When pondering a question of ordering wholesale dresses for your clothing shop, you need to take into account several factors that can influence your business. Whether the influence is good or bad depends on your business decisions – cheap wholesale dresses in your stock list can boost your sales, but they can also turn into everlasting stock balance yielding nothing, but losses. Here are some things to consider prior to ordering. 

Know Your Target Audience

Who are your customers? Do you sell clothes for younger or older females, for career women or housewives? Obviously, you will need more trendy dresses for young girls and more plus sizes, if you are focused on ladies with ample curves. You may offer cheap casual dresses for a broad audience or find your niche, selling more formal attire to business ladies or small-size dresses for petite women. They all need casual dresses, but they all need different dresses, so your search for styles and lines will proceed from this point.

Keep Within Your Space

It’s a very tempting idea to have more styles, attracting customers with a wide choice of dresses. However, you should think not only about your investment, but also about you shop space. It is no good to staff your space with dresses, while your customers won’t be able to get a good view of the assortment – in-store display is important, remember? Too many dresses make a choice difficult and the embarrassment of riches often prevents customers from making a purchase. If you have a small shop start from 5 dress styles, each presented in different colors and sizes, and then go to 10-12 styles, the dresses sell well.

Find Your Perfect Supplier

You can choose certain brands, if there are specific lines you’d like to carry, or you can shop for casual dresses from a multibrand wholesaler. Whichever you choose, give preference to a supplier buying directly from a manufacturer – this will provide your shop with cheap casual dresses. However, search for the best value for money depending on your shop’s specialization, since when your business is focused on upscale market, the quality is vital. Also, pay attention to:

• suppliers’ reliability (you can search for reviews)
• order processing and delivery speed
• warehouses location
• return policy
• payment options
• availability of customer support service
• how often the assortment is replenished
• range of sizes
• extensiveness of product lines

Make sure to follow the recommendations, and good luck with developing your business! And remember - Smcfashion.com will help you in any way!

According to research on a global apparel industry, the United States market is expected to grow up to $385 billion in 2025 even despite the current world depression. This is great news, especially for those retailers, who are engaged in the sales of womenswear, since the sector accounts for 50 percent of the demand. However, there is a decline in off-line sales driven by both the economic meltdown and the increased competition with online stores. Is focusing on wholesale casual dresses a way out for a brick-and-mortar clothing shops?

First, according to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group on over 1,600 publicly traded companies, top companies among those engaged in fashion and luxury performed well due to its moving towards more casual wear as opposed to high-end fashion. Though there is still stiff competition between sportswear and casual clothes markets, millennials obviously prefer comfort over fashion, and the report predicts that the shift to casual wear is going to continue over the next several years. The new generation is not inclined to spend money on expensive clothes, giving preference to things like wellness or travelling. From this perspective, cheap casual dresses seem to be more attractive for doing business compared to formal, luxury and niche clothing.

In addition to the fact that nowadays people have no need to express themselves through buying pricey clothes, they are also not required to stick to a dress code anymore. Black-tie times are long gone, and according to the Society for Human Resource Management, in 2017 almost half of US employers allow casual dress every day, with their number growing from year to year. With such a trend, we can expect that more and more customers will need informal attire for both office and off hours.  

But why dresses? Well, do you know what are the most popular products among Fashion Apparel and Fabrics according to inquiries on Global Sources Online? Shift dresses, evening dresses, sheath dresses and cocktail dresses are in the top twenty products, while only jeans excel dresses in popularity based on keyword searches. Now, do you understand? Dresses will never go out of style, and with the growing demand for informal office clothing ordering casual wholesale dresses is sure to boost your sales!

While summer is drawing on, clothing shops are providing themselves with wholesale summer dresses to cater to the needs of their customers. However, the real trend-setters are fashion designers, so let’s have a look at catwalks to find out which dress styles will be in demand with the customers.

Patchwork Style

It seems like fashion designers have started a kind of game competing in the most sophisticated combinations of prints and patterns. They blend in various pattern and color panels to deliver a patchwork style and a vibrant look – sometimes their dresses are built from four and more blocks of contrasting or completing textiles. Wow!

Floral Motif

There is nothing like cheap casual dresses blooming in flowers to be fit for this summer. We adore floral motifs for this feminine touch they add to our everyday look. However, the pattern can be often found in cocktail dress designs painting them in glaring and striking colors. While tropical patterns fall completely out of favor, floral prints are on rise, both bright and pastel, large and micro.   

Checked Pattern

Though usually associated with autumn and winter dresses, check captivated catwalks, while being offered in various designs from black and white versions to multicolored options. Indeed, this plaided style looks rather intriguing when embodied in light and even transparent materials – the contrast strikes the eye and is perfect for a casual summer dress.  

