If you’re looking for the ideal platform for selling clothes online, Amazon might not be the first one that comes to mind.
However, the thriving marketplace can be the perfect place to stand out from other merchants and get your garments sold, as long as you know how to do it right.
How do you sell clothes on Amazon?
The first place to start when selling anything on Amazon is to create a Seller Central account and have a business plan for what you’re selling and the profits you need to make. From there, it’s as simple as creating listings, selling the goods, and shipping them on time, with a whole host of options for how you can make this possible.
Learning how to sell clothes on Amazon is a simple matter of following a few steps and knowing the tricks to get your store and garments to stand out from the crowd.
As a previously under-utilized marketplace for clothing, we’ll show you exactly how to get your goods seen and sold on Amazon.
Selling Clothes on Amazon – Can It Be Lucrative?
Amazon hasn’t always been so welcoming to merchants wanting to sell clothes, but when it opened its doors for them a few years, ago, the category took off.
Of course, there are fees associated with selling garments just like anything else on Amazon, but if you know how to do it right, there’s the potential to make big money.
The type of account you have with Amazon will dictate your earnings as well, with Vendor Central and Seller Central being the main options.
The seller account is where you list and ship each item yourself as a third-party seller, whereas large-scale vendors can act as first-party suppliers and give their goods directly to Amazon for them to market and list.
There are some limitations to the types of clothing you can sell through, including not being able to sell used clothes.
If you have a private label and want to start selling the goods that you’ve made, this must be registered with Amazon first, and this process can take some time as they assess your brand.
The Pros and Cons of Selling on Amazon
If you’re in the clothes selling a business and are weighing up Amazon as a potential marketplace for your goods, you need to know the score.
These are the pros and cons worth considering before you choose Amazon for your online store.
The Good
- Built-in marketing
Even if you’ve never marketed anything in your life, you’ll get loads of help from Amazon when you have an account. They have built-in marketing and advertising tools that you can utilize to get your clothing recognized.
- More selling options
Amazon lets you use their Fulfilment By Amazon method which can be a huge timesaver. In this approach, Amazon will store and ship the items for you when you make a sale which frees up a lot of time for you to work on your business in other areas. They also offer programs like Big Style Sale and The Drop which are specifically made for garment merchants.
- Major marketplace
There aren’t many people on earth who haven’t heard of Amazon and rather than trying to create a website from scratch and get recognition, you can jump in on their success. Listing your items on Amazon adds a professional touch to your brand and gives you legitimacy, so it’s an immediate benefit.
The Bad
- Highly competitive
There’s a lot of competition on Amazon, and newcomers especially may find it hard to stand out from the pack. You’ll need a solid business plan and lots of marketing tricks to get your brand out in the spotlight.
- Fees and charges
You’ll need to pay a referral fee whenever you sell your products on Amazon, which is much the same for any online marketplace. Unless you’re willing to start a website yourself and market it to build up traffic, these fees just have to be accepted as part of the deal.
- Limits on what you can sell
As we mentioned, you won’t be able to sell used clothes, so if this is your style, check out eBay or Etsy instead. Amazon must accept you before you can start selling clothes as well, so it’s not as straightforward as some other sites.
How to Sell Clothes on Amazon
Once you’re ready to commit to creating a store on Amazon, you’ll need to come up with a plan.
These are the steps to follow that will take you from your basement to an online presence
#1: Develop a Selling Plan
Any good business needs a plan before it gets off the ground and the same goes for anyone selling clothes on Amazon. The first step in the whole process is making a detailed plan about what you’ll sell, how you’ll sell it, and the profits you need to earn to ensure your business is a success.
Think about where you’ll source the clothing, whether it’s something your brand makes independently of whether you’re purchasing wholesale or discounted clothing from somewhere else and selling it through Amazon. Amazon only accepts new clothing so it must have tags and be in new condition to be eligible for sale.
There are four ways to sell clothing on Amazon including retail arbitrage, handmade, wholesale, and private label. You should have a good idea of where your garments fit into this and work to establish yourself in just one category.
#2: Create a Seller Central Account
Unless you plan on acting as a first-party seller and supplying Amazon with your garments for them to sell for you, you’ll need a Seller Central account. This is the most common account type of Amazon and also the easiest, letting you create individual or bulk listings to sell your goods.
