How to create a website to sell clothes

If you’re looking for a way to make money from home by selling your clothing and accessories, starting an online clothing store is an excellent place. But where can you find the best eCommerce platforms that allow you to do just that? And what kind of technical skills do you need to get started? I’m going to answer all these questions for you right now.

There is a lot of content out there about how to build a website. But since we are going to create a website to sell clothes and all the specific needs this genre of the website has, this guide should help you get through the process much more smoothly, save you some time and trouble, and help you avoid making rookie mistakes.

Prerequisites to starting an online clothing store?

The most crucial step is identifying the business model you want to follow. Given are the most common clothing business models that you can follow.

1. Common Business models for online clothing stores

Own manufacturing and online clothing brand

If you have manufacturing facilities, then it’s easier for you to create an online store for clothing sales. You have complete control over the products, prices, and designs. You can also keep a close eye on quality control and customer satisfaction.

This is the best option if you want to create a long-term business model that will earn money from selling clothes over the years. The only shortcoming is that it requires more capital investment.

Marketplace brand for clothing sellers

In this case, you will sell other people’s products through your site or app. You don’t need any inventory because all orders are fulfilled by third-party vendors such as AliExpress or eBay. However, there are two main disadvantages: low margins and high competition (especially in fashion).

Hybrid (Marketplace+ own Brand)

The third option combines the best of both worlds — you get all the benefits of selling someone else’s goods while still having some control over pricing and quality.

Once you have a clear idea of your goal, it’s time to start planning the logistics. It would be best to decide whether you want a Dropshipping or inventory-based approach for your store.

Let’s assume you want to go with the first option, ” Own manufacturing and Online clothing brand”. Then you need to consider the following points before creating your clothing website.

2. Your product range

Do pre-market research to determine which products are high in demand and which product line will suit your customer’s demographic needs. It’ll be ideal for niching down to one clothing line instead of offering a complete product range.

3. Your customer bases

Identify your target audience’s choice of color cuts and fabrics. Suppose your target audience is 18-40. Then consider their fashion sense and comfort zone.

4. Competitive advantage

Find your competitors and develop a unique value proportion different from your competitor’s product line.

5. Demand and supply

Check the demand and supply of your products. I tried a unique way to test the products before launching them fully. I developed a one-page Weebly site with a download/buy now button to check if anyone comes to the page to purchase the product. It’s pretty helpful in identifying your target audience;

6. Express some philosophy

Let the people express themselves through your brand. Become a symbol that stands for something such as Christianity, Americanism, Africanism, or any identity that moves with the masses. Stand for something relevant but unique

Now let’s move to our next part, where we’ll let you know how to create a website to sell clothes online.

Step-by-Step guide: How to create a website to sell clothes online

If you’re looking to start an online clothing store, the first thing you need to do is choose an eCommerce platform. This will be the backbone of your business and can make or break your success.

Step 1: Which eCommerce platform is best for selling cloth online?

If you are new to the world of e-commerce, there are a few things that you need to know before starting your clothing website. First and foremost is your choice of platform and its features. Suppose you have never been involved in any e-commerce business before.

You should use a platform with all the basic features needed to launch a successful online business, such as Shopify or BigCommerce.

These platforms can be used by anyone who wants to sell their products online without technical knowledge! But if you already have some experience building websites or want more control over your site’s design, then WordPress would be a better option because it allows you to customize almost anything on your site!

Create a Shopify clothing store

Shopify is an excellent platform for selling clothes online. It’s easy to use and has a large selection of themes to choose from. The downside is that it’s more expensive than other eCommerce platforms. Also, there’s a per-transaction fee alongside the per-month fee. Moreover, the blogging feature isn’t that great for selling online.

Following are the perks of using Shopify as your eCommerce platform.

Free hosting
100s of professionally designed themes
Drag and drop website page builder to help you create your unique voice of a brand
Built-in SEO options
Built-in payment system with
Inventory, product data collection management tools
Built-in marketing tools to sell on Facebook, Instagram

Price:

Plans start from $9, $29, and $79 per month.

Bigcommerce clothing websites

Bigcommerce is like a fine wine, it has been around for ages, and it’s still going strong. The company has many customers who are happy with its service. It’s similar to Shopify in features and price, but it doesn’t have as many themes to choose from. Its sales features are more versatile than the Shopify ones but have a learning curve.

Modern and easy-to-use interface
Built-in Hosting option
Built-in sales features, no relay on third-party software
No transaction fees

Price:

Bigcommerce pricing plans are $29.95, $79.95, $299.95 per month

Wix clothing website

Wix is another popular option for those who want an easy way to set up an eCommerce store. It doesn’t have as much functionality as Shopify or Bigcommerce, but it’s great value for money if you want something basic.

Tons of eCommerce themes to start over
Free hosting
Global shipping and tax collecting tools
Fully mobile-optimized websites
Customizable photo galleries

Pricing

Price: $23, $27, $49 per month

Create a clothing website with WordPress and WooCommerce

When it comes to website-building platforms, WordPress is pretty much the best of all worlds. It’s open source, so you can use it on any site, from a blog to an online apparel shop. You can download free or paid themes from the WordPress marketplace or hire someone to create your custom theme (which could cost upwards of $2,000).

The Woocommerce plugin is free to install
Start with little to no investment
Multiple payment gateways
Get options for free shipping
Complete inventory management system integrated

You can go with any of the platforms mentioned above and start with any of these free trial plans.

