“Buy low, sell high” is one of the most important rules of running a clothing store, whether it’s online or not. To be clear, this strategy involves buying things in bulk at lower prices and then selling them for more money. But if you want to make and use this plan well, you need to know where to buy wholesale clothing for your store.
If you just opened a brick-and-mortar or online clothing store and are trying to figure out how and where to buy wholesale clothing, you can stop looking around. We know the answer, and this article will explain it in full.
We’ll start by explaining the difference between selling online and selling in a store. Then we’ll explain the difference between wholesale suppliers who are not verified and those who are. Finally, we’ll teach you where to buy wholesale clothing for your boutique and where not to.
Whether you sell something online or in a store
Both online selling and selling in a store have their own differences and similarities, which are listed below:
Differences
- Costs for stores: Owners of brick-and-mortar stores have to pay rent, while owners of online stores have to pay for the services of web-building platforms that help them get their stores online.
- Payment methods: When selling online, customers buy things through a payment gateway or with a credit card. In a store, customers buy things in person.
- Customer interaction: In brick-and-mortar stores, people talk to each other face-to-face, but in online stores, people often talk through social media.
Similarities
Supplying products: Whether you decide to go into the eCommerce market or open a physical store, you will need to stock your business with larger quantities of items that you would buy in bulk.
- Find wholesalers: No matter what kind of store you have, you’ll need a long-term relationship with a wholesale clothing distributor. So, you can build and grow a successful clothing business and gain a good reputation as a seller.
- Customers like both business models, which means that if you have the right strategies in place, you can build a strong customer base no matter which one you choose.
Wholesale clothing distributors who are verified vs. those who aren’t
When you want to open a store or start an online boutique, you should make sure you don’t get tricked into buying wholesale clothes from places that look sketchy. You need to make sure that the suppliers you work with for your clothing store are the right ones so that you can sell high-quality items and set prices that are fair. So, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind as you decide where to buy wholesale clothing for your store.
What red flags point to suppliers that can’t be trusted?
Many people get into the clothing business with the idea that they can start making money right away. They start an online or offline business to make money quickly, so they look for the easiest way to get clothes for their stores. This could lead to a big mistake. Putting the need to make money quickly first can make you make some bad decisions.
On the other hand, there are newcomers who don’t know where they’re going and start making bad decisions. These put their businesses at risk because they don’t know the tricks of the trade. Both types of business owners do the same thing: they buy wholesale clothing for their stores from places that can’t be trusted.
Here are some things a supplier might do that make you wonder if you can trust them, especially if they sell branded clothes and accessories:
- No authenticity of the product: Most likely, a wholesale supplier who doesn’t check the authenticity of their products and claims to sell brand-name clothes and accessories without the original packaging and tags is a supplier who sells fakes.
- Not enough recognition: Another red flag could be a supplier that isn’t known in the clothing industry and doesn’t have any online reviews from customers about their services.
- No information about the brand or manufacturer on the product packaging: A verified supplier will always put his real warehouse address and contact information on the package he sends you, so you can always double-check the information given.
What do wholesale clothing suppliers that can be trusted have?
If you don’t want to scam wholesale clothing suppliers, you’ll need to make sure your business is legit first. Getting a license or permit for your boutique business will depend on where you live. Make sure to follow the laws and rules of your country to stay out of trouble with the law and avoid fines. Once you’re a registered owner of an online boutique, you can report fraudulent activities.
Here are the things that all suppliers who have been checked should have:
- Registered suppliers: Like you, most of them are registered wholesale suppliers who work hard to make a living.
- Great customer service: Suppliers who have been checked out put effort into building relationships with their customers and do their best to give boutique owners fair deals and great customer service.
- Constant catalog updates: Wholesale suppliers that are worth working with keep up with the latest industry trends.
- Working with reliable shipping couriers: Trustworthy suppliers work with top courier companies to make sure that shipping, delivery, and dispatch services are fast and safe.
- Directory supplier lists: Most reputable wholesale suppliers pay to be listed in online directories of suppliers. Anyone can’t just put their business name on the list in these directories. Before being added to their business lists, their suppliers go through a thorough process of authentication and verification. So, one of the safest places to look for suppliers for your boutique is in a directory of suppliers. Once you find them, you can work out a fair deal with them to buy clothes at wholesale prices.
To sum it up
The best thing about wholesale shopping is that you can buy a lot of things at a discount. If you take the time to do it right, buying wholesale clothing for men and women is not a hard task. That’s why it’s a very important step in this process to find wholesale clothing suppliers who can be trusted. But with the tips we’ve talked about so far, you can easily learn how to buy products in bulk and start ordering things in bulk almost right away.