Starting a garment shop/business in India can be profitable because the Indian textile industry is one of the world’s largest and is significantly growing every year. Starting a garment business in India is a wise decision but can be daunting. With the right funding, strategy, and marketing your garment business can succeed. Do you want to know how to start a garment business in India? Here is an all-inclusive guide.
A Guide on How to Start a Garment Shop
Here are some points you need to look at before starting a garments business in India and it will help you out with SWAT analysis also.
Conduct a Detailed Market Research
The first thing to do is to conduct a thorough market research. Identify the latest market trends, needs of the potential customers, popular brands in demand, and the competitors in your locality. This is important to determine the type of clothes you should deal with. You will also have an idea of the price preferred by the buyers and other details about your target market.
Choose the Type of Garment Shop
There are many types of clothing shops including shops exclusively for kids, men, women, lingerie, sportswear, plus size wear, and wedding costumes. Decide what type of clothing you are going to focus on based on the research you conducted. It is better to start with one or two and then add more products after a few years.
Develop a Clear Business Plan
Your business plan should include business goals, marketing strategy, pricing strategy, legal requirements, and others. The garment shop business plan in India consists of several steps. Planning is important to make you stay focused and on track to attain your business goals.
Arrange Funds
Starting a garment shop requires money, no matter how small it is. Money is the blood of your business. You need funds to meet the initial investment in stock, furniture, advertising, and many more. Formulate a budget and determine the funds needed to start your business. There are numerous options for your financial funding like banks, financial institutions, government loans, and private investors. Choose one to suit your requirements after comparing the interest rates, duration of loan, mortgage, and others. Try to limit the initial investment as much as possible to reduce your financial burden in the initial stages.
Get all Required Licenses and Permissions
A few licenses and registrations are mandatory including
- GST registration
- PAN or Pan Account Number
- TAN or Tax Account Number
- Trade license under the local Shops and Establishment Registration
- Registration under Registrar of Companies
- Trademark Registration if you have any and
- Other essential registrations and licenses from local bodies if any
Suppliers and customers will avoid your shop if you don’t have GST registration. It is always better to know all legal requirements and stick to them.
Choose the right location
Location will have a significant impact on the success of your business. So, it is important to choose a location that will allow your garment business to flourish and grow.
- Your target customers also play an important role in choosing the location. Are you planning to sell expensive luxury clothing? If so, you should open your shop in an elite location that has an upper-class population. The rent will be higher but it is worth the extra money spent because you will have a great business when you are near your target customers.
- If you are dealing with budget clothing, you should choose a place that is easily accessible to the people of the area like the marketplace or bus stand, or railway station. This will make people aware of your garment shop as soon as you open it. Moreover, you should also make sure that public transport is well-served in the area.
- You should also consider the neighboring shops. For example, if you are planning to open an exclusive boutique, you should open it near a high-end salon or beauty parlor. This will attract your potential customers.
- The rent or the lease costs should fit your budget. Stepping beyond your budget will affect your other plans.
- If you want to maintain a healthy work-life balance, you should select a location that is reasonably close to your home.
- Source the products
Where are you planning to get the products for your shop? Are you planning to get from local manufacturers or from cities like Surat famous for textiles? Compare prices and evaluate the pros and cons. You should also consider the fashion trends of the locality before sourcing the products. One important thing to remember is you should never compromise with quality. If the quality is not good, your customers will not visit you again and they will not recommend your shop to others. Get the best quality products that are in demand in your area.
Plan the Infrastructure
Spacing, display, and lighting are important when you plan the infrastructure. Well-lit products grab the attention of customers. Select the right lighting fixtures and fix them in the right places to make the shop appealing and cheerful.
A well-arranged display attracts buyers, makes them check it, and influences them to buy it. Make optimum use of the available space and arrange the merchandise neatly.
Hire Knowledgeable Staff
Good customer service is one of the vital keys to the success of a garment shop. The knowledgeable, polite, pleasant, and friendly staff will make a huge difference in today’s competitive garment business. So, you should hire the best sales staff. Moreover, you need the right people to manage inventory, and accounts, and perform other administrative work. Hire the best staff who will be a big plus to your business.
Establish a Brand and Promote it.
Develop a unique memorable brand identity that will set you apart from your competitors. Use social media marketing, email marketing, and other effective means to promote your brand, Brand recognition is significant for the success of your garment shop.
Starting a garment shop in India needs intensive research, careful planning, and proper execution. It can seem to be a daunting task but the above-mentioned tips on how to start a garment shop will be of great help to you. If you want your business to stand out in the crowd, you should be dedicated and ready to put up your maximum efforts.