Run a profitable clothing store

Chapter 25 Purchase tips and storage methods for clothing stores (4)
4. Avoid aesthetic fatigue and physical fatigue
As soon as you arrive at the wholesale market, you will be dazzled by all kinds of clothing. No matter who you are, you will inevitably lose the standard of judgment. You always feel that this is good and that is also good.But as a clothing store owner, you must strengthen your confidence, trust your intuition, and hold your own standards.

At the same time, it is recommended that clothing store owners should not purchase goods when they are unwell. Physical discomfort will directly lead to bad mood, affect normal judgment, and increase the risk of purchase.

5. Avoid carrying too much money at one time

After making a rational purchase plan, carry the corresponding funds to purchase according to the final result of the plan, try not to bring more money, so that you can compulsively control your irrational purchase behavior.Avoid buying “on a whim” an outfit you’ll regret later.

6. Avoid not paying attention to seasonality

The assembly time for clothing purchases is generally more than 3 months ahead of the market.If you don't pay attention to this time feature, the clothing store is very likely to be threatened by seasonal inventory, which will directly affect the next stage of the clothing store's business.So we must pay attention to the seasonality of purchase.

Profit maximization is the most important thing

Doing clothing business, to put it bluntly, is the process of buying and selling clothing and earning the price difference, but it also involves a lot of knowledge. Take purchase as an example, how to determine the quantity, quality, and type of purchase, and the ratio of purchase funds to working capital. How to determine, when to replenish and how to determine the quantity of replenishment, as an operator, you should understand, instead of doing whatever you want, buying as you want, or buying what you see is cheap, relying on your own subjective assumptions People who buy goods are often more likely to fail.Below, we will introduce the basic knowledge commonly used in these businesses to you, hoping to inspire some clothing store operators who are just getting started.

1. Wholesale and retail profit model
The biggest difference between wholesale and retail is: Wholesalers have low profit from selling a single product, and can only make money through a large number of shipments; while retailers have high profits from selling a single product, but their shipments are less than wholesalers.

In the initial stage of store opening, most operators do not want to sell too many products, so they will choose only a small part of each product as samples, and gradually understand the market needs of consumers through samples.If you find that the product is in great demand, then decide to replenish it, because it is relatively safe and the risk is small.

But this method also has a disadvantage, that is, when you ask the wholesaler to buy a single product, or no one is willing to give you the goods, even if the price of the goods is much higher than the wholesale price.In this way, the higher purchase price of your product plus the profit will inevitably make your price uncompetitive, and many customers will give up buying, which will virtually interfere with your judgment on the market prospect of this product.

So before you do it, you need to have a deep understanding of the needs of the customer group, have absolute confidence in your own vision of selecting goods (if you don’t have confidence in your own selection of goods, then what to buy), and give wholesalers enough during the purchase process Sincerity and confidence, use the quantity to get a good wholesale price for yourself.

2. Quantity of purchase

The purchase quantity includes many aspects, such as purchase amount, purchase commodity type, single commodity type and quantity, etc.

There should be as many types of goods as possible for the first time, because you need to give customers a choice of various products.When you lock certain types of products, the quantity of a single commodity category can be subdivided into display quantity, inventory quantity and turnover quantity.The display quantity is the quantity you put on the shelf, the inventory quantity is the quantity stocked in your warehouse, and the turnover quantity is the actual quantity you shipped during the two purchase periods.Judging from the conclusions drawn by operators with many years of experience in operating clothing stores, at least three of each single product can maintain a relatively benign commodity turnover.

When you buy a product and it becomes popular again, you will soon need to replenish the product separately. At this time, no matter the time and money spent, it is not worth the candle.And if you don't replenish, you have to watch customers leave disappointed.But if you buy 3 pieces of the same product, other products may need to be replenished during the period when these 3 products are sold, so that you can replenish them at one time to improve the efficiency of replenishment and save replenishment goods expenses.

