Getting started in the retail industry is hard, but this process has gotten easier in the digital age. According to Sewport CEO Boris Hodakel, asking yourself questions like “what is a tech pack?” won’t be enough to make sure that your brand dominates on the digital market. If you make sure to follow these basic tech tips as you get started as a retail brand, however, you’ll be able to get ahead in a market that’s increasingly dominated by retailers who know how to use the cybersphere to their advantage.
1. Make a Website
Our first tech tip might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by the number of brands that fail to make a website or fail to make their websites good enough. There are plenty of options out there as you decide how to set up your online store, and it might be tempting to opt to set up a storefront on Etsy or Instagram and call it good. However, there are a few benefits to making your own website that you should consider.
First, making a website for your brand is easier than you think. With today’s popular e-commerce platforms, it’s possible to have a custom website made for you that’s just awaiting product descriptions, pictures, and about page. Taking things a step further and building your website from scratch might be even more beneficial.
For instance, making your own website is cheaper in the long run. Hosting a website that you’ve made is less expensive than subscribing to an e-commerce platform, and it’s also important to keep in mind that building a website from the ground up gives you more control over the way it looks. Since big retailers inevitably end up building their own websites, Sewport CEO Boris Hodakel points out that you might as well get ahead of the curve and hire someone to start your site from scratch.
Having your own website helps you build brand recognition. Instead of always having Instagram or Etsy’s URL associated with your store, you can have a clean URL that only displays your brand’s name when you decide to sell your products to customers from the comfort of your own platform.
2. Get Started on Social Media
Social media isn’t everything, but getting a good grasp of this tech arena will certainly help you succeed as a fledgling brand. For fashion brands in particular, getting good at using Instagram is a must. Since Instagram is image-driven, it’s the easiest platform for marketing apparel, and since your profile on this social media platform has a built-in store, it’s easy to convert likes into sales when you exploit Instagram to its full potential.
While Facebook isn’t as oriented around fashion, it is social media’s biggest advertising platform, so if you want to use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to spread word of your brand near and far, Facebook is the place to do it. Even social media platforms like Twitter, which doesn’t traditionally focus much on advertising, can be useful for connecting with customers.
3. Equip Yourself with High-End Photography Equipment
While it might be hard to justify buying yourself a high-end DSLR camera when you’re first starting out, you’ll be happy you took this step as soon as your brand starts getting some traction. Influential players in the fashion industry and other retail markets can tell the difference between photos snapped with a smartphone camera and those taken with bonafide photography equipment, and if you want to project the gravitas of an established brand from the get-go, investing in a high-tech camera is the best way to proceed.
Keep in mind that it’s possible to find a decent DSLR for less than $1,000. If you want to shoot scenes like the pros, however, you’ll need to divert a little bit more of your startup budget into selecting a device that will pick up the clarity and color depth that you see on the covers of fashion magazines.
4. Use Tech to Stay Organized
While you might think that the Apple Watch is silly in your consumer life, everything changes when you become the head of a new retail business. If you aren’t already, start using a calendar app to keep track of appointments and milestones, and get your team started with a file-sharing platform like G Suite to make sure that everyone is on the same page. You may even want to invest in a separate business smartphone to keep your professional and personal lives separate.
