eCommerce Fashion Shopify Startup

Fashion retail is huge. It’s booming, where fashion startups are flourishing and major businesses are going mobile to capture the market who want to shop on the go, when it suits.

Unless you’re going to create a fashion business that only pops up in certain marketplaces (which is a perfectly viable marketing idea…) you’ll need to get online, where innovative style retailers are building their brand.

It’s a given that your site will need to look good to sell. But beyond great imagery, what else should you consider?

Start by answering the following questions:

Who is your target audience?

Are they Gucci or Target? Do they care about the small details? Or is bulk purchasing more important? Do they want to know every detail and story behind each item? What matters most to your core customers, and those you want to reach over time, will inform your choice of platform features.

How much money can you afford to spend?

What’s your budget for launching a site? Hosting and maintaining it? You can buy something outright and be on your own for maintenance ( which can be painful and take months to get live), or choose a web design service that gets you up and running and turns your dream store into reality and offer ongoing support for a small fee like the service we offer..

Do you need to integrate with other systems?

Will you accept Paypal or not? Not all eCommerce platforms allow third party payments. Do you have a logistics system you need to connect to for fulfilment? A mailing list you’ll want to plug in?

Make sure your choice talks to the systems it needs to, reliably and in real-time (delayed exchanges can create logistical chaos and may leave your customers waiting for their coveted goodies).

How much stock are you selling?

You’ll want to make sure your site can support your volume and scale. Additionally, some themes and platforms offer different price points and features for different volumes, so it helps to know what you’re starting with, and where you hope to go.

And perhaps the most important when it comes to getting the site up and running…

How much work do you want to do getting it ready?

If you’re a comfortable, confident web designer, you’d be ok buying a more sophisticated solution that has more features, but requires a good deal of tinkering to get right. If you don’t have those skills, or would rather spend the time on other parts of your business, then get in touch with us and let us get your site up and running while you take care of the other side of business.

Other things to think about:

• Do you want your customers to add to their wishlist and Pin items?
• Do you want them to share their finds on social media?
• Love it if they could create collections, or mix and match your wares?

Ready to get started? STOP THINK LEARN YOUR business options before jumping in. When it comes to getting starting these are the must things you need to think of/have in any fashion eCommerce store. It must offer responsive design for mobile devices; customizable menus and colors; the ability to filter your products by color, size, brand or price; social media integration; trending now feature units and image slideshows; size charts; lookbooks; newsletter integration with MailChimp; and much more.

Enjoy your startup, we know it can be stressful but taking a step back, breath grab the old skool pen and paper and write down all the points you want your online store to look and feel like. When it’s all on paper you will feel and know your business hat is on and your ready to take on the online world.

Good Luck and go out there and get em!

Christie x