Many people are interested in the fashion business and want to make a profit from it. But don’t know where to start. Perhaps, you can choose handbags as an entry point to start your fashion business journey. In this article, we will discuss how to start a handbag business.
If you are interested in the fashion industry, please continue reading the following blog posts. Whether you want to start a fashion business in clothing, handbags, shoes, jewelry, and more, this blog post will help you.
What is the prospect of the handbag business?
According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the global handbag market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5% from 2021 to 2026. The report segments the market by product type, distribution channel, and geography. The largest market is North America, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. The fastest growing market is Asia-Pacific, driven by the rising disposable income and fashion consciousness of consumers.
Another report by Statista forecasts the revenue in the handbags segment in the United States to amount to USD 12.62 billion in 2023 and to grow annually by 1.61% (CAGR 2023-2026). The report provides data on online revenue share, mobile/desktop split, and average revenue per capita for the handbags market in the United States.
According to these data, it is not difficult to find that in the next few years, the handbag business still has a certain room for growth.
As the impact of the epidemic gradually diminishes, maybe 2023 is a good time to start a handbag business.
Is the handbag business profitable?
Regardless of any business, making money or not depends on a formula:
Profit = Income – Expenses.
As long as you are sure that your sales income is high enough to cover all your expenses and then still have money, you can run a profitable handbag business.
How does the handbag business make money?
There are many ways in which a handbag business can make money.
You can design your bags and sell them to brands, wholesalers, or retailers.
If you don’t want to design, you can also sell their handbags as an affiliate, distributor, or dealer of brand handbag companies.
You can also source a range of handbags from wholesalers to add to the clothes and shoes you already sell.
If you don’t want to invest too much money, you can also dropship handbags through online stores.
How much does it cost to start a handbag business?
It depends on your plan for the handbag business, whether to sell it online, in physical stores, by customizing your brand, or in other ways.
Common fees include:
Company and accounting fees: company registration fees, fees for obtaining corresponding licenses, annual accounting fees, etc.
Office expenses: office rent, utilities, decoration, office supplies, etc.
Store costs: physical store costs can refer to office costs. Online store fees include website building fees, server fees, domain name fees, etc.
Staff cost: staff salaries, insurance, etc.
Advertising fees: Website advertising fees, TV advertising fees, etc.
Restocking Fees: Everything that goes into purchasing handbags from your supplier, including the cost of the handbag, import duties, shipping, etc.
Online Dropshipping has the lowest cost and the lowest profit. Customizing your brand to sell in physical stores is the costliest and the most profitable.
How to start a handbag business step by step?
Market research, planning
Market research has become a commonplace topic. No matter what you want to start a business, without research, you have no right to speak, let alone plan.
The survey can be done by yourself or by a professional agency. Up to you.
Armed with market research, you can start planning.
Is it physical store sales or online sales?
Do you create your handbag brand or sell other well-known brands of handbags?
How to promote your handbags?
What is the first sales target?
Analyze your strengths and weaknesses
An old Chinese is saying: If you know yourself and the enemy, you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles.
In addition to doing market research, you need to have a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.
Do they have an impact on your handbag business?
If it is an advantage and has a positive impact on the handbag business, it must be vigorously promoted.
If it is a shortcoming and hurts the bag business, then find a way to solve it.
Can you make up for your shortcomings in other ways, or find a partner or a third-party organization?
Define potential customers, target audience
In the process of making a plan, you must know who your target customers are.
Because your target customers will determine your sales revenue and have a major impact on whether your handbag business can continue.
Are you planning to wholesale or retail handbags?
Are your handbags luxurious or minimal?
The types of handbags you sell, price ranges, fabrics, etc. are critical to how you identify your target customers.
Therefore, at the beginning of planning, the target customers must be clearly defined.
Identify unique selling point
After identifying your target customers, you need to discover the unique selling point of your handbag.
Then take this unique selling point as the main marketing direction to attract a large number of potential customers to visit and conclude a deal.
Build your company and brand
No matter which way you choose to start your handbag business, you must abide by local laws and regulations.
Every business owner must register the company, obtain the relevant tax ID number, and pay taxes on time.
If you choose your brand to sell handbags, you must first go to the relevant local department for brand registration, so that you can get the trademark certificate as soon as possible.
A simple, meaningful brand is easily remembered and loved by your target customers.
Select the right suppliers and store handbags
If you are not making your handbags to sell, then you need to find a handbag supplier who can provide you with reliable quality.
You can source and stock handbags through your local wholesale markets.
You can also source and import handbags directly from China. In this way, the purchase cost of a single handbag will be lower, and the profit from it will be more lucrative.
You can read our other article on How to Import Handbags from China
Determine the main sales channel
After purchasing handbags, you need to confirm what is your main sales channel. Is it in-store, online, or on social media?
Each sales channel has its pros and cons.
You can select the main sales channel by comparing and analyzing methods and combining your own or the actual situation of the team.
Of course, other sales channels cannot be given up either.
The 1+N approach works well here. Choose 1 main sales channel and cooperate with N other sales channels to make your handbag business achieve the expected results faster.
Pricing the product
The selling price of a handbag has a huge impact on sales and thus your entire handbag business.
Do you know the selling price of your competitors?
If your handbags are unique, then you might consider value-based pricing regulations.
If you are selling similar handbags to your competitors, an attractive price can go a long way in getting your handbag business off the ground.
When pricing your handbags, you also need to consider numbers that your target customers hate and avoid them.
For example, the 4, 13, and 14, these numbers are not liked by many customers. You should avoid using them.
Build social media and website
Remember, handbags will sell better through visual media.
Even if your primary sales channel is a physical store, you should have a website where you can communicate with your customers.
Add high-quality videos and pictures for your potential customers, let them know more about your products, and make it easier to close the deal.
Apart from websites, you also cannot ignore social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok.
Through these social media platforms, you can easily reach your target customers, connect with them, and convert potential customers into customers easily.
Promote your brand and handbags
You have to promote your store, whether online or offline, to let more and more people know about your brand and handbags, thereby increasing sales.
Promotion can be done by yourself, or you can find a third-party company to serve you.
Common promotion methods include:
TV advertisement
Magazine Advertising
Leaflets
Social media advertising etc.
If you are interested in social media marketing, you can read our article: Step by Step to Successfully Market Your Handbag Business on Social Media
Achieve first sales target, review entire plan, and make new plans
After a period of sales, I believe you will be able to achieve the first sales target soon.
It’s time to summarize your work.
This is not the end, but to better start the next goal.
To gain more profits in today’s fierce market competition, you need to continuously improve your processes to meet your target needs.
Here are some things that must be done consistently:
Pay close attention to local laws and regulations and make appropriate adjustments to ensure your business is legal
Listen to the voice of customers and understand their new needs
Constantly launching new handbag styles
Control the quality of handbags
Keep promoting your handbag business
Formulate and evaluate your goals and plans
Conclusions
Good planning and the right guidelines can lay a solid foundation for your handbag business. Hope these guidelines from us can help you run your handbag business smoothly.
If you have any questions in the process of starting a handbag business, welcome to discuss them with us.
We are Uncle Nine Leather, a leading handbag company in China, with rich experience in the handbag field, can provide you with professional service.
If you want to wholesale or customize any type of handbag, we can provide you with one-stop design, development, search, production, and shipping services. Please feel free to contact us.
