Buying women's dresses wholesale can be done in two different ways. You can work for a retailer as a buyer and do business with dress manufacturers directly or you can form your business entity and buy wholesale for your store. Buying dresses wholesale will entail keeping up with upcoming trends, colors and styles as well as knowing your customer target market. Developing a keen eye, knowing your retail competition sales and your customer base price points are also beneficial to the buying process.
Instructions
1. Apply for a buyer's position at a boutique or retailer. This position will entail buying for a specific dress department category such as contemporary or evening wear.You will work with a floor plan, which is your department guide as to where you will be specifically placing dress styles from proven manufacturers as well as floor space for showcasing new designers.
You can also opt to buy wholesale dresses for your business or store, following the same buying process. However, you will need to form and establish your business entity, apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) and register your business according to your state requirements. This information is necessary in order to work with wholesale dress manufacturers and suppliers.
2. Shop the market for upcoming trends. Attend fashion runway show events and clothing conventions. This will help you develop a keen eye for new styles, fabrics, patterns, color and trim. Select designers and manufacturers that carry the dresses your customer base wants. This will narrow your scope when placing orders and will keep your buying budget in place for the season.
According to your company budget, it is important to travel to specific cities such as Paris, Milan, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles.
3. Develop your floor plan during the buying process. It is helpful to keep past sales records and use old floor plans as a guide when making new season changes. It is always important to keep in mind what the overall look and style of the dress department is but also be open to "hot" items which may increase consumer traffic and sales.
4. Call and make appointments with manufacturer sales representatives. When placing orders, ask about per style quantity minimum requirements, if mixed sizes within the same purchase order is allowed, and if there is a per color minimum. This information will effect your budget significantly.
5. Shipping compliance and delivery schedules are crucial to the success of your buying strategy. Styles are ordered months in advance and a buyer needs to know what the manufacturer's order cancellation policies are and what you will expect from them if the delivery dates set in place are not met.
For example, a "hot" dress item delivered six weeks late into the season will reduce your sales and effect the overall appearance of your dress department. You can opt to cancel the order, accept the merchandise with a significant discount or grant a delivery date extension.
Tags: your business, buying process, dress department, your customer, business entity