Running an online clothing boutique is a great way to start a retail business without the burden of traditional offline operations. Unless you plan to create an inventory for an online clothing store, you will need to purchase clothing from wholesalers and other manufacturers. This guide on how to stock in an online boutique will show you how.
Let’s take a closer look at what we’ll cover here.
- Where to buy wholesale clothing for a boutique?
- How to identify a supplier
- How do you store and organize your inventory?
- How to set the price
How to stock up on online boutiques: where to buy wholesale clothing
If you want to learn how to open an online boutique, the first thing to do after creating a clothing store business plan is to stock up on resources. If you are looking for wholesale clothing, there are three main options to choose from. Participate in trade fairs, work with online wholesalers and work directly with manufacturers.
I wholesale boutique clothing trade fairs
This is a great way to stock up on online boutiques as you can weave fabrics, check the quality of your garments and connect with brands and suppliers when attending trade fairs.
Most trade fairs require you to upload your business card at registration or share your title and trade name to prove that you are a fashion merchandising.
Some of the most popular boutique wholesale clothing trade fairs are:
- Agenda-A biennial event in Las Vegas, spanning more than 1,000 brands, the Agenda specializes in street wear shows and provides an educational and supportive community for designers and buyers.
- American Handcrafted-For boutique owners looking for handmade clothes, accessories and gifts, attending American Handcraft in Philadelphia is a must.
- COAST-COAST is Miami’s first four-year fashion show. Overview The show includes a collection selected from well-known and promising designers.
- COTERIE-This show will showcase top women’s fashion brands such as apparel, accessories and shoes to online shoppers in New York and around the world. COTERIE also hosts an annual Miami show specializing in swimwear and holiday wear.
- Designers and Agents-Designers and Agents feature 300 designers selected from New York and Los Angeles each season.
- MAGIC-This wholesale fair specializes in introducing the latest trends in modern women’s and men’s clothing. They perform several times a year in different parts of the United States, including New York, Las Vegas, and Nashville.
- Pure London-At this London fashion fair, women’s, men’s and children’s clothing brands are announced twice a year.
Wholesale clothing
If you can’t choose to travel to the trade fair, you can also buy clothing from wholesale boutique clothing sites. Buying inventory online is more effective than attending a trade fair. Because you don’t know the quality of the product until you get it. Make sure the wholesaler provides samples to reduce frustration.
As with trade fairs, you need to prove that you are a fashion buyer to access wholesale inventory and prices.
To get started, check out the following wholesale clothing boutique websites:
- COTERIE-The popular trade fair also has an online shopping platform.
- LA Showroom-This online wholesaler sells a wide range of women’s, men’s, children’s, shoes, cosmetics and accessories.
- Fondmart-Fondmart has been on the market for almost 20 years, offering everything from children’s clothing to perfumes to women’s fashion. Wholesalers have innovative tools for easy visualization of catalogs based on similar products that can be found elsewhere on the web.
- Magnolia Fashion Wholesale-This Miami-based wholesaler specializes in contemporary women’s clothing and offers delivery to 80 countries.
Browsing a wholesaler’s online list is an integral part of learning to start an online boutique. Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many trade fairs also offer online shopping platforms and virtual trade fairs.
Cooperation with producers
Instead of working with a wholesaler, you can also work directly with the manufacturer to keep your online boutique inventories safe. If you find a product you like in other online stores, look for the manufacturer or brand name in the product description. Then investigate the brand and, if possible, contact them directly to see if they offer wholesale prices.
