In the article Sharing the experience of opening a mother and baby store, we have given some suggestions to help you learn the market, import goods and decorate to launch your business plan.
However, not everyone is eligible to open such a traditional store, the rental of the premises and the purchase of equipment requires a lot of capital. At this time, some people choose to sell children’s goods online to save costs.
This idea is not only suitable for people with little capital but also a trend in the present time as well as in the future, when most transactions are “online”. To help you understand the steps to do, we would like to share how to make a detailed online children’s clothing business plan below.
1. Market research
As mentioned in the previous article, the process of market research is extremely important, you should take the time to do this step in detail. Basically you will have to research some of the following issues:
Market Segmentation
By age: The children’s clothing business is mainly aimed at customers aged 10 years and under, divided into 3 segments: infants (1-12 months old), children aged 1-5 years old and children aged 5-10 years old. You need the number of children in each segment, the change over the years to determine the audience you are targeting.
By goods: Besides determining who to sell to, you need to know what you’re selling. No matter what business, goods are also divided into 3 segments: high-end, mid-range and affordable. Each segment targets a set of customers with different spending characteristics and preferences, and the source of goods and product brands are also clearly divided.
Industry analysis
This step is used to assess the growth of the children’s business, you need to find out if the market is currently active or not, how many mom and baby stores have been opened recently, especially Especially online stores. Thanks to these analyzes you will know the potential when entering the industry.
Understanding consumer behavior
Since you choose to do business online, this step is especially important. You should conduct a survey to find out the habits of consumers, whether they often buy baby products online, if so, what products they often buy, etc.
Research your competitors
Even though you sell online, your competition still includes brick-and-mortar stores in addition to other online stores. In this step, you need to list some of the prominent children’s shops and websites today, see the popularity of the brand, how are their sales, especially their main products. are pushing.
2. Analysis of strengths and weaknesses when trading in children’s goods
After learning about the external factors, the next thing you need to do is analyze the influencing factors inside the project. For the most general overview, make a SWOT diagram, which presents your strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T).
For example, the strength of the online children’s clothing business model is that it requires little capital, takes advantage of online advertising channels, the weakness is that it is difficult to build trust for buyers, has no experience of long-distance delivery, etc. When these factors cross together, it will present situations that you need to deal with, thereby helping you to plan more accurately.
3. Choose an online sales channel
Online business has many different channels, you need to determine your main sales channel to build a strategy. Current popular channels are:
Website: Designing a sales website is similar to building a physical store, where you will display products, market your brand, and also support optimal online payments.
Social networks, forums: These are popular choices for people with little capital, you just need to set up a Facebook Fanpage or Instagram account, Zalo, etc. and then post for sale, no more costs to create a website.
E-commerce trading floor: If you want to have a professional virtual store but are not qualified to design a website, you can go to exchanges like chotot.vn, sendo.vn, ebay.vn, etc.
4. Define marketing method
The advantage of selling children’s goods online is that you can take advantage of extremely effective online marketing methods. Some of the most popular forms of marketing today include:
Social networks, forums: These are sites with a very large volume of users and overlapping relationships, which are very suitable for spreading information. You can make friends with many people, post sales in groups, create discussions to advertise, … without losing any money, the efficiency is surprisingly high.
Post your offers: You can register for classifieds on websites specializing in this field such as chotot.vn, vatgia.com, nhattao.com, etc.
Run ads: This method is most commonly used if you specialize in selling on Facebook or have your own website. Two popular services are Facebook Ads, Google Adwords.
In addition, you can combine a number of other advertising methods such as Email Marketing, distributing leaflets, pasting posters at children’s hospitals, maternity hospitals, clinics, etc.
5. Sourcing
Based on the market analysis you have done before, you will determine how to import items. To find the best supplier, you should first ask relatives and friends who have experience in the children’s business, then look online.
Please refer to the price list, models of many different suppliers before deciding. Besides the price, you should pay attention to the quality and ability of suppliers to continuously import goods.
6. Hire employees
Many people think that having an online children’s business, there is no need for employees when there is no physical store. But when it comes to practical work, you will find that there are many things that one person cannot handle.
For example, managing a website, or implementing online advertising programs, or simply delivering goods in the city alone, it is very difficult for you to complete all of them well at the same time.
In addition, in the future the scale of the shop is expanded, you will need staff to advise customers or find new sources of customers. So you should have a plan to hire employees right from the start.
7. Shipping
For an online business, shipping is extremely important, which can directly affect your revenue and reputation. Children’s goods have many types of products, from compact like newborn suits to bulky like cribs, cribs or need special preservation such as powdered milk, fresh milk, whey, etc., so when transporting, it must be special. Note, you should classify and then apply different options for each item.
In addition, the choice of delivery unit also needs special attention. If you deliver within the city, will you use a professional service or just hire a motorbike taxi or leave it to an employee? And if the delivery is to a province outside you choose which company’s service, what is the price, is there a return policy? List all the options and then eliminate them gradually until you find the most suitable form of transportation.
8. Payment
Many online shops encounter customers “rubbing” their money because they do not set up a strict payment policy from the beginning. Some popular payment methods are:
- Online payment via bank card, e-wallet
- Use online payment gateways such as nganluong.vn, baokim.vn, paypal.com, etc.
- Bank transfer
- COD (Goods arrive to customers to pay)
The most popular among customers is COD, but this method brings many risks to you, for example, goods arrive but customers do not receive them. If possible, you should integrate many different payment methods for customers to choose from. The policies of exchange, money transfer in advance, etc. should be established in detail and clear from the beginning with the buyer, avoiding disputes later.
9. Management
Do not think that a small-scale online shop does not need strict management, the smaller it is, the easier it is to lose due to subjectivity. When selling online, besides managing the import and export of goods, you also have to control the orders pouring in from the website, Facebook, Zalo, …
Then statistics the products to be delivered to the customer, choose a shipping method, save the buyer’s payment information, etc. A lot of things need you to take care of, so it’s best to use a professional online sales management software. , save you a lot of effort and time.
10. Prepare capital
This is probably the step everyone is most interested in, but it is at the end of the plan, because only when you have identified all the preparation options will you know how much you have to spend and how. You need capital for the following:
- Import goods
- Hiring
- Packaging, business cards, printing,…
- Transport
- Working expenses, risk funds
- Sales website design
- Run ads
- Sales management software
- Hardware devices such as barcode scanners, receipt printers, etc.
Here are 10 essential steps to planning an online babywear business, which you can rely on to come up with strategies that are right for you. Hopefully after this article you will know where to start with a cherished business idea.
