So you want to start a leggings / fashion business, expand your current business or change suppliers all together? You have definitely arrived at the right place. The Leggings Wholesale Superstore is a Los Angeles, California based women's fashion wholesaler that specializes in wholesale leggings and women's fashion and provides a mix of all fashion pieces and styles. We have been in the leggings and leg fashion business for over 12 years and operate websites such as WorldofLeggings.com and OnlyLeggings.com so our experience is unsurpassed by anyone in the market place.
Note that these are guidelines and suggestions and in no way does the Leggings Wholesale Superstore offer specific advice or exact ways of running your own business. Our suggestions are just that, suggestions and the biggest determining factor is your application and ability to sell our fabulous wholesale fashion. There is no substitute to hard work.
So How Do I Get Started?
If you have an existing business and would like to start ordering products right away then all you have to do is create an account, order a minimum of $50, checkout and we will send you your leggings and women's fashion pieces. We ship virtually all orders the same day because we are committed to your success. If you are going to start a brand new business then we will offer some basic steps to get orientated and started so lets get down to business.
We are going to keep things as simple as possible so you can keep all things in perspective when beginning to put your business together.
There are two main areas that will consume your time:
- Sourcing - Purchasing the products you are going to sell
- Selling - Selling the products you have purchased
There are two main resources that you need to allocate:
- Time
- Money
There are many areas that are sub categories such as accounting, quality control, etc., but we are going to focus on the main basic elements of your business.
Sourcing Product
This is exactly what the Leggings Wholesale Superstore provides for you . We shop the world so you do not have to. Here is what we do:
- Find the very best products from around the world
- Ensure the quality and saleability of the products
- Provide them to you at an excellent price
- Ship them to you quickly.
It is that simple, 100% of your product sourcing is taken care of. All you have to do is pick from our ever expanding catalog of women's fashion styles by determining what you are going to be successful at selling and the budget for initial product you have set. We want to make sure that all of your product considerations are taken care of and at a wholesale price that keeps you very competitive.
Selling
Your ability to selling and or distribute your inventory will be the biggest determinant as to how much money (profits) you will make with your business. Once you have sourced excellent product, it is then time to focus on selling. This is where your efforts, creativity and ideas will make all the difference.
Some ideas for selling are:
- PickMyLeggings.com - This may be your biggest resource and this is why. PickMyleggings.com is our shadow website that has every product on LeggingsWholesale.com but without prices, contact information, checkout or anything else. It is basically our giant lookbook of our fashion that you can direct your customers to. From there, they can pick and choose the styles they want. It opens our entire catalog of 4000+ fashion styles to you and your customers. You can use your inventory as fabric samples so that your customers can have an excellent idea of what each legging feels and looks like. Here is a great idea, if you have a lot of local businesses that love the styles and want to carry leggings, you can have them choose from PickMyLeggings.com. They pay you, you purchase from LeggingsWholesale.com, upon delivery, drop off your customer's product and you keep the profits.
- Legging and Fashion Parties - Make an event out of it and create events that people love to attend.
- Social Media - This can be a fantastic tool to get people involved in your business. The major Social Media networks are:
- Website - You can create your own website quickly and easily. We recommend any of the following shopping cart providers:
- Bigcommerce
- Shopify
- Wix
- Woo Commerce
- Friends and Family Network - Let your friends and family know that you have started a leggings and fashion business. We have 2 recommendations with your friends and family network:
- Introduce your family and friends to your business and amazing leggings and fashion but do not alienate them by being too pushy. Let them know about your business, show them your styles and introduce them to what you have in terms of fashion and pricing.
- Your friends and family can also be a source of networking so impress them and discover any potential business or marketing ideas they may have.
- Store Front - This can be a great way of having a physical presence but remember to keep in mind that the larger the lease the larger the commitment to the business. We consider this an advanced business idea.
- Local Mailers - Targeted home mailers that direct people to your website or storefront
- Networking - Talk to people about your new business and the amazing legging and fashion styles that your have. We find that when most women actually touch and feel the fabric and quality of our leggings, they will want one for themselves.
- Be Your Own Billboard - Yes! Wear the clothes you sell. If you do not wear the clothes that you love and built a business around then why should the people you are selling to? It does not become very convincing when you are not wearing the very product that you are trying to sell. When you wear your amazing leggings and mix and match them with a great top, people will ask!
- Business Cards - An oldie but a goody. A business card is intended to leave something with someone so that they have something to look back at. Make sure you have your website on it and contact information.
- Build and Email List - Growing your list of contacts can have a dramatic impact on your growth but remember not to over-mail your lists and ensure the information is important and useful.
- Distribute to Other Local Businesses - Yes, you can distribute (sell) your product as a "Middle-Person" and be a wholesaler yourself. Remember, as a wholesaler you will need to work off of volume and not expect big profits on a per item basis.
