Looking for general advice, or if I am missing something

[Charlibombarli]

Hi!

So this weekend I have been brainstorming and have come up with selling children's tshirts, baby t shirts and baby boys leggings (a new trend coming over from America but pretty hard to find here yet).They will be of a boho style, with prints of teepees, feathers, arrows etc. (tell me if I am spilling too much)

I have contacted a printer (that looks amazing) and also enquired about a wholesaler acc with American apparel. I've also got lots of proposals from people per hour to come up with the digital designs for me.

Can anyone see any problems I will be facing so far?

If it comes together I will be hoping to show at a couple of trade shows, exhaust all social media platforms and maybe set up a Wordpress account.

Am I missing something ridiculously stupid? I was also wondering if it would be worth trying to find a business mentor?

Thanks for reading

 

[Breaking Good]

Creating the product is the easier part I would say. Selling it is the hard part! (for any business)

Sometimes it's easy to think "if I build it they will come" but you really do need a clear strategy on how you're going to get people buying your stock. A website is a must but you should also be dissecting each avenue and formulating a plan on the specific things you need to do in each avenue, to generate revenue.

For example, "social media marketing" is a broad term. You need to go into it, research it properly and figure out the strategies you need to make money from these products

A business mentor is always a good idea, Id definitely recommend it!

 

[Charlibombarli]

Thanks breaking good, you are right it's so easy to think I'll make something and people will be as excited as I am, I wish that was the case!

I've just seen my friend fail at a business and she now has 100's of stock sat and is struggling to sell it. So this has definitely made me more weary.

Do you have examples of how to research the social media aspect? I feel like I have a good idea of most of the social media workings apart from google, I'm also not too clued up about Wordpress so would probably hire someone to sort that out for me.

Thanks again for getting back to me!

 

[Breaking Good]

It's good to be weary sometimes, a bit of fear helps you explore every avenue and assess all your options.

I don't really know anything about your industry but I would try to find 3 companies in your industry who sell similar products. One big, one medium and one small. I'd then look at the strategies they use, Google as much as you can. Contact them if you have to. Find out where they market, how they market.

Once you understand more about how they market their businesses, you need to start thinking about what will set you apart from them and how you will communicate that to your potential customers.

Regarding social media, I'm no expert but personally Im not a big fan of startups relying on it as their biggest sales driver. Maybe Google for startups who grew through social media? See what they did.

The most important thing is probably to ensure you have a market in the first place. Make some designs and show people, find out if people would buy it, whilst at the same time making the distinction between people saying they "like it" and saying they'd "buy it" Two very different things!

 

[Charlibombarli]

Thank you, I will definitely take all this into consideration and really step up on my market research. And will remember to ask 'Will you BUY it'

 

[Paul_Rosser]

What you are actually talking about is building a brand as once/if the products go mainstream then people will buy them from existing retailers who you won't able to compete with on price.

Things you can do for free is research if anyone else in the UK is offering this product, what's their pricing like? How long have they been going for? Have any of them gone under etc.

Then look at your target market, how will you find these people and more importantly get them to buy your products? Idea off the top of my head are places like softplay who have lots of your target market already using them.

Once you have done all that and it all seems to stack up then personally I would look at getting a small quantity of stock produced, take it along to some shows and see if you can sell out, if not then don't spend a fortune on stock you might not be able to sell.

Best of luck though as if you can find a niche product, scale quickly and sell before the bigger stores jump on the band wagon then it can work well.

 

[Charlibombarli]

Thank you Paul, yes I will be heavily trying to build my brand.
There are a couple of sellers on etsy that are similar, however looking on their pages don't seem to sell much, but I don't think that many people do on there.

There's also some mid range stores that you can buy them but they are pricey and again you have to be willing to actively search them out.

I'm hoping to push and really advertise well.

I am lucky that my town has a couple of really popular 'hipster' type markets which would be one of my target families.

Would also love to kit out a cool truck and have a roving pop up shop but obviously very down the line.

I have started a thread on a very popular parenting forum that is known for its honesty and poster ability to pick you apart and had a fantastic response.

Have also contacted a local bohemian clothes stockist who is interested too.

I will initially only be ordering in small numbers and see how I go from there.

I will also be marketing towards this been a gender neutral clothes line which again is an emerging trend so hope (I know it's slim but no harm in trying) parenting magazines could be interested.

Thank you again for your advice!

 

[Simply Business]

Hi @Charlibombarli,

You should certainly get yourself an easy-to-use, attractive website. If you know the product area well - which it sounds like you do - get a regularly updated blog on the go. This will help drive traffic to your site, and, ideally, sales.

Remember you'll likely need things such as insurance if you're looking to sell at trade fairs etc. Also keep in mind the changing algorithms of Facebook mean reaching customers - and thus generating leads that way - is becoming more and more difficult without pumping a lot of money into it.

Online retail is one of the growing industries, so there's definitely a real opportunity for you! We have some great free guides available - one you might find especially helpful, a step-by-step guide to small business social media success.

Let me know if you'd like me to send you some links - don't want to drop them in here for fear of looking like a spammer!

 

[Charlibombarli]

Thank you for replying, I'd definitely be up for doing a blog alongside a website. I'm assuming Wordpress is fine for this?

Your right about Facebook, they are getting more and more fickle by the day!

And I would love to receive some helpful pms thank you.

 

[Simply Business]

Definitely! Incorporate the blog into your e-commerce website to help drive traffic to the area where you're looking to sell

Brilliant, I'll send some over to you in a moment then

 

[EcommerceTools]

If you are looking to set up an eCommerce site we offer completely free 1-on-1 eCommerce consulting services.

Otherwise it sounds like you haven't missed anything. Just make sure that you have a solid marketing plan to go alongside your launch not just a plan to exhaust all social media. Whilst you will have invested a decent amount into your products you will also have to invest a healthy amount into marketing.

Make sure you also have an outreach plan for bloggers and small media.

 

[mtools]

i would avoid american apparel. way overpriced. there are plenty of other brands with better quality garments for much less

 

[Charlibombarli]

Hi thanks for all the advice, I've gone to a local business advisor service who will help me apply for a start up loan/grant.

So currently doing a business plan, they can also set up either a Wordpress or wix(I think) site and help with Seo etc.

Mobilitytools, you are right about the American apparel, I went for the gilden super soft for the child's and babybugz for the infant tees. Have kept Ameican Apparel for the leggings though as they are the only baby leggings I could get hold of, but will be inserting my label and selling as they are until I manage to find someone who can make some leggings up for me at a good price with material I like.

 

[Charlibombarli]

Oh ecommerce, sorry for the ignorance but what is an outreach plan?
Thank you.

 

[brecon storage]

Hi All
Looking for a bit of advice, at the storage facility i own, i also run a cash for cloths setup, i have been running a while now but have been using another recycling setup to pass on my items, the profit turn over shall we say is small due to using this method, so i am looking at looking for a lager company to deal with directly, if anyone who can assist me with where to look or contact details i would be greatful

 

[Charlibombarli]

Hi, if you go into the main forums part and start a new thread you will be able to get more advice. Currently only people who have posted on this particular thread will be able to see your post