3. How to get support from wholesalers
There are two factors that can affect the wholesaler's support for you: the first is your initial purchase amount, if your initial purchase amount is too small, the wholesaler will think that you do not have the strength to purchase, or you have insufficient confidence in his products .The second is the frequency of replenishment. If you often go to the wholesaler to replenish the goods, even if the quantity is not large, the wholesaler still thinks that your goods can be turned over quickly, which can bring him long-term benefits.You are supported by wholesalers who will notify you as soon as possible when new stock is available, and they may adjust the price automatically when they purchase next time.Also, if a wholesaler considers you an important customer, they will generally tell you which types of products are selling well recently. Understanding these market conditions will allow you to make more accurate judgments about the market and customers.

4. Rules of the wholesale market

(1) Don't check your products slowly at wholesale stores.When you mention the goods, you only need to count the quantity. Generally, when you go back and find that there is a problem with the product, you will ask for a replacement (of course, it should not be too far from the time of purchase).If you squat in the wholesale store to order the goods after picking up the goods, the wholesalers will think that you are a very troublesome customer, so they will not want to deal with you for a long time.

(2) Don't expect to reduce the risk by exchanging goods through wholesalers.When buying goods, never ask the wholesaler if the product is not selling well, can you replace it with a good product? If you ask this question, the wholesaler will think that you have not done business before, and you are in the business field. Novices (if the risk of doing business can be controlled to such an extent, everyone may get rich), then needless to say, you can guess what kind of quotation the wholesaler will give you.Wholesalers are not obliged to bear the risk of purchasing goods for you, and it is already a good support for him to replace defective products for you.

(3) The price adjustment in the wholesale market is very small.As mentioned earlier, the profit of a single product for a wholesaler is very low, and it is impossible to lower the price of the product like a retailer. Instead, the general adjustment is 2% to 3%, and a 5% reduction is already very powerful.If you pester the wholesaler and ask for another 8% off on the wholesale price, you will let the wholesaler know that you rarely go to the wholesale market.On the other hand, in the wholesale market, the transportation of general goods is by car or railway (because the transportation cost is much lower than that of express delivery), and the buyer is responsible for it. If he meets a good wholesaler, he is willing at most Help you to consign, but the cost of moving to the freight yard and freight must be paid by the buyer himself.

The above points are very important, whether you are making clothing, franchising, or making your own way.In fact, many times, joining is like a more responsible wholesale.Therefore, if you want to open a clothing store but have no experience, you can choose to join in.

Four steps of warehouse management

Clothing inventory management is often considered to be less important background management than on-site sales management, and it is easily overlooked.However, the rent of the warehouse is fixed. If the inventory management is not done well, it may lead to waste of resources, which will virtually bring huge pressure on the sales of clothing stores.Inventory management mainly plays a role in cooperating with on-site sales work, mainly including the following contents:
1. Inventory partition
Most clothing stores partition their inventory by partitioning clothing by department or category, or by manufacturer.In this way, it is convenient for employees to know the storage location and storage quantity of various clothing for timely replenishment.

2. Inventory update
Not all areas will remain unchanged once they are demarcated, because of changes in the clothing structure, the contribution of different clothing in various departments is not the same, or as the environment and seasons change, some categories of clothing will increase and others will decrease accordingly, so Regions have to be redefined as necessary.

3. Inventory count
Inventory counting is a regular work item, the main purpose is to ensure the interests of clothing stores.The biggest goal of running a clothing store is to make a profit.Various measures taken in daily business, such as sales, display, publicity, etc., are all aimed at improving performance and creating profits.But the profit at this stage is not real profit. It is necessary to check the inventory on the spot, and compare the inventory on the spot with the inventory on the book, so as to ensure the operating profit.

It is more appropriate for general clothing stores to take inventory twice a year.There must be losses in inventory counting, and the amount of losses can be used as one of the assessment items for this clothing category.The formula for calculating the amount of inventory loss is:

Loss amount = book inventory amount - physical inventory amount, book inventory amount = beginning inventory + current period purchase - final sales + transfer-in amount - transfer-out amount - return amount + write-up amount - write-down amount.