- Consignment at other Storefront Businesses - Consignment mean that you provide the product to a retailer without the retailer paying for the product upfront. They pay you at a predetermine future date i.e., weekly, monthly, 90 Days. You should have an agreement in writing with the retailer and itemized inventory that both parties sign off on. For complex and large consignments we strongly suggest seeking legal advice to ensure your interests are secure.
- Flea Markets - These can be incredible places to spend a morning meeting people and selling a good volume of pieces. Check your local area for Flea Markets and other selling environments.
- Weekly Yard / Garage Sale - Once people begin to know that you have a weekly yard sale of amazing fashion then yo may get a regular stream of customers. Remember to check local laws concerning these types of events.
Remember: Nothing "Sells Itself"
We have all heard it so many times when someone is presenting an opportunity to us they will say "These will sell themselves". We have never seen a pair of leggings walk into a room by themselves and present themselves. Every great accomplishment requires some work on your part so remember that what you put in is what you get out. Focus your energy on showing your leggings to as many people as possible and let people know that you have started a leggings business or that your boutique is selling or has expanded it's legging selection. You have to put in honest effort to get honest results and when you start seeing results, it will become infectious. Also, when your customers fall in love with their new purchase, they will always be interested in what new items you have. Amazing high quality legging designs plus your hard work will result in fantastic results.
Its Not About Working Hard, Its About Working Hard on the Right Things
It is some thing that our CEO, Danny Alex, says often and reminds all of us here a the Leggings Wholesale Superstore. He literally started this business 10+ years ago out of his 2 bedroom apartment in Los Angeles; one he slept in and the other was his inventory room. When you have a fantastic selection of inventory it then needs to be presented to people to make them excited to buy one of your amazing pairs of leggings. You have to spend your time doing things that will directly increase your sales. If you are not then your sales WILL NOT INCREASE. Ask yourself at the end of the day "Did I work hard to make my products available to more people?". If you did not then you have to change how you allocate your time. Get excited about you leggings and make sure that you are spending time to directly influence your sales.
Let Your Customers "Touch and Feel" Your Leggings
There is a selling principle that states "If your customer can touch it and feel it, you chances of them wanting to buy them item doubles." Of course, this is impossible online but once you have a good idea about the fabric then it is the designs that matter. Most customers have not felt the buttery soft luscious feel of our amazing leggings and once they do and then put them on, your chances of a sale becomes that much more. People buy emotion, they purchase things that their emotional mind is going to make them feel great about themselves and nothing can make someone feel amazing about themselves than fashion.
PickMyLeggings.com: A website with our entire catalog that has no contact information or identifying information so you can show your customers our entire catalog.
We have launched PickMyleggings.com, a shadow website that mirrors our entire catalog with some major distinctions:
- No contact information
- No reference to any other website or sales channel
- No prices
- No shopping cart
- No Checkout features
- No way to purchase anything or promote anyone but you.
Why is this a Major Asset and Sales Tool for You?
This website allows you to show our entire catalog to your customers and have the confidence that you can show all of our amazing fashion products and have no concerns that you will lose that customer or point them to another website where you may lose that customer's business. It will allow you to charge any price you want and create any variations with our products and have an amazing tool where you want to show your customers additional styles that are available to them through you as no prices are shown.
What you see on our shadow website is:
- All of our products
- Inventory count of each product
- information / description of each product
- Product categories
- Color and size options
- Ability to create an account / wishlists for your customers
- Product images
We are excited to offer you an amazing new tool to help you increase your ability to expand your business!
How to Start a Leggings Business Successfully
So you have thought about it, analyzed and determined that you have an opportunity to start your own leggings business and be successful at it. What to do now? Once you have decided that you may be successful at starting your own leggings business there are a few thing you need to consider right off the start and we are going to cover the basics so that you can ask yourself the right questions, make the right decisions and be successful at your new business venture.
Leggings Inventory is the Most Important Factor
Which legging styles you choose and the price you pay for them are going to be your 2 most important ingredients as to how successful your business will be. Having great and amazing styles that people are really going to want will ensure that your are able to sell your inventory. This is called "Demand" and having fabulous styles that are on trend and scream "must have" for your wardrobe are critical. The next element is ensuring that you get your leggings at a great price with as little "Inventory Risk" as possible. The difference between your selling price and cost of goods are your "Gross Margins" and ultimately determines your profitability. So the two elements that you must keep in mind when starting your leggings business is:
- Acquiring amazing legging styles that people will be eager to buy
- Getting your legging inventory at a great price
The legging styles you choose based on your market is going to be critical and not all markets are the same. Pick and choose carefully and know the market that you are selling to and then get them at a great price.
