This guide, designed to help entrepreneurs who want to open a baby clothing store quickly, will help you start your own business.
Baby clothing accounts for one of the largest shares of sales in the textile industry . It’s known as a sector where consumers can’t afford to haggle. Therefore, opening a baby clothing store is among the most profitable business ideas. In this sector, customers tend to buy products they like without haggling. Moreover, the constantly changing product sizes each year can encourage continuous shopping from the same store. Turkey’s position as a producer in this sector also allows you to export online through your own store. If you want to open a baby clothing store and be successful, we will provide you with all the information you need in this article.
When you do research online, you can see many companies that have gone from being small baby clothing stores to becoming big brands. Baby clothing is bought both as a gift and by parents to show their love for their children. Of course, it’s not just clothing; many other products such as bottles, formula, bibs, toys, and strollers are also sold in these types of stores.
In Turkey, prominent brands in the baby clothing sector include Civil, E-bebek, Babymall, Minicity, Joker, Havuç, and Panço . These brands also sell products for mothers. Now, to open a baby clothing store and compete with these brands, you need a specific strategy. Selling products at low prices alone won’t be enough to get you out of this competition. If you leverage your existing advantages, you can stand out from these brands and succeed.
The biggest advantage in the baby clothing sector is that Türkiye is a manufacturer. You can have products made in your desired style and design by a workshop that produces these types of products. Or you can personalize baby clothing products with a sublimation printing machine. You can check out Valentine’s Day baby onesie-style products on Trendyol. Onesie-style clothing that costs 5 TL is sold for 50 TL after being printed.
Large department stores are generally located in district centers. However, there’s no rule that baby clothing products can only be sold in district centers or shopping malls. On the contrary, opening a shop on a neighborhood street where there is less competition and lower rents would be more advantageous. Especially in Istanbul, many neighborhoods in districts have populations as dense as the district center. However, you won’t see many clothing stores of this type in such neighborhoods.
The first step before starting this business is to browse baby clothing stores in the Zeytinburnu, Merter, and Güngören textile centers. Even if you live in a different city, you need to come to Istanbul to buy supplies. Many of the products here are not available in large department stores. To compete with large baby clothing stores , you should purchase export products from here and increase your product variety.
Furthermore, to open a baby clothing store and make money, you need to establish your presence in the online sales sector. Thousands of baby and mother products with diverse designs are available on Trendyol and Instagram. You can increase your sales figures both through in-house sales and through these platforms. As your follower base grows, the amount of sales you make will also increase. In fact, many sellers’ online store revenue exceeds their physical store revenue.
There are two options for opening a baby clothing store: either take over an existing one or open a new one from scratch. Taking over a store might be a sensible option depending on the location. However, you absolutely must ensure it’s doing well. It’s not advisable to buy a store with low turnover thinking you can do it differently or make it successful. This business is location- and product-based. For example, you might be able to do business in Bağcılar and Esenyurt, where there are many babies, but it would be very difficult to do business in a neighborhood like Beşiktaş, where the birth rate is low.
Opening a baby clothing store from scratch is the most logical decision you can make. It will be cheaper to start from the ground up than to take over an existing business. Of course, it’s a bit risky. However, if you make the right moves, the risk factor won’t matter.
Now let’s move on to the steps of how to open a baby clothing store.
How to Open a Baby Clothing Store
First and foremost, the capital you invest will determine your business model. The location, size, and product quality of your baby clothing store all depend entirely on your investment. If you open a shop with low capital, you won’t be able to sell strollers that cost 1000 TL. In other words, the more capital you allocate, the higher your profit margin will be.
After determining the capital, you should create a business plan. A business plan is essential in this sector to avoid losses and proceed without errors. Before making any expenditures, write down everything you need to do, step by step. Also, write down your goals related to the baby clothing sector. When you start implementing, stick to what you’ve written and don’t deviate from the plan.
After developing your business plan, you’re now ready to rent a shop. Choose a shop of at least 60 m² on a main street or a side street. A large shop is important for displaying your products. Since it’s a large market with a wide variety of goods, you won’t lose customers by simply displaying too many items. Additionally, affordable shop rent will be a significant advantage.
Obtain your tax registration certificate after renting the shop. Hiring an accountant for this will ensure the entire process takes only two days.
After obtaining your tax registration certificate, begin constructing shelving and purchasing fixtures. Baby clothing stores typically use hanger-style shelving, which is often sold ready-made. Also, don’t forget to use mannequins for your display window. Purchasing 4-5 mannequins to showcase your products will help attract customers.
Once the store’s interior and exterior design is complete, you can purchase the products and place them in your business. You can identify the baby clothing products you will purchase wholesale during the business plan creation phase. You can find hundreds of wholesalers for these types of products in Zeytinburnu, Merter, and Güngören.
After placing the products, it’s time for the opening. Baby clothing retailing is a sector that demands a spectacular opening. You need to announce the opening of a store to the customers in your area. You can do this by hiring an event company and using balloons and decorations. You can also offer special discounts for the opening day.
You’ve opened and your store is now open. Now it’s time to communicate with customers. Even if the products you sell aren’t available anywhere else, this business always depends on being friendly and having good customer communication skills. In this sector, the customer base can be a bit finicky. Therefore, you should invest more in communication channels.
Start operating on Instagram and online sales sites from the day you open. Online sites represent a huge market for baby clothing. Trying to get a share of this market could make you a major player in the future.
Cost of Opening a Baby Clothing Store
The cost of opening a baby clothing store that will generate revenue in this sector ranges from approximately 60,000 TL to 250,000 TL. You can increase the upper limit of the cost. You can open a store in shopping malls or district centers with higher costs. However, it is very difficult to open a store for less than 60,000 TL. Even if you manage to do so, the quality of the store will decrease, and the product variety will be reduced.
In this sector, customers often tend to buy products other than what they initially intended. For example, you might see many customers who come to the store to buy baby clothes but leave with toy sets, baby bottles, strollers, and other similar items. Emotional factors play a major role in these types of purchases. The customer loses control over their spending and tends to increase the amount they spend.
Therefore, this is a sector where the more capital you invest, the more you will earn. In this sector, where brands and sizes are sold in series, investing an average of 100,000 TL will give you the opportunity to achieve good turnover figures due to the variety of products.