How to start an online store in India for your Fashion and Apparel business

Apr 22, 2020
27 minute read

The impact of COVID-19 is widespread. Irrespective of the industry your retail business is in, the slowdown has surely impacted your sales and the coming months seem unpredictable in terms of business growth. This is when most of you are thinking on the lines of how to start an online store in India.

Where retail experts on Economic Times and GQ say that it’s going to take more than a year for the retail industry to revive, the current circumstances highlight the shift of consumer behaviour to online shopping more than ever. Especially with the news of the lockdown opening for even non-necessity businesses after April 20th.

In this comprehensive guide, we’re sharing every little detail about how to start an online store for your fashion and clothing business to prepare for the new normal and succeed at it.

Note: This guide is for businesses that are brand new to Shopify and are looking for guides on how to open an online store.

How Would Online Fashion Shopping Work?

Online fashion shopping will be no different than essentials shopping now. Just like how grocery and other necessities retailers will be setting shop online, fashion brands will take the same route. You will need to learn how to start an online store and launch your brand digitally to reach consumers.

Retailers will be seen offering no-touch doorstep delivery and even store pick-up options to their customers. Here’s what a typical customer’s shopping journey would look like now:

Customers identify/ find the products they want to purchase and pay online
The customer also chooses the delivery option - no-touch delivery or store pick-up
You receive the order and begin preparing it safely according to their request
If the customer chooses store pick-up while placing an order on your fashion and apparel online store, they will drive by your store and pick up the order at the date you mention
If the customer chooses no-touch doorstep delivery, your delivery partner will pick up the order from your store and make the delivery

How to start an online store: Step-by-step to start an online clothing store

Step 1: Sign up on Shopify to start an online store

Set a domain name that is the same as the name you went by offline.

For instance, if your brand is called XYZ, your domain will look like - www.XYZ.myshopify.com.

You can go into personalizing your domain name later on, which is also covered in this guide on how to start an online store for your clothing brand.

But before that, create a logo for your online store using Hatchful by Shopify - it takes minutes and is FREE!

Step 2: Design your store

Your first step in getting your store ready is to customize your store design. By default, you will have a theme set for your store. But, we need to ensure that your theme suits the kind of products you are selling and that it reflects your brand. Here’s how to start an online store with a design that truly reflects the story of your brand:

1. Pick your theme

You need to first pick a theme that suits you and the products you are selling. All themes that are built for fashion stores can be found here.

Here’s how you can start exploring themes:

On the Shopify dashboard, click on 'Online store'. On this page, you can choose to explore all themes available on Shopify or just the free themes.

We have a few suggestions to help you simplify your search for the right theme:

Minimal theme: A clean design that focuses on product images and prioritizes on functionality.
Brooklyn theme: Add some character with a wide header image/video and a sleek design.
Modular theme: This is a paid theme but allows you to bring out your personality, with product highlight sections that are sure to grab shopper attention.

Here’s a glimpse at what the Modular theme looks like for an online clothing store:

Once you’ve found the theme of your choice, click ‘Add theme’ and the theme will automatically be added to your store.

Note: The theme works as a basic framework of your store’s design and you can customize it to suit your style.

2. Customize your theme

Once you’ve selected your theme, you will be brought back to the ‘Online store’ page. Within the 'Live theme' section, click on 'Customize' to give the theme your brand's personality.

You will be shown a theme editor page where you can customize different elements of your theme.

(I) First, upload your logo. Click on ‘Header’ and you will be shown a field to upload your brand logo.

(II) Now, depending on the theme you’ve chosen, the default sections shown within your theme editor will vary.

You can add a section by clicking on the 'Add section' within the editor sidebar. You will be shown a list of sections you can browse from— collection list, featured collection, featured product, newsletter signup, rich text, video, etc.
Click on the section you want to see a preview of how it will look. You can add the section by clicking on ‘Add’ next to the section.
Once added, you will be shown settings to help you customize the section.
To delete a section, select the specific section and click on the 'bin' icon.