Baby Doll Style

It is one of the favorite styles among young girls, who want to get this world-famous Lolita-like look. Probably, fashion designers like the look too, since baby doll dresses are all the rage this summer. Choose wholesale dresses featuring well-above knee length and made of lace or satin to deliver the desired romantic, yet tempting touch.

Polka Dot Pattern

Do you really think that this pattern is out of fashion and completely forgotten? Nope, this is a must for the current season, and the recent royal wedding with the stars wearing polka dots dresses serves as clear evidence. Hot wholesale summer dress can have black, white or multicolored dots, while they can be small or large – the key is to have a dotted dress in your stock.

Loose Sleeves

The freedom of movement and lightness are among main trends of the 2018 summer season reflected in silhouettes, fabrics and details of clothing. So, it is kind of expected that loose sleeve become one of the trendy options. Both multi-layered and flare style sleeves work fine for fancy summer dresses. 

With summer coming, it is high time to replenish supplies with fancy dresses, which will be much sought after this year. Let’s see what styles will sell like hot cakes based on leading fashion magazines’ overviews.

Glamorous Sequins and Glitter

According to Elle Trend’18 report, fashion designers are striving for glamour this year, and so they want sparking cocktail dresses back on catwalks and streets. Naturally, every decent sharp dresser will hunt for a glittering evening gown – dresses decorated with sequins, beads, crystals and all kind of sparkles are among the most-coveted wholesale summer dresses.

Long and Transparent

Thanks to Valentino, Christian Dior, Gucci and many other fashion houses, sheer dressing is on trend this year. They offer plenty of styles for long transparent skirts, from multi-layered and puffyto straight and simple. Certainly, airy wholesale dresses made of tulle, lace and net will be hot for the summer.

Cut It Short

Harper’s Bazaar predicts a high demand for both crop tops and bra tops this summer. According to the magazine, the hottest way to wear them is a combination with high-waisted skirts – probably, high-waist serves to add an intriguing touch and to balance the revealing top.

Bold Stripes

When looking for a cheap casual dress, be sure to search for a striped option. From Zara to Topshop, fashion brands are crazy about bold and bright stripes – horizontal, vertical, diagonal, narrow or wide. The only stipulation is a colorful scheme, which creates a great summer mood and catches the eye.

Cutaway Shoulders

Off-shoulder style for casual summer dresses? Bang on! This is an awesome idea for hot summer days and the style has been staying in vogue for a couple of seasons. Also, pay attention to the one-shouldered silhouette, which is on rise at the moment.

Vibrant Shades

While ice-cream pastels are still hot, bold colors go on the attack. From sunny yellows to passionate reds, bright shades are welcomed on catwalks throughout the world. Why not stock up on jazzy casual dresses, which are sure to ring the bell with girls of fashion?

Ruffles Rule

We all love ruffles for this feminine look they add to any garment, whether they decorate tops or skirts. This summer ruffles are in wear again, and some of fashion brands like Alexander McQueen or Givenchy prefer to have them decorating dresses from the top to the very bottom. It’s a nice idea for casual summer dressers, making them look stylish and eye-catching.

As the clothing stores are gearing towards a busy summer season, store owners are concerned with boosting their sales. Running a clothes store, particularly a women’s clothing one, is a lucrative business but the market is fiercely competitive. This means that new techniques are always much called for to keep the revenue high and stand out from thousands of similar clothing merchants.

Wholesale summer dress segment is definitely one of the most promising at this time of the year. Here are a few effective tips that will come in handy if you’re looking for ways to boost your summer dresses sales.  

Review your offering

Summer is not the time to sell off last season’s leftovers. It pays off to supply collections of beautiful trendy summer dresses to your store and market them heavily. Women are going to need a lot of dresses but they are not looking for uniformity. What you need to have is a diverse portfolio that would address their varying needs.

For example, the trending summer dresses right now are sheath shape summer dresses, off-shoulder evening dresses and floral summer dresses. 

Invest in new mannequins

Stylish mannequins can transform your store and showcase your beautiful summer dresses like nothing else. The world of retail has long ago moved to sleek, eye-catching models that do a great job of advertising clothes.

Go social

Women apparel industry is amongst the luckiest businesses to benefit from endless opportunities social media delivers. First of all, this industry relies on imagery heavily, and social media is a perfect place to promote your latest wholesale summer dress collections.

