Start an Online Business for Your Fabric Products

As you know maake is in the fabric business. And if you are also working with fabrics, this blog is especially for you. No matter whether you’re involved in fashion, interior décor or you produce other types of fabric products, we’ve compiled this handy guide to help you start your online business.

Whatever products you’re planning to sell online, whether they include fashion clothing and accessories, tableware and other gorgeous items for home interiors, or other lifestyle fabric products, you need the right tools to get you started. Building your online shop can be affordable, and you can work on it at home, full-time or in the evenings and on weekends.

Let’s check out these six simple steps…

Step 1: Creating a Business Plan

You know what you want to sell, right? Whether you have a single product or a list of products in mind, and an audience you wish to sell to, you’re ready to go. You’ve chosen something you’re passionate about for your business, and now you want to sell online. For this, you need a proper business plan, especially if you’re just starting your business. Even if you’ve been selling from home or through a retail store, selling online is entirely different.

Your business plan can be simple, but it needs to include the following:

·       Your niche: What you’re selling that is different, and who you’re planning to sell to.

·       Your customers: Define them and then describe them.

·       Product list: Make a list of the types of products you will be selling and categorise them.

·       Prices: Give an idea of the prices you will charge for your products. If you’re unsure, look at similar items sold online to gauge a price range. For instance, our sister site, maakeHome, sells various products online, so take a look to see how we designed this website.

·       Costs to start your business: These costs will include setting up an online store. This involves the following:

-        The cost of purchasing a domain name: First, you need to create a website where your online store will be based. The domain name is your website address, the name people type into their web browsers when they wish to visit your site, e.g., maakehome.co.uk. We will discuss this in more detail below.

-        Organise web hosting: This is how you build your website and an accessible online store. You can rent server space from a web hosting company so that, when someone types in your domain name, they will reach your site and be able to shop online there. We will also discuss this below.

-        Monthly budget: This should include your products.  Are you making these yourself, or do you pay someone to do this for you? Storage is another consideration. Where are you storing your products? Are they easily accessible? Do you pay rent to store them? In your budget, include how much it costs to run your business, create and store your products. You need to ensure that you cover all your expenses fully, so that when you sell something, you can make some profit. Work out how much you must sell to make a profit.

-        Building your brand: If you already have a website, you’ve already built your brand. If you’re starting both a business and a website, you need to create a brand, a personality. This includes choosing colours and fonts as well as a brand voice. Create a unique name for the website that people will remember. Pick one that is memorable, simple, easy to spell and suits your business. You also need a brand logo that identifies your brand. You can hire a designer to create one or make your own using an AI logo generator or a programme such as Canva.

Remember, there also are various free tools you can use to help you create your business plan, such as Google Docs or Notion. Also, your business plan can adapt as your business expands.

Step 2: Setting up an Online Store

In this guide, we show you how to create your own online shop. Not only does this give you complete control, but it also allows you to design the store from scratch and grow your brand your way. Of course, you will need to market your store to attract customers, but by using social media, it’s easy. Setting up the store will cost you financially, but you can easily make up your setup costs when you start selling.

There are various ways to set up an online store:

1.     Use a hosting platform that includes a website builder in the plan. They will then handle the setup for you. To build an online store, choose one that makes ecommerce easy, such as Shopify (see point 3, below), which also provides hosting.

2.     If you want to build the website yourself, a website builder is your obvious choice. You sign up, select a design, and start adding your content. You don’t need to know anything about coding, servers or software. In the UK, various web hosts, including Krystal Hosting, Shopify and Siteground offer this. Some of these plans will involve additional setup steps, but with assistance from your hosting provider, it’s not that difficult.

3.     Shopify, which we use at maake, is an excellent choice as a combined site builder and host. This innovative platform specialises in ecommerce and offers various tools, including over 10,000 apps, so you can customise your online store, include security to protect every transaction and safeguard data.

4.     Earlier, we mentioned your domain name and hosting. If you don’t already have a website, you can usually register your domain name with your hosting provider. Regarding hosting, you can choose between shared hosting (which is more affordable and involves sharing the server with other users) or, if you select WooCommerce and WordPress hosting, this is more expensive, but the host does all the technical work.