(III) Once you’ve added all your sections, switch the tab to 'Theme Settings'. Here, you can choose the colors you want your store to have, the typography, how the cart page and checkout should look, etc.

(IV) Once you’ve customized your theme, click on ‘Publish’ to take your theme live. If you still want to make edits, you can click on ‘Save’ and come back to the theme later.

(V) Then once saved, click on the Shopify logo to go back to your dashboard.

3. Customize your menu navigation

The menu navigation simplifies how your shoppers look for products and pages on your store. On the Shopify dashboard, click on 'Online store' and then select 'Navigation' from the dropdown.

Click on ‘Main Menu’ to start customizing your top menu bar.
On this page, click on 'Add menu item'.
Add a name for the menu item (keep it short) and paste the relevant link.
To create dropdowns, hold the dotted elements on the menu item and place it directly under the menu item you want to add it under. Once the toggle icon is shown, you can drop the menu item there.
Once you’ve added all your relevant links to the menu navigation, click on the ‘Save menu’.

4. Add important pages

Next, you need to add relevant pages like your brand's About page, Shipping information, Privacy Policy, etc. Here’s how you set up a page:

Click on 'Pages' under 'Online Store'.
Here, click on the 'Add page'.
Name the page, add content according to what you want to show, edit the searching engine preview including the page URL.
If you are setting up a ‘Contact’ page, select the template dropdown and click on ‘page.contact’ to add a contact form within the page. The contact form will be shown under the content you have added to the page.
Click ‘Save’ once done.

Here is a list of pages we recommend in our guide on how to start an online store for success:

About page: Explaining your brand, your values, etc.
Contact page: This page can allow shoppers to reach out to you for help.
Privacy Policy: This is a statement or a legal document that states how a company or website collects, handles and processes data of its customers and visitors. You can find a sample of it online.
Shipping Information: Explain your shipping process, how long delivery takes depending on city, state, country, etc.
Return Policy: Explain the terms and conditions for returning a product, how long it takes for refund, etc.
Hygiene standards: Let your shoppers know what hygiene practices you have in place for your products and its manufacturing, packaging, and delivery.

Step 3: Adding products

Now that you have your design set up, it’s time to add your products to your store. There are two ways to do this:

Upload products manually on the dashboard
Upload products using a CSV file/ product spreadsheet

Uploading products manually on the dashboard

1. Go to your store admin and click on Products from the left-hand side menu bar.

2. Click on the Add Products button on the top right of your dashboard to begin uploading your products.

3. Now add the product name, product description, some product images, and videos to display on your store, the category/ collection and other information here.

4. Next, add the pricing and the inventory details of the product on the same screen.

5. Don't forget to also add the Shipping details of the product.

6. If your product has multiple variants in terms of styles, colours and other parameters, remember to check that box too.

Once you're done, click on Save and your product is uploaded to your store.

Uploading products using a spreadsheet/ CSV file

1. Fill up your product spreadsheet

If you have a large inventory, it’s best to download the product template CSV. You can edit this spreadsheet and add all your products, their details, colour, product image, type, variants, etc.

2. Upload the CSV onto your Shopify dashboard

On the Shopify dashboard, select ‘Products’ from the left sidebar. At the top of the page, click 'Import' and then click on 'Add file'. Once added, click on 'Upload and continue'.

You will be shown a preview of one of the products in the spreadsheet. Review the details and ensure there aren't any mistakes. Click on 'Import products' to add them to your store.

All your products have successfully been added to your online store!

Video tutorial: Importing products with a CSV file.

3. Review images and optimize for SEO

Lastly, you need to preview and check your product pages to ensure the product page URLs are optimized and short, images are clear, and your text has no typos.

You can do this by clicking on the 'Online store' on the left sidebar' and selecting 'Customize' on the page that appears. Here, you can go through each product page on your store.