Not only can you promote an unlimited number of items in your store, you can do so for free just by posting updates to your social profiles. If you want to see a higher ROI from your social media marketing efforts, you might want to run social ads. This will help you reach a specific audience of women who you see as your perfect customers.

Offer discounts

The competition in the apparel industry is tough, both in terms of product line and pricing. Unless you offer exclusive items, you need to introduce attractive sales system in order to get a constant influx of customers. Discounts may sound like an obvious thing to do but have you ever seen a better way to convert hesitant onlookers into customers? Women who need several summer dresses appreciate the opportunity to buy quality clothes at an affordable price. 

Good luck with your sales this summer season!

Today we are going to talk about brand building process. It’s an important pillar of a successful business as it helps you reach out to your customer. Competition is getting more aggressive, and people are not just looking for a product or a service. They want a unique story behind a company that’s appealing – a way to connect on an emotional level. This is where your brand comes in. Here are the basic steps to build one.

Find your target audience. Obviously, you cannot supply everything to everyone, especially if you are starting small. So try to narrow it down a little. Who will most likely buy your product? Guys, gals or both? Which age group? Education and income level? Any particular interest group? When you find the right one, you are one step closer to your market niche.

Do some homework. Now let’s move on to your competitors. Look at both ‘big whales’ and those of your own size. What is the quality level, how they market their products? What sort of value do they offer? Can you somehow outperform them and offer something that’s even more enticing?

Analyze, look for opportunities. Delve into what you learned from your research. How can you compete without a huge budget and an army of market specialists? You need to engineer the reason for people to choose your brand over your rivals, so focus on qualities and benefits that make your brand stand out. Find those opportunities and use them to your best advantage.

Define your mission statement. Why does your brand exist? What your company is most passionate about? Try finding the right answers and then channel them into your mission statement. Remember, it’s the gist of your brand’s philosophy, a reflection of your company’s core values.

Create brand logo. Entrust a team of pros with this task. That way you can be sure the logo is unique and properly represents your company and its values. You may also want brand guidelines that include color palette, fonts, iconography, etc., and define logo placement, style of photography and other important aspects. Oh, and don’t forget about tagline.

Devise your brand’s communication. Your brand will have to learn to voice all those competitive advantages to your potential customers. This means you need a clear communication strategy. It will guide the interaction process using the right business tone and the most potent tools.

Fully integrate your brand. Simply put, your brand should be everywhere. Products, packaging, business cards, visuals, advertising and everything else should feature your logo. Follow the brand guidelines to do it harmoniously.

Be consistent. Avoid deviations from your main course, especially those contradicting your brand’s philosophy. Your customers may not like such ‘shocks’. If, at some point, you decide that a certain serious change is a must, perhaps it is time to consider rebranding. We will cover this topic in one of our forthcoming articles.

Advocate your brand. Since you and your employees know your business the best, it is up to your team to promote it in the most effective ways. Use the power of the word, let more people know that you are out there and can offer something they would definitely like.

Good customer experience is important for a successful business. Sooner or later you find yourself in a situation when you have to deal with a rude or angry customer. At times, this isn’t easy, but there are ways to resolve such matters. Here are some tips that could help you out.

 Let the customer vent. All that anger and frustration needs to be released, so do not interfere. You can start being constructive only after he/she is done.

 Remain calm. There is no point in further escalating the hostilities, so maintain control of yourself. After all, the customer is always right.

 Do not take it personally. Keep in mind, that the customer is dissatisfied with the product or the quality of service. Put the negativity aside, focus on the problem and work towards a solution.

 Be a good listener. Patiently hear the customer out. Pay close attention to details. Ask the right questions to better understand the problem.

 Interject the customer’s name into conversation. This gives an impression you had known the customer for quite some time. And it’s a lot less formal than “sir” or “ma’am.”

 Use the power of a smile. When you smile, your voice conveys friendliness. Sometimes you may have to fake that smile, but it’s a must nonetheless.

 Know your audience. Try to figure out how to connect with the customer. Some would prefer to get straight to the solution, others may want to learn more about the reasons behind the problem. Interpret those small hints the customer is giving you and adjust the conversation accordingly.

 Sympathize and apologize. The customer wants to know you understand how he/she feels. Apologize sincerely for an unpleasant customer experience.

 Offer a viable solution. Once you understand the problem, it’s time for a solution. You can try asking the customer what he/she feels should be done. Or come up with several options, e.g. replacement or refund. Good alternatives often help defuse the trickiest situations.

 After dealing with an angry customer, take a moment to review your performance. Analyze, learn your lesson and find room for improvement. Next time you’ll do even better!

