How to make money from a clothing website

The challenge with clothing websites is that people generally prefer to try on clothing before purchasing.  However plenty of websites are starting to make plenty of money selling clothes online.

How big is the online clothing Market?

Well here's the thing because the online clothing market has grown more than 150% despite the recession, reaching sales of £4.8 billion last year.  Confirming that something that many of us though might never take off has taken off and  online clothes shopping has come of age .  Let's take a look at why clothing sales online may be taking off.  

Firstly any potential business looking to be succesful at selling clothing online should be warned that the return rate is much higher online than it is on the high street.  Figures reported are that one in three items are returned online as oppossed to one in five sales on the high street.  High amount of returns on the high street

Have the Advancements in the Internet been the answer to the recent increase in online clothing sales

Back in '98 when I built my first clothing website the Internet was hampered by a slow connection and low quality displays.   Many of the advancements in how clothing is presented revolve around this.   

* 360 degrees views of clothing using video or JavaScript displays.  

* Über big images that load in the background.

* live feeds and recorded fashion show / cat walks to view.

Case Studies

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Fits.me - Providing a virtual dressing room solution.  This company go a bit further than the normal handful of angles; but have photographs of all neck sizes & weights to show what the item would look like on you.  I believe that they use a robotic dummy that can inflate and reduce its size; so they can take all the images needed.    There's no prices on here, I'd have thought setting up your products on here may well be too much for Independent retailers; as even with the help of a robotic dummy there's a huge amount of leg work to be done.

Ann's Cottage Surf Shop

Quite easily the shop I've spent most of my money at over the years ( except for Grocery shopping ).  Oddly I've only ever made 1 online purchase from them.  So it's good to note that it's not only direct online sales that you'll be profiting.  The reason I'd like to highlight Ann's Cottage is because I know they're becoming a profitable online store and it's down to persistence and fighting from all fronts.  In fact the list of all the things they are doing represents a good checklist for others that want to be successful.

* Regular statuses on all major social networks.

* Competions and involvement through social network stream.

* Regular blogging.

* Regular Sales and promotions

* a product range and front page that reflects the season.

* A newsletter and incentives to join the newsletter.

* Offline promotion and presence in the real world and not just online
*Website address on every promotional item 

MagicSeaWeed.com

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One of the leading surf clothing websites, with one of the biggest turnovers.  Despite this come the last few days before Christmas they were sending out daily newsletters with offers and 'how days left' for online shopping.  You'll probably familiar with this tactic as it was used by pretty much all the main online companies and despite the fact they had the air of desperation; it's probably true to say all the companies using this technique are probably the companies doing the best online. 

Another technique used by Magic Seaweed is there private member Sale offers.  Here they list offers to members only.  Making you feel that this is a limited offer - only to those who follow there site.  From what I here they have been doing well from this technique.

Conclusion

The fact is there's sales out there to be made.  However those that are doing well have put in the effort and have been and are persistent, relentless and creative with the way they approach selling clothes online.  Don't be affraid to be try a gimmick or two as well as making sure all the standard social media, email, sales and blogging methods are being ticked as well.