If there’s one thing in fashion that never goes out of style, it’s handbags. Whether to complement an outfit or simply to carry needed day-to-day items, purses are a must-have. If it is your dream to sell handbags online, you’re in luck.
Every year, more and more varieties are coming into the market and buyers have a wide range of choices for handbags. Therefore, this is a great industry to start your eCommerce business.
You’ll be able to offer your customers a unique shopping experience and build a successful business. Here is all you need to know about starting your very own handbags and purse business online in 2021.
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Steps for how to sell handbags online
A little more thought and research are needed before you begin collecting your products for sale. First, you need a foundation that will make sure your business is stable enough. These five steps will help you prepare for online sales success.
- Choose a niche
- Create your business plan
- Select an eCommerce Platform
- Build a product list
- Packaging and Shipping
1. Choose a niche
Deciding to sell handbags opens up a wide market with lots of possibilities. There are designer handbags, travel handbags, evening clutches, and so on. Instead of selling every kind of handbag, focusing on one niche will help you gain a better target audience. You can narrow it down to something that is based on your personal interests or business goals.
Choosing a purse for an evening party can be a hard task for every one of us; niching down for a handbag business is going to be really confusing! Here are three points to keep in mind, when considering your options:
- Since handbags have both utility and fashion purposes, you can focus on either one of these or even both. For example, you can sell a collection of designer clutches only. Offering a range of travel handbags that are for practical use is also a good option
- Choose a niche that you are passionate about. Selling something you really love is more likely to bring in better results. Do you have a unique print design in mind? Are you an eco-friendly person who wants to sell eco-friendly bags?
- Be as unique as possible to stand out from the crowd. If your brand is the same as hundreds of others, you will get overshadowed by them. Observe the handbag market and ask yourself where you can position yourself as an authority. There may be many retailers who sell evening clutches, but very few who sell quality work bags or uni-sex satchels.
- Make sure the niche of your choice has earning potential. You may like the idea of selling designer purses, but countless brands already sell in this area, so your climb can be tough in this area.
2. Create a business plan
A good business plan goes beyond “sell things, make money”. Selling handbags can be handled in different ways, so you need to ask yourself how you’re going to start and what model will allow you to grow the fastest way within your budget. In the eCommerce handbag retail world, there are three main choices:
- Drop shipping: You can start a drop-shipping handbag business with very little investment. In this business model, you don’t keep any inventory in stock, but instead, directly ship the handbags from the supplier to the customer. You can access Many drop shippers work with sites like Alibaba and Doba to have access to low-cost products. Another option is to directly contact a local manufacturer who distributes handbags to see if they can offer drop shipping services.
- Custom cut and sew: As the name implies it refers to companies that design and sell their own products. This is a costly plan and requires raw materials for the bags, manufacturing space, and workforce. But, you can build a custom cut and sew business on a small scale by yourself if you have the required skills. It can be the best opportunity to launch a unique handbag brand.
- Private label: You can partner with an established manufacturer and sell handbags under your own label. Private label business offers more flexibility in batch size and sampling
Related read: 5 Top Business Plan Templates You Need to Get Started
3. Select your eCommerce platform
Now that you are ready to sell handbags online, it’s time to reach your customers. Your handbags and purses should be virtually visible to your customers. For this, there are two main options – sell on a marketplace like Amazon or Flipkart, or set up your own handbag eCommerce website.
- Selling on marketplaces is perhaps the easiest option. It has many perks such as great discounts, more access to a large user-base, greater trust, low-cost marketing, and search-ability. The disadvantage is that such platforms charge a commission on every sale, which could go up to 15-20%.
- Your second option is to set up your own handbag eCommerce website. And, yes, you don’t need to have any technical knowledge to create a website on your own. To start an online store, all you have to do is register on a platform like Instamojo and upload your product catalog.
Related Read: Marketplace v/s Online Store
4. List Your Products
Once you select your eCommerce platform, you’re ready to list the products you have for sale. This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Product descriptions of your handbag and the images on your online shop will directly influence your sales. Keep in min these two tips to help you list down your products.
- Handbags are a visual product since they’re considered a fashion item. Adding multiple photos from different angles is the best practice so that your buyers can make an informed decision.
- Describe your handbag by using colorful, high-quality language that paints a picture for customers. It should also contain keywords to ensure you show up in search engines
5. Packaging and Shipping
As a handbag business, it is relatively easier for you to package your products, because of its lightweight. You can consistently provide customers with a reliable product delivery experience with the help of a shipping partner.
Related read: Everything you need to know about finding the perfect shipping partner
There you go. In these simple steps, your online store is up and running.
If you want to set up your online handbag business on your own website with payment integration, customer support, eCommerce marketing tools, and much more, you are in the right place.
Sign up on Instamojo and build the online handbag business of your dreams!
