Online commerce is gaining momentum every year. Opening a full-fledged online store requires sufficient investment. To minimize costs and just try your hand, start selling clothes through the VKontakte social network.
Necessary preparation
Do at least minimal research before starting your own business. Even if you have little knowledge of marketing, try to analyze the situation in the niche in which you are going to work. Examine the existing clothing stores in the vkontakte.ru network - this will give you the most complete picture of your competitors, their mistakes and strengths. Surely in the process of research you will have your own interesting ideas.
Do not forget to register as an individual entrepreneur, or open a legal entity, since even such commercial activity must be conducted legally.
Selection of goods and suppliers
The advantage of social media trading is that you can start such a business with little or no investment. At the initial stage, you can work according to the pre-order system: it is enough to lay out the goods available from the supplier, collect orders and prepayment, and only after that make a purchase. However, this method will require a lot of effort to win customers, because not all potential buyers will agree to such a scheme. That is why, if you have start-up capital, spend it on an interesting and original product.
Choose brands and products that will differentiate you from your competitors. Remember that through social networks, people usually buy either very cheap or unusual clothes that are difficult to find in retail. Find suppliers who ship in small quantities. Consider also the option of purchasing from foreign online auctions.
Account creation and registration
To successfully conduct business on the VKontakte network, use all the possibilities of this resource. Register a profile, as well as create a similar public (group or page). Commercial accounts are prohibited on the VKontakte website, so the administration can block such a profile or forcefully change its name. Therefore, you can even duplicate information in your profile and in the public, in order to reach a large audience and not lose data.
Upload albums with high-quality photos. Almost half of the success of sales depends on the level of photographs. Place information about the product under each photo. In the topics, describe in detail the working conditions, a table of clothing sizes, delivery methods.
If possible, make a custom page design to be different from other online stores.
Promotion
The main method of promoting a VKontakte store is to invite as many people as possible. This social network has a limitation on adding friends every day, so it is worth doing this work regularly, in addition, you do not need to add everyone in a row. Use the filter to select representatives of your target audience, send invitations to friends of your competitors or members of relevant groups.
Come up with promotions or bonus systems to attract and retain repeat customers. Inform your public about these events in a timely manner.
Register on thematic forums and recommend your online store to interested users. Try to make your posts look like a review or recommendation rather than an advertisement.