5.     Depending on the hosting type you choose, you may need to install WordPress manually, if your host doesn’t do this. You also need to ensure your website has an SSL certificate – this is a digital certificate that authenticates your website, and that you use https:// in your domain name. When your site has this certificate, all the information transmitted is guaranteed private and secure. 

Step 3: Building the Perfect Online Store

To create an online store with WordPress, you must install a WordPress theme. Choose one that suits your brand’s style, colours and voice, as well as the products you will be selling. Keep the design clean and simple, and display your products well, with good images, full descriptions and prices.

If you’re using WooCommerce for Wordpress, the WooCommerce plugin will be included in your plan. This free, open-source plugin helps you create and manage your online store.

It provides:

·       Product management to create and manage your product listings, with detailed descriptions, images and pricing.

·       Order management to help you process your orders, sort customer data, and handle any returns.

·       Payment options, including VAT compliance for the UK.

·       Shipping costs for domestic and international orders, packaging and delivery details.

You may also need a caching plugin that will speed up your website and an SEO plugin (such as Yoast SEO) that will boost your SEO rankings.

Step 4:  Creating a Smooth Website Experience

Keep the style, design and voice of your website the same on your online store. Ensure the pages are enjoyable to view.

Here’s how:

·       Keep your design simple. All the images must be clear with a plain background, if possible. You can also deep-etch the images, if you wish. The lighting, background and design must be identical throughout, so that your product pages are identifiable as belonging to your store.

·       Remember: when customers recognise your brand and design style, your brand comes across as more professional and trustworthy.

·       Source, manufacture and provide high-quality products, so that people won’t want to return them or complain. If they do complain or return them, don’t take this personally. It’s part of being in business.

·       When you describe a product, be honest. Tell it like it is, don’t embellish the facts. Customers will trust you if you tell them the truth. Categorise products and divide them into groups so they are easy to find in the store.

·       Provide quality product images for each individual product.

·       Explain your shipping options to make it easier for customers to choose how they wish their orders delivered. You can also offer a special fee if the customer purchases several items or purchases for a specific amount of money.

·       When an order has been placed, email the customer immediately with details of shipping and delivery times.

·       Add customer reviews. These build trust.

·       Provide clear details regarding shipping and returns, so the customer will know when the item will be delivered, and have the details for returning goods, if necessary. Deliver what you promise.

·       If someone emails you a query, respond immediately. This shows professionalism and caring.

Step 5: Launching Your Store

Before your online store goes live, check that every single step of the customer’s buying journey works properly. Check product descriptions for spelling errors, correct prices and images. Look at shopping carts, payment details, and checkout, shipping and delivery. Once everything is working perfectly, you are ready to launch your online store.

To announce the launch of your online store, you can email existing customers and subscribers with details, and offer them an incentive to shop online, with a special VIP discount? Build excitement around the opening and make them want to go online and purchase!!

Step 6: Marketing Your Store

The process isn’t over when you launch your store. You need to keep marketing your online shop to ensure more people visit and purchase. If you already have a website, this isn’t difficult – you can use SEO and keywords in your product descriptions and titles, choose exciting, illustrative images to attract customers, and post details on social media, particularly Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest. You can also use paid ads on Google and Facebook to attract visitors. Both Facebook and Instagram are also great places to link your online store. Many brands do this extremely successfully.

Email marketing to new, potential and existing customers also works wonders. Offer discounts, specials and ‘early bird’ incentives, and update them with your latest products. Consider using influencers to spread the word about your site, and your store. Perhaps offer them a free product if they mention a product or review your shop.

Monitor & Improve Your Online Store

An online store is an ongoing project. You need to keep customers interested, so constantly monitor store traffic and improve if you encounter any issues. Set up a Google Analytics account to track the store’s progress. This monitors customer traffic, your sales, and your visitors and makes you aware of what you’re doing right and what still needs perfecting. If products aren’t selling well, try adjusting their prices, using better descriptions and images. Customer feedback can be invaluable regarding prices, pictures and the products themselves.

Starting an Online Business

If you’re just starting out, there are various tools you can use to help you. We compiled a handy Beginners Guide to Get Started on Your Clothing Business, which will inspire you.  

You can also explore the maakeAcademy blogs, which offer transformative insights forunprecedented growth and profitability. They cover all the aspects of starting a business, including many points we mentioned above, in far more detail.