shows that site navigation is essential for boosting your sales.
When your customers visit a site and find the menus filled with dropdowns and navigation options. They can get overwhelmed and require extra effort to find the right products. Regardless of how many good products you sell and the categories you have, remember to keep navigation simple and clean for your customers.
Market your swimwear store
Your online store is up and running, you have a solid line of product photos and descriptions and your pages are fully optimized. There’s only one important factor missing – the customers. Effective digital marketing is the best way to get them in an e-commerce marketplace. Here are the tools that will get your shop onto the right customers.
- Email marketing tools
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to target your customers as it offers significant value for a relatively low cost. Emails may introduce your product to new customers while keeping existing customers coming back. Providing promotions like discounts and exclusive offers are excellent ways to get your target customers to open their emails. - Content marketing
Everything you do on the web, from your product details to your blogs, should represent the overall mission of your business. Strong content is also the base element of SEO. Therefore, ensuring your writing touches the right keyword and phrases is better for your online marketing. You can integrate your e-commerce store with top content management systems like WordPress and Bloomreach. - SEO
Effective search engine optimization (SEO) techniques can ensure potential customers find you on search engines if they’re looking for your products. Find the right keywords and phrases on your homepage and product descriptions that align with your branding and product.