If you need to make any edits, click on 'Edit this product' within the editing sidebar.

Step 4: Assist in making the right purchase

Customers who are used to walking into your brick and mortar store to make a purchase will probably find it challenging to make the right purchase online. To deliver a great shopping experience (and reduce your return rates), you need to offer more assistance to online shoppers.

A few ways to do this include:

Measurement chart - An absolute must-have is including a measurement chart on your product pages. Make sure that the top and bottom measurements are provided separately and as accurately as possible. If your sizes tend to run large or small, mention it in a quick note in your description.
Live chat - Implement a live chat on your store to let customers reach out to you at any time with any questions they may have. You can even automate a few answers like linking them to a size guide or an article that describes the product details better using apps like Gorgias or Tidio.
Product videos - Go beyond product images and include videos to give customers a better look and feel of your products. Shopify has a default feature to add product videos to your pages to make this easier. You can read about it here.
Text on product videos - You can even use apps like Typito to add text on videos to make them more descriptive and self-explanatory, guiding the customer through different aspects of your product.
Video calls - If your brand offers a high-end range of fashion products, you can consider offering support over video calls. This will ensure that your customers are making the right purchases and you get to earn brownie points for offering an experience worth the money.
Virtual try-on - It’s also a good idea to enable virtual try-on of your products. Similar to what you may have seen on sites like Lenskart. Virtooal has apps that can help you implement this on your store with ease.

Step 5: Customize your cart

This is the make or break stage of your online store. You need to ensure that your cart page clearly lists down the products added to it and its pricing. You also need to ensure that it is devoid of any distractions that might take the shopper away from completing the purchase.

1. Design customizations

Here’s how you can customize your cart’s design:

On the Shopify dashboard, click on 'Online store'. Within the 'Live theme' section, click on 'Customize' to give the theme your brand's personality.
Switch the tab to 'Theme Settings'. Click on ‘Cart’.
Choose your cart type— drawer or page. The drawer shows up within the page without requiring the page to reload.
You can check ‘Order notes’ to allow shoppers to add special instructions.
Once the design is finalized, click on ‘Save’.

2. Add payment methods

Set up multiple payment options to allow shoppers to choose the payment type they prefer. This makes it easier for them to complete the purchases online.

To add payment methods to your store, all you need to do is click on ‘Settings’ and select ‘Payment Providers’.

Shopify supports all the popular payment methods in India - including cash on delivery. You can take a look at all our payment gateways here.

We have also covered this in more detail under the next section of this guide.

3. Include shipping fees

Add shipping prices so that it gets automatically added to your shopper’s order.

On the Settings page, click on 'Shipping'.
Click on 'Manage rates' and scroll down.
Edit the prices for different kinds of shipping according to the costs you bear for shipping.
Click ‘Save’ once done.

4. Customize checkout processes

On the 'Settings' page, you will find the 'Checkout' page to allow you to customize different aspects of the checkout. You can choose to ask your customers to create an account when they check out, select what information you want to collect from your customer, etc.

Here’s a good example of a cart page from Lindsay Nicholas:

Learn more: Cart page best practices to increase conversions and sales.

Step 6: Customize emails

You need to keep your shoppers updated about their order and it’s status. This can easily be done with transactional emails, which are automated, real-time messages sent to a user about their order. With this setup, your customer will instantly receive an email when the order is confirmed, shipping, delivered, etc. This keeps them informed, ensuring positive customer experience.

On the Shopify dashboard, you can set up and customize transactional emails. Here's how you can do it:

On the Shopify dashboard, click on 'Settings'.

Here, click on 'Notifications' to see a list of messages you can set up to be sent to your customer when an action is taken.

Click on the Notification you want to edit. You can customize the text part of the email body— email subject, the text between {% capture email_title %}, and the text for email body that includes customer first name.

Once you’ve edited your text, click on ‘Save’.

