Start An Online Fabric Store - Business Ideas
Starting an online fabric store requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell fabric, or selling fabric online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start an online fabric store ➜
Key Stats
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
|
Office Space Expenses |
$0 |
$7,000 |
|
Employee & Freelancer Expenses |
$151 |
$352 |
|
Website Costs |
$223 |
$7,215 |
|
Business Formation Fees |
$5,600 |
$20,400 |
|
Inventory Expenses |
$350 |
$9,750 |
|
Training & Education Expenses |
$0 |
$1,000 |
|
Software Expenses |
$162 |
$3,094 |
|
Advertising & Marketing Costs |
$0 |
$1,400 |
|
Total Startup Costs |
$6,486 |
$50,211 |
Case Studies
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Hobby Lobby |
hobbylobby.com |
7,516 |
|
|
Spotlight Australia |
spotlightstores.com |
20,512 |
|
|
Mood Fabrics |
moodfabrics.com |
32,454 |
|
|
ajkerdeal.com |
ajkerdeal.com |
33,772 |
|
|
Dunelm |
dunelm.com |
37,057 |
|
|
Online Quilting Fabric Store |
fatquartershop.com |
82,681 |
|
|
Online Fabric Store |
onlinefabricstore.net |
96,119 |
|
|
Robert Kaufman Fabrics |
robertkaufman.com |
165,995 |
|
|
Fabricville |
fabricville.com |
205,853 |
|
|
SwatchOn |
swatchon.com |
217,035 |
|
|
Quadrille Fabrics |
quadrillefabrics.com |
237,272 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
|
Flexibility |
You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
|
Ability to start your business from home |
It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning! |
|
Little startup costs required |
The cost to start a online fabric store costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 62 to 50,211. |
|
High customer retention rates |
Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
|
Quick build time |
The average time it takes to build your product is quick - typically around 8 months. This will allow you to bring your product to market faster. |
|
You are your own boss! |
With starting an online fabric store, you are the one to make decisions for almost all of the operations. Calling the shots can be empowering and liberating! |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
|
Crowded Space |
Competition is high when it comes to your online fabric store, so it's important that you spend a good amount of time analyzing the market and understanding where the demand lies. |
|
Finding The Right Supplier |
Most businesses in this space go the supplier/manufacturer route, which isn't a bad thing! However, finding the right supplier can take a lot of time, energy and trial/error. If done properly, this process can save you months (if not years) of time and energy. More on this below in the "finding a supplier" section. |
|
Niche Market |
A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
|
You may need to charge sales tax |
If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out this article |
|
Work can be repetitive |
You may find creating the same product over and over repetitive and tiresome. One way of avoiding this is to diversify product lines and revenue streams - this will keep things interesting! |
|
Time commitment |
With starting an online fabric store, all responsibilities and decisions are in your hands. Although this is not necessarily a negative thing, work life can take over at times. This can place a strain on friends and family and add to the pressure of launching a new business. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.
-
2
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
-
3
Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.
According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.
Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
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