4. Inventory analysis
Good inventory management is not only when you know how to analyze the inventory, but it must be clear at a glance at ordinary times.Analyze whether the inventory is reasonable, which parts should be reduced, and which parts should be increased, so as not to cause overstocking or out of stock.Generally speaking, the inventory purchased at a long distance can be appropriately more, and the inventory at a short distance can be less; the inventory with a high turnover rate can be more, and the inventory with a low turnover rate can be less.

inventory control method
Usually clothing stores get bigger and bigger, warehouses are built bigger and bigger, sales have doubled several times, but the working capital on the book has not increased much, and the accumulation of years of hard work has gone to the warehouse. This is clothing The most common phenomenon in enterprises.

Generally speaking, enterprises have finished product warehouses and raw material warehouses. For larger enterprises, the number of branch offices, office warehouses, agent warehouses, dealer warehouses, and light warehouses is not small.At present, clothing enterprises are all burdened by inventory, so how do enterprises deal with inventory and reduce risks under normal circumstances?

Inventory clothing, called Weihuo in the north, refers to those remaining, overstocked, and out-of-season clothing.As my country is a big country in the clothing industry, many domestic manufacturers rush to go online without even doing market research. The clothing produced may be unsalable due to reasons such as price, style, color, season, and region, resulting in inventory.There are also clothing manufacturers who blindly work overtime to produce, resulting in unsold clothing because they are unqualified.Due to the particularity of the season, region, and fashion of the clothing industry, there will be some inventory no matter what clothing is.

If there is a large backlog of inventory in the clothing store, it will not only occupy the operating funds of the store, consume manpower and material resources, but also increase the management cost and profit cost of the clothing store at the same time, prolonging the turnover cycle of clothing and reducing the cost of clothing. The overall profit of the store will affect the development of the clothing store, and in severe cases, the clothing store will fall into the dangerous situation of "not receiving the goods".Huge inventory is an untie knot that many clothing stores have faced for many years.

Clothing inventory control can be carried out from the following aspects:
1.Keep abreast of market information and purchase clothing suitable for the market

Due to the obvious seasonality of the clothing industry, the changes of clothing products are also very fast. The colors and styles consumers like today do not mean that they will like them tomorrow. This requires us to fully collect and understand the first-line market information. Wholesale conforms to market trends trendy clothing.

2.Accurately estimate sales volume to lock in wholesale volume
Since the daily passenger flow and sales volume are different, we need to make accurate sales estimates based on daily sales volume and expected sales volume to lock in the wholesale volume.

3.Strengthen the sales ability of clothing stores

No matter how beautiful and popular the new clothes you wholesale are, you still need to sell them through shopping guides.The ability of shopping guides is directly related to the sales of clothing in the market.So we need to train the sales skills of the shopping guides.The sales skills of the shopping guides should not only stay in the sales language, but also be good clothing consultants for customers.It is necessary to have a clear understanding of the styles, fabrics and how to wear them with other clothing in the store.

4.moderate sale
It is impossible for a clothing store to achieve zero inventory. When we encounter situations where some clothing is broken or out of date, we can set up a special promotion area in the store. This will not only digest the inventory of clothing, but also provide clothing The store brings popularity.

5.Carry out item (category) management

When there are dozens or even hundreds of styles of clothing in the clothing store, how can the inventory be minimized without affecting the normal sales in the store?According to the 80/20 rule, 20% of the single product sales accounted for 80% of the sales, and 80% of the single product sales accounted for 20% of the sales.Faced with this situation, we need to conduct data analysis to find out the 20% of the items, expand the inventory of the 20% of the items, and reduce the inventory of the 80% of the items.After adjustment, you will find that the inventory is reduced, but the sales are gratifyingly increased.