Step 7: Delivery

1. Partner with a delivery company while setting up the online store

Take a look at the delivery companies in your area that are operating right now. Based on what your products are, who your customers are and what delivery speed they expect, choose a partner accordingly.

Shopify India has integrations with all major delivery companies. You can find a partner here.

2. Add no-contact delivery on your store

It is important to provide a safe way for customers to receive orders without any contact with the couriers. A no-contact delivery option is also a way to safeguard those who deliver the orders.

You can offer this on your store easily with the app, No-Contact Delivery.

The app enables you to let your customers add more delivery instructions like leaving the order at the gate, door, or giving them a phone call one hour prior.

Additionally, you can also let your customers choose a date and time for delivery using apps like Order Delivery Date.

3. Keep the customers posted about the delivery

The next step is to keep your customers informed about their order status. This is especially important now as it will help them plan their next purchases accordingly.

You can do this easily by installing the app, AfterShip on your store.

While email and text updates on order shipping and delivery work well, you can also consider adding Messenger and web push notifications.

Step 8: Offer pick up at store

There are some localities in cities that are not allowing doorstep deliveries. Consumers have to go outside within a defined time frame to make purchases.

In this case, it’s a wise idea to also offer ‘pick up at store’.

Learn more: Checklist to set up your online store (click to watch the video).

How to start an online store and launch your Fashion and Apparel business digitally

Step 1: Pick a plan on Shopify that suits your business needs the best

Once you have set up everything above, it’s time to take your online store live. That’s when you need to pick a plan that suits your business’s current needs the best. Remember, the idea is to get started and scale as you need - so even the Basic Shopify Plan is all you need to offer a ‘buy online, pickup at store’ experience for your customers.

If you’re worried about taking hosting separately or choosing the right bandwidth or have concerns around security about your products and customer information, fret not. Shopify plans include hosting with unlimited bandwidth capacity and all security aspects are also taken into account.

So you can run high traffic campaigns on even high-value products without worrying.

Step 2: Informing your existing customers about your online clothing store

First things first.

Once your online store is set up, you need to inform your existing customers about it. Infact, you should be reaching out to all the shoppers who knew about your brand, interacted with you in some way at the store and who you have contact information on.

You can do this in a few ways:

Send your existing customers an email to notify them about your online store and how they can continue making purchases
Share the news on social media with a link to your new store and a little ‘why’ about you moving online
Text your customers about your online store launch to make sure they don’t miss the news amidst the COVID-19 chaos
Send your followers a message on Facebook Messenger to let them know about the online store

Step 3: Accepting orders on your store

Once a customer places an order on your store, you’ll receive an email from Shopify. Log back into your store admin dashboard using the same email address. All your orders will show up in the Orders section of your Shopify admin.

Pro tip: Remember to download the Shopify mobile app (Android/iOS) as well. This will help you stay up-to-date with all the orders being placed, even when you’re on-the-go.

Once you’ve prepared the order for pickup, capture the payment. Then select Mark as fulfilled to see your own progress. This will do two things - capture payment from a customer’s credit card and send the customer an email notifying them that the order is either out for delivery or ready to be picked up.

In the Summary section, press the Fulfill items buttons. Tag the orders that are ready for delivery/ pickup clearly. This way, you will get clear visibility on the progress of all your orders.

When the order is picked up or delivered to the customer, remember to change the tag.

Step 4: Accepting payments for your orders

Shopify offers all leading payment providers in India to make it easy for your customers to pay for the orders they place. You just need to enter your payment account details and you’re all set to accept payments from customers.

Note: All payment methods supported by Shopify rely on third-party providers to process the transactions made on your store. These providers might charge extra fees as well as have certain rules and regulations about what products you can sell using their services. So when you’re setting up a payment method, make sure you understand the rules and the fees.

To set up your payments, read this step-by-step guide on getting paid.