Step 2: Choose a custom domain name

A custom domain name is essential for any serious business website. It gives you more control over your branding, helps people find your website more efficiently, and improves your search engine rankings.

The first step to creating a website to sell clothes is choosing a custom domain name for your website. You might already know what you want to name your site, but if not, it’s essential to think carefully about the name you choose.

Web Hosting Services

A good domain name should be short, catchy, and easy to remember. It should also represent your business well. If you own a clothing store, consider using your brand’s name as part of your domain name. For example, if your brand is called “Anne’s Clothes,” you could use Anneclothes.com as your website address — or something similar.

SiteGround and Bluehost are reliable web hosts where you can purchase a domain name and get web hosting.

Step3: choose an apparel theme

Choosing a suitable template for your online store is crucial in creating your store. While hundreds of free templates are available online, not all will suit your business. Some templates are perfect for specific niches but not for others.

For example, if you’re selling men’s clothing, a template designed for women’s clothing won’t work well for you. It would be best to consider how many pages your store will have and how much customization you want to do with your design. Here are some things to think about when choosing a template:

How many pages does it have?
How customizable is it? Can I add my images and text? Can I change the colors and fonts?
Can I add social media links or other functionality like shopping carts and wish lists?
Does it come with any built-in SEO features (i.e., SEO headers)? Do I need to hire an SEO expert to ensure my site ranks high on Google?

Many templates are available in Shopify, Wix, Bigcommerce, and WooCommerce. This is a great way to start quickly if you don’t have the right skill or time to design your store.

If you’re bootstrapping it, want to save money, or are unsure what kind of site you want, it’s best to start with one of these templates.

Shopify has some excellent templates that are easy to customize but very expensive – $79 for the smallest one-page template!

Wix has many free templates that look good and allow easy customization, but they’re not as nice as Shopify’s templates.

Bigcommerce lets you choose from several free themes or buy premium themes for $99-$199. These come with more features and design options than Shopify does.

Choose a template with a minimal design that can be customized easily. If you’re not tech-savvy or don’t have time to spend on small changes and tweaks, then choose a template that has pre-built options that you can select from. This will save time and money in the long run.

WooCommerce is different because it’s built on WordPress and uses the same customization options as WordPress websites. However, it also has a collection of themes to make your site.

Step 4: Add products to your store

Like any good eCommerce site, your storefront should reflect what you sell.

When you’ve got your store’s look and feel, it’s time to add the goods. For a good start, look at your competitors’ product pages and see what they’re doing well. There are some essential things to remember when creating a product page.

Do they have a section for their bestsellers?
Are your customers able to sort products by price, bestselling, and featured?
Can your customers filter products by color, material, and brand?
How do the competitors display their products in the grid or list format?
How many products are displayed per page?
How have your competitors grouped their products?

These questions will help inform how you design your product pages. Look into how they use images and text on their pages—is it all over the place, or do they keep it simple? What kind of layout do they use for their descriptions? And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from Amazon and every other online retailer, don’t forget the reviews!

Step 5: Connect with a payment processor

You’ve built your website; now it’s time to connect it to a payment processor. Here are three reasons why you should provide a seamless payment option to your customers:

It makes it easier for them to purchase what they want
You can save money in fees by providing a more streamlined checkout process
It makes the entire shopping experience less frustrating

Shopify is one of the best platforms for selling clothes online because it supports over 100 different payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay. Moreover, Shopify has its own “Shopify Payment” feature that cojoins with Stripe.

Wix also has its built-in payment system “Wix,” and BigCommerce offers multiple payment gateways that can be used with their platform. For example, Wix supports PayPal and Google Pay, while BigCommerce only supports PayPal at this time.

WooCommerce also offers several payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, and others such as Authorize.Net and 2Checkout (both require additional subscriptions).

You have to market your online store if you want people to buy from it. And here’s the thing: there are many different ways to market your clothing brand online. We’ve gathered five of our favorites for you here!

Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are great ways to connect with customers interested in similar products as yours (or at least who like shopping). You can post photos of new designs or other developments in your line, offer discounts or coupons, and engage with followers who leave comments.

Use influencers to get the word out about your brand

Find influencers who match your target demographic. The more in line with your brand, the better. Finding someone famous in your niche, with a large following, and willing to promote your product would be best.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is optimizing your website, so it appears on search results for specific keywords. You can hire any SEO expert to do this for you or do it yourself – but either way, you must get started early!

Blogging Your Products

It’s not that easy to buy your way into the hearts and minds of your customers. You can win them over by creating content that they find valuable, interesting, and engaging. About it! Make sure all your posts are optimized for SEO, include links to your store at the end of each post, and make sure they’re shareable on social media!

Affiliate Marketing

This is another excellent way to get people interested in what you’re selling without having them leave their homes! Sign up with an affiliate program like Amazon Affiliates and then choose products from those companies that relate closely enough with what you offer at your store (or create affiliate links yourself). Any time someone buys through those links.

Get some reviews of your product

You can provide reviews of your clothes on other websites and blogs or ask other bloggers if they would like to do a review of your clothes for their readers.

Final words

While you certainly can’t expect to become an overnight trendsetter with a website, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to sell your clothes online. Just follow the steps we’ve outlined here, and in no time, you’ll have a new way to build your brand that’s easier and quicker than ever before. Then the only question will be: what’s your next move?

How to create a website to sell clothes

Prerequisites to starting an online clothing store?