Inventory Management Details
Three characteristics of the clothing industry: the homogeneity of products in the clothing industry is relatively serious, and the competition is quite fierce; the seasonality of clothing is relatively obvious, and the market changes rapidly; the design of clothing is changing with each passing day, and consumers have higher and higher requirements for clothing styles. Especially women's clothing.Due to the characteristics of the clothing industry, it is impossible to require zero inventory management in order to keep up with changes in the market. That does not mean that excessive inventory is a normal phenomenon, but it is appropriate to control it within a certain proportion. Putting it in the warehouse cannot be counted as silver. We must try to turn the inventory into silver. We can improve these from the following aspects.

1. Tally
The store owner always pays attention to the display of clothing in the store, and if he finds that the clothing is placed in a mess, he must tally the goods in time and return the clothing to the original position to ensure that the display of the clothing store is tidy.Only when the clerk grasps the basic principles of tally, can he flexibly grasp the timing of tally.

(1) Take back and return scattered bulk goods in a timely manner. When tallying the goods, you need to check whether the clothing packaging and barcode are intact. If the barcode is missing, you should quickly subsidize it, and the broken packaging must be repaired in time; returned clothing and clothing with broken packages waiting to be repaired cannot If they stay in the sales area, they can only be permanently stored in a certain stock area of ​​the department.

(2) Carry out the tallying work in the order of "end shelf - pile head - shelf", "news product - main product - easy to confuse product - general product", "from left to right, from top to bottom".

(3) Distinguish the article number of the clothing, and tally the clothing and its price tag in one-to-one correspondence.When tallying, each piece of clothing has its fixed display position and cannot be changed at will.Clothes that are not sales units and non-sale packaging must not stay in the sales area sporadically.

(4) Carry out tally work while replenishing goods.

(5) Do a more comprehensive tally before and after the daily sales peak.

(6) Clean clothes, shelves, and aisles when tallying goods before business every day.

After tallying in time, the clothes in the clothing store should be listed in order to achieve the effect of neat display, correct and clean labels, return of scattered bulk goods, correct placement of out-of-stock labels, and repaired damaged packaging of clothes. At the same time, safety factors must be paid attention to when displaying.

2. Replenishment
Pay attention to the quantity of all kinds of clothing in the clothing store at any time, and replenish them regularly or irregularly, so as not to leave an unfavorable impression of being out of stock to customers.When replenishing, we should also pay attention to several basic principles of replenishment.

(1) Clothing is out of stock, and must be replenished before the business peak and before the end of business.

(2) Replenishment is based on the principle of filling up shelves or end shelves and promotional areas.

(3) When replenishing goods, follow the regional sequence of "end shelf - pile head - shelf" and the item sequence of "promotional items - main items - general items".

(4) When the clothing is out of stock but cannot find the stock, it must first be confirmed by querying the system inventory data. When it is determined that it is out of stock, the temporary out of stock label is placed on the shelf.

(5) When replenishing goods, the display layout and display method cannot be changed at will, and the goods should be replenished according to the price tag.

(6) When replenishing, all delivery pallets should be placed on the same side of the aisle.When replenishing goods, there should be no more than three delivery pallets in the same channel at the same time.

(7) Replenishment is based on the principle of not blocking the passage, not affecting the cleanliness of the store, and not hindering the free shopping of customers.After the clothing on the shelves is replenished, the inventory and garbage in the aisle will be processed as soon as possible, the inventory will be returned to the storage area, and the garbage will be sent to the designated point.

(8) Promoters can replenish goods, but cannot change the location and method of display.When restocking, you must check the quality of the clothing, the outer packaging, and whether the barcode is intact.The price tag must be checked for correctness when restocking.When a certain type of clothing is out of stock, it is not allowed to fill it with other clothing, or use the method of enlarging the adjacent items to fill the vacancy, and keep the vacancy it originally occupied, unless the new display map is in place.

At the same time, the process of replenishment is also the main point of attention when replenishing goods. It is necessary to master the process of replenishment proficiently, seize the opportunity of replenishment at the right time, and ensure the normal progress of sales.

(End of this chapter)