Hey fellows, today is the day to unveil another trump card from our best startup ideas. Setting up an online t-shirt business is so fun and a really great idea. Of course, if you’re on reddit, you might not agree with us but we believe setting up a business like this can bring you great profits and experience. If you want to be an entrepreneur and can’t decide what to sell, start from this one. Even if you don’t make huge name out of it, you would certainly get the best kind of entrepreneurial experience that would help you in your future projects.
So, what are the requirements for the setup?
Requirements for setting up an Online T-Shirt Business
First thing, you would require is an IDEA. You need to think of some cool idea, some cool thing that would get printed on your t-shirts and that you think people would love. It can be anything like quotes, pictures etc but you need to make sure that you have the ‘unique’ factor in your product for that is very necessary for achieving success in this business.
Now, a T-shirt business can be either offline or online. In this article, we’re just going to talk about the online business. We would certainly take offline business in our future posts in our startup ideas series.
So, next thing you would require is a domain name and a good hosting service. Now, you need to setup a store. You can hire a good website developer for the same or setup an ecommerce store through a CMS or use services like Shopify to get started.
Also, you would require a designer who would design the t-shirts, a printer who would provide you with the final product. Both the roles can be played by you but we definitely recommend outsourcing these two. In this way, you would have plenty of time to take care of other important things.
Here are the details that need t o be planned out
Niche & Design: find out what kind of t-shirts you’re going to sell. As we already mentioned, this is important to have an edge in the overcrowded market. If you manage to be unique, you’re gonna be successful. Simple. The designs are important and do we really need to tell you that? Make them unique and creative.
Quality: the next most important thing you would need to take care of is the quality. This should be a top priority in your to-be planned list. Order some samples and check the quality. The higher the quality, the better it is. But be careful for the cost of the t-shirt would rise with the quality. Go for medium quality in the beginning.
Target market: think about your target market. Who would be your customers? Don’t try to think yourself as a Walmart store and plan to sell to huge customer base. Niche is important. Even if you’re gonna sell to people of one city, you’re good to go. If you will try to sell like Walmart, you would definitely fail for as a startup, you won’t be able to compete with big brands. Start from small and then expand your target market.
Values & Mission: we’re talking about business here so it is important to make sure you decide on what values your brand would work on. Write them and realize them. Your mission statement must also be carefully thought about and penned down.
Goals and vision: decide on how many t-shirts you would want to sell in one month. Many businesses begin with no such goals and they’re bound to fail. Make sure you don’t do that. Also, be realistic. Set smart goals and give your best to accomplish them.
Promotion Strategies: Decide which online and offline strategies would you use to promote your business. It is important to use both free and paid online marketing techniques for good results/sales. Use PPC ads, press releases, social networking and blogger outreach to reach out to people through online means. Giveaways and discounts are other good ways to get people notice you.
Finances: Make sure you have a plan to manage your finances and keep a written record of everything that comes in and goes out in terms of money. This would help you a lot at the time when you would be required to pay taxes. It would save you from lots of hassles and stress.
Some important tips for starting an online t-shirt business
- Focus on quality and design.
- Find out your target market and reach out to them, only them.
- Check the competition.
- Manage your expenses wisely.
- Outsource the back end part and focus on marketing and promotion.
- Do good researches before you actually start off with the business.
Useful resources
Here are some useful articles we found over the internet that can help you do more research regarding online t-shirt business and get started.
- How to start a t-shirt business in 24 hours
- How to setup shopify and start a t-shirt business [Video]
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