A professional seller account is the best plan if you have a long-term goal of selling garments on Amazon. There’s no cap to how much you can sell and it comes with a flat $39.99 subscription fee, plus an additional referral fee for each unit you sell.
Within the Seller Central account, you’ll also have to decide whether you want to go with FBA or FBM method. FBA is Fulfilment By Amazon which means you send them all of your stock and they process orders for you, including storing, shipping, and returns. Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) means you do this yourself, and might even use a third-party logistics operator to help.
#3: Make Listings
Creating the listings for each item should be done with care, as you’ll want to ensure you have enough images and all of the pertinent information to provide your customers with.
Amazon requires product identifiers to be listed, like barcodes and labels, as well as sizing, measurements, colors, fit, and style. You’ll need to list the price, condition, and any discounts you’re offering.
Before starting a listing, it’s smart to do some SEO research so you can see what the most commonly searched terms are relating to the products you have. The keywords and search terms should be used within the title of the product and the description, but done naturally so that it still reads well.
#4: Sell the Product
Promotion is the best way to sell your products, so once you’ve made an SEO-friendly listing, it’s time to market it. There are some great tools available through Amazon including PPC marketing, discounts and coupons, and promotional campaigns like lightning deals.
Not all products will use the same promotional tools, so you’ll need a marketing plan that identifies where your focus areas should be. You should also be ready to handle any customer inquiries and questions about your product promptly if you’re using the FBM method.
#5: Shipping
The shipping process is one of the biggest parts of selling clothes on Amazon, and the reason that the FBA program has been so successful. If you choose to ship yourself, you’ll need to arrange all aspects like postage labels, return policies, logistics, tracking, and customer support.
If you choose to go with FBA, all you need to do is send your products to the dedicated Amazon warehouse. They’ll cover all of the aforementioned tasks for a small fee, plus the costs of storing your items in their space, but some find the fees are worth it for all that it does. You’ll free up your time for marketing and clothing producing and sourcing, so it can turn out to be a huge bonus.
#6: Collect Your Money
Depending on the type of account you have, you’ll be paid from Amazon differently. Anyone with a Seller Central account will receive a bi-weekly payment from Amazon, less their fees, which goes directly into your nominated account. Vendor Central accounts will need to invoice Amazon for their recent sales.
Amazon Pay is the account that Amazon uses to capture any payments you’ve received. From there, the money is placed into your bank account on set dates, which usually occurs twice a week.
#7: Learn to Stand Out
With such a competitive market, you want to do everything you can to make your online store recognizable and unique. There are lots of things you can do to improve, like taking professional photographs of your products, optimizing all of your content, and marketing through other channels like social media to improve your brand.
For those with their own clothing brand, creating an Amazon store that showcases your work is the best approach. Although it takes more effort and costs, it’s essential if you want to appear professional and give customers a chance to see your collection in full.
The Perfect Online Display
There are few online marketplaces out there as well-known as Amazon, so it makes sense that you’d want to sell your clothing there.
As long as you take your time developing a plan and know what to do to get your brand and garments recognized by buyers, you’ll find it’s a straightforward and lucrative place to sell.
Related Questions
Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer and the one place you want to be selling your goods, whether it’s clothing or otherwise.
Before you start an account and get selling though, you need to learn the basics, so we’ve answered some commonly asked questions that can help you out.
Can You Sell Used Items on Amazon?
Amazon has a specific list of categories for items that can be sold used as well as new, including books, Amazon device accessories, and cell phones and accessories.
The reason for this is that they want to ensure all products sold on their marketplace are good quality, safe, and authentic, so there are limits to what you can sell in a used condition.
Can You Sell Private Label Products on Amazon?
Brands that have private label goods will be able to sell these on Amazon, but Amazon must approve your brand before you can.
This enables newer businesses who create clothing and other goods to sell their products through Amazon, as long as they meet the requirements that the online marketplace has.
Is It Legal to Resell Products on Amazon?
Yes, you can resell a product that you’ve purchased on Amazon, as long as you are truthful about the condition of the item and its description.
You can easily create a selling account to resell the product to others, ensuring that it’s still in new condition, or used condition and in one of the pre-authorized categories that accept used products for sale.