If you want to offer cash-on-delivery to your customers, follow these steps:

Select Settings -> Payment Providers
Scroll down to Alternative Payment Methods
Search for Cash on Delivery option and enable the same
Now visit Apps -> Advanced Cash on Delivery
Set a min-max price limit for COD orders
If you want to charge extra COD fees, select “Create new Cash on Delivery shipping rates” option under “Cash on Delivery shipping rates”
If you wish to restrict COD to only certain pin codes, select “Limit where Cash on Delivery is available” next to Postal codes section and upload CSV file with a list of available pin codes

Keeping your brand alive (marketing strategies)

Launching a store for your fashion and apparel business is not enough. With so many other brands doing the same, you’re going to have to work towards keeping your brand alive consistently to not get lost in the competition.

Here are a few marketing strategies you should be using:

1. Run social media and search ads

Since you’ve always had an offline business, it is important to spread the word about you taking your products online. It’s a good idea to set aside a little budget to run ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and even the search engine, where your target customers are actively looking for products.

To make these ads more effective, promote a discount to shoppers on their first online purchase. It’s also a good idea to use creatives that tell your brand story, give a glimpse of your products and help your ad stand out to capture attention.

This strategy does two things - helps you stay on top of your existing customer’s minds and lets you reach a new market too.

Here’s an example of Kim Kardashian’s store, SKIMS, running an ad around the new ‘being at home’ lifestyle:

Ps. Not sure how to run prospecting ads to drive traffic and sales? RevTap is offering a FREE ad consultation along with 2 months of using their app for actionable marketing reports.

2. Set up a loyalty program

There are so many brands coming online that a typical online shopper will get the choice of purchasing the same or similar product from at least 10 stores. So even if it’s an existing customer, chances are that they’ll be more willing to explore other brands that are now selling to them.

To ensure you keep customers coming back for repeat purchases, make sure you set up a loyalty program. This is where you start rewarding a customer with in-store credits or points that they can use to make the next purchase.

Apps like LoyaltyLion, Smile.io, and Flits can help you set up a loyalty program in minutes.

All you need to do is identify the reward that a customer will find the most valuable.

Here’s an example from Skinny Dip London:

3. Create a referral program

The one marketing strategy that will get you new customers faster and at a lesser spend is the word of mouth marketing. But you need to encourage your existing customers to spread the word about your brand or recommend your products in their network.

A referral program only works when you ensure two things - great customer experience and a win-win situation for the referrer and the referred. It could be something as simple as offering a 10% discount to the referrer for every new customer that he brings to your store, and a 10% discount to them as well to nudge the first purchase.

With apps like ReferralCandy, you can have a referral program up and running in no time.

Here’s an example from UNTUCKit:

4. Make your Instagram feed shoppable

One thing that hasn’t changed is the visual-driven behaviour of online consumers. If you’re actively using Instagram, it is important that you make your feed shoppable. By this we mean, that a viewer should be able to click on your posts to read more about the product it features and also make the purchase by adding it to their cart from there.

Now, this is not as complicated as it sounds.

All you need is an app like Cameo or Instafeed.

The app auto-detects the product if an item is tagged on Instagram Shop images, making it easier for your followers to make a purchase.

Here’s an example of a Shoppable Instagram feed from CosplayBuzz:

5. Create engaging content with Lookbooks

Don’t wait for your customers to explore products on their own. Nudge them into it by creating interactive Lookbooks on your store. It is basically a gallery of images or videos of your products that can be embedded into your store or your blog page in a flip-through format.

Take it as an exclusive online magazine for the products you want to bring attention to.

You can make these Lookbooks shoppable by using apps like Shoppable Gallery.

The app enables you to tag products on the images in the gallery, letting a shopper simply click and add them to cart as they browse through.

Here’s an example of a shoppable Lookbook from MLFurs:

6. Send product recommendations on email

After a customer has made a purchase from your store, remember to keep them engaged with your brand using email marketing campaigns. Emails are still one of the most effective channels when it comes to interacting with a customer on a 1:1 basis.

