online menswear

colinthomas

hi, a mate of mine owns a menswear store. he says hes down 70% on '07 sales and see no sign of improvement. i suggested an online store for his goods but he is reluctant. any advice a blessing before he goes nuts and me with him.

Chet Zar

colinthomas wrote: »

hi, a mate of mine owns a menswear store. he says hes down 70% on '07 sales and see no sign of improvement. i suggested an online store for his goods but he is reluctant. any advice a blessing before he goes nuts and me with him.

Retail is moving online so he needs to surf that wave!

Check out Shopify.com and other solutions - he needs to get online and start promoting himself there. You never know what might happen when he does...

colinthomas

a massive thanks for the quick reply. any other suggestions welcome.....i know he does some advertising on facebook. because it free i guess

J_Wholesale

Online clothing is a very, very competitive market, and I'd seriously question whether a bricks and mortar retailer with one shop is big enough or has the buying power to break in.

This is what he's up against: http://www.dress-for-less.ie

A German company, despite the .ie extension, with a great website that would easily cost €20k+ to duplicate, and with a range that a small shop could never hope to match. And that's only one site.

Sites like these will be sourcing their stock at far cheaper rates than your friend in his shop. If he's going to go down this route, then he should start small and focus on one area of men's clothing: underwear, for example. To my knowledge, there are no dedicated Irish online sellers of male brand name underwear - lots of them in the UK at great prices, but none in Ireland. If he tries to sell everything, then he'll never be able to compete with the bigger online operations.

fasttalkerchat

If he's not interested in a website how about setting up an ebay store with his existing stock.

tricky D

colinthomas wrote: »

he says hes down 70% on '07 sales and see no sign of improvement. i suggested an online store for his goods but he is reluctant.

Chet Zar wrote: »

Retail is moving online so he needs to surf that wave!

+1

Old business adage: adapt or die

NJS007

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

If he's not interested in a website how about setting up an ebay store with his existing stock.

I agree, he can set up an ebay store for as little as €20 a month. Ebay are still pulling in a million visitors per month...

fasttalkerchat

One point about Ebay. You now have to pay VAT on purchases now! I didn't realise this and got an invoice a few weeks later. Was only for a few pound but its something that you have to factor in before you start selling.

colinthomas

J_Wholesale wrote: »

Online clothing is a very, very competitive market, and I'd seriously question whether a bricks and mortar retailer with one shop is big enough or has the buying power to break in.

This is what he's up against: http://www.dress-for-less.ie

A German company, despite the .ie extension, with a great website that would easily cost €20k+ to duplicate, and with a range that a small shop could never hope to match. And that's only one site.

Sites like these will be sourcing their stock at far cheaper rates than your friend in his shop. If he's going to go down this route, then he should start small and focus on one area of men's clothing: underwear, for example. To my knowledge, there are no dedicated Irish online sellers of male brand name underwear - lots of them in the UK at great prices, but none in Ireland. If he tries to sell everything, then he'll never be able to compete with the bigger online operations.

Thank you for advice. You seem to know your stuff. So should he just close up shop?

Chucky the tree

I agree with Wholesale, going online would probably be a waste for him. Certain Clothes shops are one of the few retailers who'll be less in danger of the online business. Alot of people still want to try on clothes before they buy them. It will depend on what kind of mens wear store it is as well. I think most people shop online because they can get large discounts from high store shops, I just can't see your friend having the buying power to offer his current range for significantly less price just because he goes online. I think he'd be better off coming with ideas to improve his range, deals, offers etc.

nacimroc

This may be slightly off topic, but I see a huge market for "proper" size mens cloths. I'm 6 ft, 16 stone, nothing huge, but its verging on impossible to get cloths to fit. Over the past 3-4 years cloths sizes have got ridiculously small and theres a huge market for proper grown up sizes.

For him to succeed online, he must do something differently and something like this could help.

(I'm not talking about the super sizes, just normal cloths in XL and XXL which are never in stock)

joeperry

Maybe he should change it into a womens shop? They buy and shop a lot more than men. I'm a man and i hate shops and shopping.

colinthomas

nacimroc wrote: »

This may be slightly off topic, but I see a huge market for "proper" size mens cloths. I'm 6 ft, 16 stone, nothing huge, but its verging on impossible to get cloths to fit. Over the past 3-4 years cloths sizes have got ridiculously small and theres a huge market for proper grown up sizes.

For him to succeed online, he must do something differently and something like this could help.

(I'm not talking about the super sizes, just normal cloths in XL and XXL which are never in stock)

I agree with you there....although in fairness...im that size too and he always has those sizes for me.

colinthomas

i have said that to him....but like askin a mechanic to do flower arrangin.....just wudnt be able to handle it.

colinthomas

and also i have checked ebay...n it seem s to me that unless its a pair of jeans for a euro it wont sell.

Chet Zar

Hey again OP,

While we're throwing out suggestions, we don't really know much about the specifics of his business. For example, is he in a high footfall area or not, what is the competition like in his town/city, does he have a good enough range, etc.

From what I've seen, the men's clothes shop that seem to be weathering the downturn are generally the more established ones that have been there for years or more likely decades.

For me, I will always go in to a shop with a good range - that's the first criterion. Then, the staff - I don't want people coming up to me asking if I want help, etc.

All these things can make a difference.

Overthrow

Is he keeping up with the trends?
Is he targeting the right audience in the area?
Does the shop carry that message?
Does the shop look outdated?
Does it look too expensive/cheap?
Has he done any research in to what the local perception of the shop is?
Is he putting any effort at all in to marketing?
If yes, is he measuring the response and optimising the campaign?
Are the staff good? Pushy? Annoying? Disinterested?

These should be the type of questions he should be asking himself before radically changing the business model.