Managing Your Legging Inventory
There is another critical component to managing your leggings business that can optimize your success and profitability, it is limiting and even eliminating "Inventory Risk". No one can have a perfect track record of picking the best sell-out styles and then order the perfect quantity that limits your exposure to being stuck with "Stale Inventory". What is stale inventory? This is inventory that you cannot easily sell and need to mark down your prices in an attempt to get the liquidate them to purchase additional new inventory. Image if you bought 20 styles with 10 pieces of each. Selling 10 pieces of the same style can be very difficult and nearly impossible if the style is a miss with your market. This can waste a lot of time trying to sell this inventory at a discount to clear it out and bring in the new. In fact, this is how many small and big businesses go "out of business". They go out of business because of inventory mismanagement and this is a very common phenomenon. In fact, during the 4th quarter of 2017, H&M reported excess inventory of $4.8 billion, that is $4,800,000,000 in full numbers, that is a huge amount of fabric that will hit the market and depress prices in many areas globally. Inventory style misses or purchasing too much inventory of styles that are not in demand can be the death knell of any business both big and small. This is something that the Leggings Wholesale Superstore can help you with so that you can virtually eliminate inventory risk.
How Can the Leggings Wholesale Superstore Help me with Inventory Risk?
The Leggings Wholesale Superstore allows you to purchase each and every legging and fashion style in single piece lots so that you can buy as little as 1 piece of each style or as many that we have in inventory and even more if you would like to make a special order. Lets take an example of how this is a critical ingredient in maximizing your success and profitability.
Lets take an example a 30 legging purchase. Keep in mind, you do not know how good any of these new styles will sell or which ones will be the most popular. We will take 3 examples:
- 3 styles of 10 pieces each
- 6 styles of 5 pieces each
- 30 styles of 1 piece each
Trying to sell 10 pieces of only 3 styles could result in a very bad result. If you pick 3 styles that do not sell very well to your customer base then you are in trouble right off the start. You will be scrambling to liquidate your inventory to try some new styles and you will waste time and money trying to get your mix right.
The second example may yield better results but if you pick 2 great selling styles, 1 average and 3 slow pokes then you may have 50% of your initial capital stuck in slow moving stale inventory.
Our final example of 30 different styles of 1 piece each will allow you maximum profit potential and limit the loss you may take on stale inventory. It will also give you a very good idea of what styles are selling. Perhaps you noticed that all of your sugar skull leggings and pink floral leggings sold right away. This is fantastic market intelligence as this may prompt you to purchase 2 in each of the styles that sold right away and allow you to flip your inventory much faster by bringing in styles that you know sell fast. You may then also notice that there are a number of styles that no one is interested in and this will give you very valuable information. If no one is even interested in the styles that are not selling then you know which ones you should or should not bring in. This is critical in developing your inventory without the huge frustration of trying to liquidate bad style decisions. You can now start to image how your own inventory management is going to work and how you are going to be able to limit your risk by being able to purchase in single piece lots. Do not underestimate the critical business principle of inventory management.
There is another element to inventory that is important to converting your inventory investment into profits .... getting your product in a timely manner.
Getting Your Leggings Inventory Quickly - Inventory Turnover
Inventory turnover is the ratio showing how many times inventory is sold and replaced over a period of time. The days in the period is divided by the inventory turnover formula to calculate the days it takes to sell the inventory on hand. It is calculated as sales divided by average inventory.
This is quite simple for smaller inventories. So if you sell 5 leggings per week and have 50 leggings then your inventory turnover rate is 10 weeks. This may not be exact as some style in your inventory may be tougher to sell. Now image if it takes 2, 3, 4 or even 5+ weeks to get your inventory? This can have a catastrophic impact on your ability to maximize your inventory and your profits. Even 1 or 2 weeks can have a huge impact on your bottom line. When you order your inventory you want to have it a soon as possible so you can convert fabric to profits.
Again, This is where the Leggings Wholesale Superstore is going to be a huge benefit to you.
The Leggings Wholesale Superstore gets most of its orders out the very same day (if you order before 2:00 PST). 95% of all orders are shipped the same day and we even offer 2 - 3 day USPS priority shipping at a fantastic price. We also offer UPS ground if you prefer at prices that are just a good. We know that when you get your leggings quickly that you can then offer them for sale just as fast.
We will always try our best to make sure your business is as successful as possible. When our customers are successful then we are successful.
The Leggings Wholesale Superstore is Ideal for Small Boutiques and Niche Businesses
If you are already operating your own small boutique or niche orientated business then adding as many styles as possible is going to be a critical component to your success. The Legging Wholesale Superstore allows you to purchase leggings in single lots so that you can add an amazing mix of styles with limited inventory risk. Or perhaps you own and operate a flower shop and you think that selling floral leggings may also be a good idea for your clientele. Leggings are a great way of up-selling your customer base with high quality fabulous legging styles.
Your options are virtually limitless and we are always bringing in new legging styles to ensure that you have options and fresh ideas for your business.