How To Start an Online Vintage Clothing Store

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Founding your own vintage clothing store can seem like a big undertaking — especially if you’ve never started a business before. However, with a bit of guidance and some thorough planning, it’s not as difficult as it might seem. 

As a business owner in the fashion industry, I have first-hand experience in this area that I’ve compiled into this simple 7-step guide. With these helpful tips, you can develop a solid business model and pull off a successful launch. 

7 Steps to Start an Online Vintage Clothing Store

1. Write a Business Plan

The first step towards turning your idea into a fully-fledged business is writing a detailed business plan. This will help you develop plans for budgets, logistics, and other important areas. Here are a few basic things to include in your business plan:

• A general summary of business and its goals

• An analysis of your target audience and your competition 

• Ideas for marketing campaigns 

• Members of your team 

• Financial projections, budgets, and goals

2. Register Your Business

Registering a small online business is fairly straightforward, especially if you choose to move forward as a sole proprietorship. This is the most common business structure for online merchants and allows you to treat your profit as personal income and pay tax accordingly. 

In most states, a sole proprietorship can be registered online with the Secretary of State for a small fee. It’s also a good idea to check if your state requires any additional licences and permits to conduct business. 

3. Build Up an Inventory

As a vintage reseller, buying stock isn’t as straightforward as placing an order with the local wholesale. You hand-pick unique items to offer to your customers, and these can take time to find. In order to launch, you need to build up a collection of pieces that showcase the quality and variety you aim to provide to buyers.

Some retail ventures require a warehouse or storage facility to keep their inventory in, but you can probably skip this expense for an online vintage clothes store. You should be able to set up space in your own home by purchasing some clothing bags and other storage solutions. 

4. Partner With a Cleaning Service

Buying vintage clothing online can be difficult for buyers since they can’t inspect the state of the clothing themselves. To make the buying process more convenient, consider partnering with a dry-cleaning company that can deep-clean your pieces and make them ready-to-wear. 

You can combine this with detailed product descriptions that highlight the condition of the clothing and help customers understand exactly what they’re buying. 

5. Decide Where to Sell Your Offerings

To sell your vintage clothing, you can either set up your own website or make use of a digital marketplace like Etsy or eBay. Setting up shop with a digital marketplace is the quickest and easiest way to get started, but it also comes with fees that you might want to avoid. 

Making your own website, on the other hand, may have higher upfront costs, but also gives you more freedom. You can customize your site with your own branding and choose how you want to accept payments.

6. Set Up a Payment and Delivery System

If you want to accept orders from customers, you need to give them a way to pay and a way to receive their goods. A lot of ecommerce platforms, including digital marketplaces and website builders, will offer built-in options for both payment and delivery.

Alternatively, you can partner your business with services directly, which can provide you with more value and freedom. Well-known couriers like DHL and GPS are popular choices for worldwide delivery, or you branch out into sustainable options with carbon neutral couriering. 

For your payment system, Pay.com makes accepting card payments online simple for both you and your customers. Onboarding is quick and straightforward and once you’re all set up, you can choose from a wide variety of payment methods. Develop a smooth and convenient checkout experience by offering mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay alongside your traditional card payments. 

7. Leverage Social Media Marketing Techniques

When you’re ready to start accepting orders, the next and final step is attracting customers. Social media is a powerful tool for online marketing, and one that you can take advantage of for little to no investment. It’s also a popular way to find vintage deals, so you’ll find active communities brimming with potential customers.

Start your marketing campaign with the basics: create a company profile, link your website, and publish posts showcasing your inventory. From there, you can spread your name across the community by liking, commenting, and engaging with other vintage clothing pages and the individuals who frequent them. 

The Pros and Cons of Starting an Online Clothing Store

There are lots of things to think about before starting your own online clothing store. You need to be motivated and passionate about the benefits and willing to face the challenges. 

Pros

• Being your own boss can give you freedom to choose your own work hours

• You can travel around the country searching for new inventory

• Upfront costs are low and it’s easy to scale the size of your store

Cons

• Managing even a small business can be a lot of work

• You may not be able to bring in a stable flow of new inventory

• It can take time to develop a customer base and start turning a profit

The Bottom Line

If you’re passionate about clothing and you’re ready to put in the work, an online vintage clothing store is a great low-risk, low-investment idea for a first business. You can run the shop from home, source inventory on your own schedule, and market yourself easily online.

FAQ

How much does it cost to start an online vintage clothing store?

The basic costs for setting up an online vintage clothing store are associated with buying your inventory, paying a small subscription fee for either a website or membership to a digital marketplace, and cleaning or readying your items for sale. Depending on the state you’re in, there could also be a small fee for registering your business. You’ll also need to pay fees for your payment system and possibly your delivery system, along with costs for packaging.

How long does it take to set up an online vintage clothing store?

Registering your business, creating a website, and setting up payment and delivery systems are all fairly straightforward. If you’re putting in full-time hours, you could complete these tasks within a couple of weeks. Sourcing your inventory, however, could take longer if you’re starting from scratch or if you don’t already know where to look. Each piece of your collection will be hand-picked, so this can take time.

Is selling vintage clothing profitable?

Quality vintage pieces can rise in value as time passes, so it can be a particularly profitable business. The extent of your profit margin is determined by how efficient and effective you are at sourcing new inventory. Better pieces bought at a lower price will make you more money. It might not be possible to find the best deals straight away or all the time, but you will develop more knowledge and know-how as you gain experience in the business.