Online Retail - Stock Question

[TimDarracott]

Hi,

So i've purchased a domain which i plan on building an online shop for. The shop will mainly be selling clothing, or anything you can wear, so footwear, gloves, t-shirts, etc.

Now i have a number of brands i would like to retail but am unsure where to start with regards setting up accounts with distributers, etc.

Having never run a shop or worked in retail i'm a little ignorant when it comes purchasing products to sell.

Does anyone have any link or nuggets of advice for a total online retail newbie. I'm not daft but at the moment i'm finding it a little difficult locating articles to read on this topic.

- Am i going to need mountains of capital to invest in stock to get this thing off the ground or can i place orders as and when?

Thanks

Tim

[killah]

You wont need a lot of money to spend on buying stock (well not millions anyway) but you will need to spend a hefty account in marketing and promotion of the brand, clothing is such a big market that if you are selling everything you might not know your customer, so my advice would be start in a niche area (example- selling skate wear to yes skaters)




Good luck it takes hard work


i am learning too.

[tank slapper]

TimDarracott said:

Does anyone have any link or nuggets of advice for a total online retail newbie.

Read the Distance Selling Regulations and the amendment as they will apply to you. There is a guide (pdf) for business from the office of fair trading. There are a few things that you need to be aware of in there.

[damci]

The best place to start would be setting up an Ebay shop and develop the online shop once you have your brand built up.

Have you found any distributors yet? You may be lucky and find a distributor who would drop ship to your customer but many of them don't do this. This would mean you could spend more on marketing and developing your business.

Good luck it is a very competitive area to get into, as said above, you would be better of finding a niche market on Ebay and starting from there.

Be very careful buying stock from China!

[TimDarracott]

I'm starting in a niche market and will no doubt be staying in the niche, i'm not doing it to become rich just something to keep me occupied.

Thanks again