Inventory for my clothing retail shop

Entrepreneur

About Me

I am a hardworking mother of a seven month old beautiful girl. My family is composed of 6 siblings amongst which I am the second born. I have a diploma in Hospitality and since my baby came I had promised myself to revive further my clothes vending business and to open up new outlets and expand my profit making business. I decided to raise capital and put up two shops in which the yet-to-be-opened one needs full stock of children's clothes. I do voluntary work during my free time as a hobby and even visit children's homes and prisons. Besides, I am God-fearing and care so much for the little ones. It’s my plan to ship my stock from the USA, Britain and accessories like ornaments from Dubai. I have projected sales of over USD15, 000 after this year as I surpassed the half mark a month ago.

My Business

My business begun two years ago after my school fees became a burden to myself and my parents. Two months later I maneuvered my ways to raise capital and put up a small kiosk selling second hand clothes. 6 months later I partnered with a friend who after a while got a scholarship and left me with the profits as a souvenir for our struggles. 365 days later, I had posted a profit of thrice my accumulative capital. I took 70% of the returns and invested it in putting up 2 new shops. One is stocked fully and the other yet to be opened since I have run out of cash to purchase stock.

The first step I did about starting a clothing business is deciding what types of clothing to sell. It is more beneficial to sell a particular niche of clothing, such as children's clothes vs. clothes in general. Customers tend to respect the expertise of specialists when shopping for specific clothing. Sell clothing items in which you are interested or have product knowledge. So I decided to sell children's clothes in my yet-to-be-opened new shop. The market niche I am in has 2 maternity homes in a circumference of a kilometre and this is a residential area. My profits shot up owing to the fact that we marketed our products door to door, through print media and social media. The only risk is that competition is taking a different course whereby imported goods have more in flow and foreigners have based themselves around the vicinity after a new mall was opened near our market zone. So most of the loan, about 805 will be to purchase stock and spin the business to higher profits by the time the new entrants establish themselves.

Loan Proposal

I will purchase inventory for my baby boutique and open up new outlets and jobs. This will fulfill my wish to import my stock form the USA, Britain and Dubai in a span of 365days. 70% of the funds(USD100) will be channelled into buying warm clothing for kids from age 0 to 7 years old. 20% will for purchasing toys and the rest for miscellaneous expenses like transport, power etc. I believe after all goes well by the end of the cold season, I will have enough savings and profit to expand my business with new stock composed of imported baby's clothes, prams, cots, cat seats baby's baths and so on.

I have developed a plan to fund my baby store so as to reveal for such expenses as the leasing of retail space, baby-related merchandise, staff, taxes and office equipment. As I have already decorated the store in a unique, colourful style that will appeal to customers shopping for baby merchandise, this has attracted more customers. This is supported by the fact that my store is located in a high-traffic, high-visibility area, near a shopping mall.

I have been marketing my new baby store specifically to those who may be purchasing baby items. My target market includes women who are expecting or have infants, new or soon-to-be grandmothers, godmothers and people purchasing gifts for baby showers or first birthdays. I have placed ads in local publications frequently read by women and put flyers and brochures in cafes, gyms, yoga studios, child care centres and other places where women gather. Offering coupons and discounts to draw in first-time customers has been a norm.

The store has Internet presence and has an additional cost of website design, maintenance and hosting. I have always funded my business with personal capital, loans from family or friends, bank loans or funding from other investors such as venture capitalists.

I obtained a vendor's license through the county administration office and named my business. Besides, I have found a manufacturer supplier for my clothing products.

I have also called several wholesalers and manufactures to find out which ones sell the products I plan to market. I have engaged the wholesalers and manufacturers if they will drop-ship products, which means they will ship products to my customers. I fell for the drop shipping option as it will eliminate large investments in clothing inventory. This is how I selected the wholesaler that provides me with the lowest unit cost on clothing.
I also have a bank account which is well managed.

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