Most people have clothes they wore only once, e.g. prom dress, ball gown or a wedding dress. The saddest thing is that these garments probably cost them a lot. Wouldn’t it be nice to put them to good use and make some money? How about a clothing rental business? Can’t afford the rent and other expenses? Well, how about an online clothing rental? You can start small and the risks aren’t that bad. Still not sure? Perhaps we could help you change your mind.

Start-up capital? You don’t need a great deal of money to start this type of business. You can operate from the convenience of your home and save on the rent. And if your wardrobe already has quite a number of items you could use for your business, you save even more.

How about the niche? Your primary focus should be on high school or college age women.

What skills may come in handy? Basic or advanced computer skills, inventory management, communication. Minor sewing skills wouldn’t hurt either.

What about the website? You don’t need a highly sophisticated and expensive website. There are so many ready-to-use templates and platforms out there. You could have your site up and running in no time. And your expenses would be minimal, especially if you’re tech savvy or have a friend who could help you out.

Marketing and advertising? No biggie! There are ways to do most of it for free. Spread the word through your friends and neighbors, use social media, start a fashion blog. You could also use some sort of a referral program and/or offer a discount for customer reviews.

What sort of agreements/arrangements will I need? Do some research of clothing suppliers, including wholesalers; negotiate mutually beneficial terms. Renting clothes means minor wear-and-tear, so you need an arrangement with a local dry cleaning service and a tailor, preferably with good discounts. Orders outside your local area will require reliable shipping.

Are there any additional ways of saving money? Yes, if you’re good at negotiating. Wholesale discounts, purchasing the items over time as they are rented. If you learn basic sewing skills, you could make minor repairs yourself. It may be a good idea to buy used garment racks and fixtures.

Anything else? Establish a clear policy on what condition the items must be returned in. Get security deposits on the items. Consider renting both clothes and accessories.

Good luck with your business! And if you’re already looking for a reliable wholesale supplier, cherylshumake.com is always there for you.

Fashion trends keep changing. They thrill, they never cease to amaze. This year, they are hotter than ever. We tried to summarize the top trends for 2018 that may help you navigate through the exciting world of evening gowns and party dresses with confidence.

Metal Intensity: Glittering tones of bronze, burgundy, gold, navy and silver. Modern and elegant, metallic shades were a success on the red carpet. Excellent choice for 2018.

Posh Pastels: A multitude of enticing ice-creamy shades. Soft pastels continue to trend. Try lilac, mint or pale blue.

Timeless Velvet: So soft and elegant. A fusion of old and new destined to become a modern classic.

Take the Plunge: The open back is an exciting and stylish way of showing off some beauty. At the same time, these dresses are quite conservative.

Major Bling: Another popular trend in 2018 embraced by many designers. Sequins and crystals join efforts to give you fantastic dresses that make you stand out from the crowd.

Criss-Cross: Eye-catching cutouts and criss-crossing straps brighten up a simple silhouette. A great combination of rather simplistic design and original structuring. Side cutouts and panels are a fine addition to almost any dress style.

Ball Mood: The big pouffy dresses are back in the game. They made their way from runways and red carpet to the prom. And they look absolutely stunning.

There are countless fashion brands out there, and the competition is merciless. You worked so hard to launch your pilot collection. But this is just the first step towards growth. Sustainability will require serious commitment and discipline. There is no doubt you want your business to be a successful one. So here are some aspects you may want to bear in mind.

Focus on your core audience. You do not decide what sells, customers do. Know your audience well. Persona mapping – a potent marketing tool – can help you learn who your target audience is and what they are expecting from your products.

Keep an eye on trends. They keep changing. What’s hot now may not be when your new collection hits the market. You need good understanding of factors shaping today’s fashion. How long will the current trends last? Hence, some careful planning is in order.

Control your costs. Your creativity may know no bounds, but it’s the customer who will be paying for your designs. So both the product and its price should be attractive. This means that you need to control and balance the costs. Ensure adequate quality and don’t forget about profit.

Market your product well. Only then your collection will sell. Allocate resources wisely so that you have a decent mix of tools. Combine in-store and social media marketing, spread the word through friends and satisfied customers.

Monitor sales and other business processes. Keep track of inventory. Your accuracy will help avoid mistakes. If you sell online, make sure you can fulfil all those orders. Properly handle the returns. If you make mistakes, analyze what went wrong. Learn, optimize, evolve.

Use the power of communication. Maintain good relations with your suppliers. Make sure that doing business with you is a pleasure. This will translate into quality, timeliness and reliability. Keep in touch with your customers. Collect feedback, find ways to reward loyalty, and work towards great customer experience.

Our team at cherylshumake.com wishes you every success in your business!