In 2019, around 1.92 billion people bought goods or services online. Online shopping is huge, and your fashion brand is going to need a website to survive and compete. There are so many options available for you to choose where you want to sell your fashion label online, which can make it easy to find something if you know what you are looking for and need. Here we are going to discuss some of the things that you will need to know when setting up your website.
You Need a Website for Your Fashion Label
The impact of online shopping is not only a big reason to have a website, but selling online is also cheaper than selling in-store. This isn’t to discourage you if you want to open a store, but there are more fees associated with a brick and mortar store than with an online website. The prices will vary depending on the city, state, and country you are in, but to operate a physical store, you will have to pay for: rental space, insurance, utilities, ground maintenance, equipment, fixtures, signage, and interior design -- just for the start up costs. You will spend money on your website for your domain name, platform, web host, sales processing service, and shipping, but these costs run less than operating a store.
Regardless of if you have a brick and mortar store, it’s still a good idea to have a website. You will be able to reach a much wider audience this way.
You have the option to design your own website, sell on a platform, or choose from a ready made template from other platform services. Time, skill, and budget is what will help you narrow down which way to go. Building your own website will take a lot more skill and time to complete, while selling on a platform or picking a template website will take less time but also be a little more costly.
You of course can always switch to a new platform later on as your business grows. For right now examine your goals and resources and decide what the best choice is.
Using Social Media to Sell Your Fashion Brand
Social media is a great place to connect to your target market, advertise, and promote your fashion label. With Facebook and Instagram you can set up a shop and have your customers buy directly from the app.
While using social media to set up a shop is quick and offers helpful resources, like shopping tags, live shopping, and checkout, don't make this your only option for consumers to purchase. You don’t have any control or say over these social platforms. If the site is down, that’s out of your hands. Tag and impression algorithms change a lot. That means that the amount of people you reach and the opportunity for people to find you could change and often, leaving you with a loss of potential new customers.
DMs for sales and transactions are not the best option if you’re using social media. There are a lot of people who are not comfortable purchasing this way. Not to mention people can be from different time zones then you and if you don’t reply to their DM soon, you could lose out on sales.
Using only social media for your website is also less professional, so it would be better to have a website, or a website in addition to your social media shops.
Options for Building Your Website
There are many platforms that you can use to sell your fashion label. Etsy, ebay, Amazon, and Shoppify are examples of popular platforms to sell on. You will need to do your research to find out what works for you and your budget as there are different fees associated.
You can also use a platform service to build your own website. Common ones to use are Wix and Squarespace, but there are more options available. With whatever platform service you pick, each will offer different pricing packages with different features. Find the price point that works for you and decide which features you want.
If you know how to code, or know someone to help you, you can also create your own website. It takes more time and work to build, but this gives you full customization ability as opposed to using template websites.
Which eCommerce Payment Method Should You Use?
Another thing to consider is what payment option you will offer on your website. You can offer more than one checkout option on your website, but you want to think about what works best for your site.
Make sure that check out is easy for your customers to use, otherwise, if it’s too complicated and difficult, they will give up and not go through with the purchase. Before you pick your checkout ask yourself:
- What are the fees?
- Is it easy for your customers to use?
- How soon will you receive your payments?
- Do you want to offer payment installments?
- Will you ship internationally? If you are, you are going to need a payment option that works for those outside of your country.
A few choices available to you are: PayPal, PayCafe, Stripe, Skrill, Authorize.net, and Square:
- PayPal requires a flat fee of 2.90% with $0.30 per transaction fee.
- Square has a flat fee of 2.90% with $0.30 per transaction fee.
- Authorize.net also has a flat fee of 2.90% with $0.30 per transaction fee.
- Stripe is another one with a flat fee of 2.90% with $0.30 per transaction fee.
- PayCafe doesn't show a clear fee without signing up, but mentions transaction fees as low as 2.49%.
- Skrill charges fees based on your monthly sales. The higher your sales, with a $0.29 transaction fee, the less your flat rate will be.
With whatever payment option you pick, make sure that it is secure for both you and your customers.
What Content to Include on Your Website
When setting up your website, whether you design your own or use a platform, you will need to include certain things in addition to your home and product page. Your website will need a support/contact page, terms and conditions, privacy policy, and an about page. You will also need to include a size chart somewhere on your site, so consumers can find the right size for their bodies.
A website will help establish your brand and grow your business. Look and research at what is affordable, fits your budget, and has the features you want. Once everything is in place, you will be able to launch and promote your website.
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