Beautiful Maternity cloths have become trending with top
designers creating amazing outfits. The long drab Victorian style outfits are
long gone. Corporate women and celebrates have contributed to the increased
interest in maternity cloths.
Millions of maternity cloths are sold yearly grossing
several billion dollars worldwide. An entrepreneur
interested in designing or selling maternity cloths has a huge market to sell
the wears.
There are two ways to enter the industry and make some
money. The first way is to go into retail or wholesale by buying ready-made
maternity cloths.
An entrepreneur with creative skills can design and sew
his own maternity gowns. Designing, manufacturing and selling the profit is
more profitable than buying and selling. The reason is because you can brand
your outfits with lots of profit making potential.
Startup cost for a small operation costs $2,000-$10,000.
You can operate the business from home or a shop environment. Other advantages
are part time and full time application including franchising opportunities.
Make your maternity store more dynamic by offering other
products such as maternity books, cushions, and baby items. Stock your store
with different sizes of maternity cloths to accommodate the fast changing size
of the pregnant mother.
Things to consider in the maternity cloths business are
ready to wear outfits and cut and sew. Here are a few ideas on how to start
your maternity cloths business.
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| image source-pixabay.com |
How
to Start a Maternity Store
Starting a store requires lots of planning, funding and
knowledge of the maternity market. The planning involves setting up the store,
inventory, location and staff.
Other things to think about are registering your business
name, trading license and tax. Register you business either as a one man
business or limited liability company and select a nice business name.
Staff
You can run the business on your own or hire staff. A
standard store has two sales girls, cleaner, cashier and security guard.
To balance the books use an accounting firm or do the
books yourself. Other things you might need are a bus and a driver. If you want
to produce the cloths you need a workshop space, tailors and a designer.
Funding
If you decide to sew your own maternity cloths you need
adequate funds for the equipment, staffing marketing and property leasing. The
bigger your store the more money you need to run the operation.
Source funds from micro finance banks, join cooperative
societies that offer their members soft loans. Try target savings or reach out
to a core investor.
A partnership arrangement also works or seeks funds from
family and friends for support.
Location
The location for your enterprise is very important for it
to prosper. Since your customer base is in residential areas locate the store
in your neighborhood.
A neighborhood with lots of newly married young couples
is ideal. Other locations are within a
popular shopping mall. Design your store for easy accessibility by providing
wide aisles for easy navigation.
Equipment
If you are buying and selling maternity gowns the major
equipment are the display shelves or hangers. Making maternity cloths require
sewing machines, fabrics, threads and patterns. Other equipment needed to sew
the gowns is scissors, needles and designs templates.
Types
of Maternity Cloths
There are different types of maternity cloths you can
offer your customers. You can design business attire maternity cloths for
working mothers in the corporate world.
Cloths suitable for different occasions like weddings,
black tie events or even seminar/symposiums. More than ever pregnant women are
more active and hands-on than in the past.
Other cloths to offer are maternity blouses, maternity
pants, slacks, and jeans. Others to consider are maternity tee-shirts,
maternity skirts and maternity gowns.
Make sure your outfits are trendy, contemporary and
beautiful. The price should be affordable because during pregnancy women have a
lot of inventory to purchase apart from your outfits.
Add other items such as baby cloths, toys like rattles,
bibs, hats, nice bags and other stylish fashion in a designated section of the
store.
Build
a Website
Building a website for your business is very important
because it will increase your sales exponentially. A website offers 24 hours
sales outlet to your immediate demography and the world.
Make sure your site is easy to navigate with lots of
useful information. Highlight the cloths and designs in your store including
description and sizes.
Add a shopping cart for online payments such as PayPal
and debit/credit cards. Integrate an effective shipment method to reach paying customers.
Marketing
The demands for maternity cloths are high and the
business runs throughout the year. This is because women carry their pregnancy
for nine months and deliver throughout the year.
You need to advertise your new business to attract customers
interesting in your cloths. Use lots of discounts, free promotions and bundle
sales to attract buyers.
Create a nice play area for kids to have fun in a lovely
and safe environment. If you create a play area you need security to watch over
the kids while the mothers shop.
If you have enough money designs a line of maternity
cloths and brand. A good outlet for your cloths is departmental stores and
cloths retailers.
Make sure both the outside and inside of your boutique is
beautiful and inviting.
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