You can send them personalized product recommendations based on the purchase they have made or the products they browsed through. This helps you also get more of your products discovered and bring back customers for repeat purchases with better engagement rates.

To send out product recommendations on email, you can install the app Wiser.

The app can be integrated with Klaviyo and other email marketing apps to send out these recommendations.

7. Leverage text marketing

Another channel that you can leverage to keep your brand actively at the top of the shopper’s mind is text marketing. Let shoppers subscribe to updates via text and use the channel to reach out to them with discounts or even abandoned cart reminders.

This is a proven effective marketing strategy because even if the shopper is offline, they will receive your message. So you can pull them back to your store in no time.

Apps like SMSBump can help you set up multiple campaigns in minutes.

8. Automate your Messenger campaign

With the lockdown, all of us have become very active on social media. One of the channels that we’re constantly using to stay in touch with friends and family is Facebook Messenger. That’s why you need to include it in your marketing strategy.

From customers that make purchases from you to those who show interest in your products, remember to stay in touch with them over the Messenger. You can automate campaigns to remind them of the products they left behind or simply reach out to them with the discounts you’re running.

Install the Recart app to automate these campaigns within minutes.

9. Re-engage subscribers with web push notifications

Another channel that you can use to re-engage your subscribers and customers is web push notifications. Just like text marketing, these notifications reach your customers even when they’re not on your store. So you get a chance to capture their attention again and drive them back to your store with things like offers, discounts or even cart reminders. With web push notifications, you can reach out to customers on both desktop and mobile.

PushOwl and BoosterApps can help you set up and automate your web push notification campaigns in no time.

10. Set up your Facebook Shop

We know most of you have been actively using Facebook to keep your customers engaged and build awareness around your brand. That’s why you should also consider setting up a Facebook shop after your online store is live to make it easier for consumers to make purchases via the social media platform. You can even easily chat with customers through this shop.

So after you have made sure that your store meets the requirements, you can add a Facebook Shop and connect your Facebook account. You will then need to wait for Facebook to review your store before you can start selling through the Facebook Shop.

To set up this Facebook Shop, read this step-by-step guide.

Here’s an example of BonOrganik using the Facebook Shop:

Also read on how to start an online store: Creating customizable storefronts on Facebook and Instagram.

11. Display product reviews and ratings

Starting your online store is like building your credibility all over again. That’s where social proof comes in to help your brand build trust all over again. You can do this by displaying product reviews, ratings, and testimonials on your store.

Now requesting your customers for reviews at the right time is important for this strategy to be successful.

You can automate these requests and display these reviews across your store using apps like Loox, Judge.me or Yotpo.

Some of these apps even enable you to display photo reviews on your store. This increases the user-generated content on your brand new store, giving it the look of a brand that has been selling online for a longer time.

On the other hand, consumers seeing others like them use the products gives them more confidence to purchase them.

Here’s an example from BonOrganik:

12. Don’t lose customers to stock-outs

As you start driving more traffic to your store, you’re going to see some of your products go out of stock. But that doesn’t mean you need to turn away that shopper and lose them to a competing store.

You can always ask them to subscribe to a restock alert that lets them as soon as the product is back in your store. Don’t lose a chance to convert shoppers into customers by nudging them to subscribe for updates.

Install the Back In Stock app to let a shopper subscribe to restock alerts on SMS, email, web push notifications, and Facebook Messenger.

The app automatically sends out an alert to subscribers as soon as the product is restocked.

Remember, there is no one-strategy-fits-all approach here. Take up strategies that you can do justice to and have resources for.

You can choose to do it one-by-one, measuring the impact each strategy has on your new online store’s growth - both in terms of brand awareness and the number of sales you’re generating.

Need help in understanding how to start an online store or would like someone to set up an online fashion/ clothing store for your business?

From understanding the nuances of how to start an online store to understanding online shopping behaviour of consumers to actually reaching out to them when you're ready, things can get very overwhelming.

That’s why Shopify has tied up with select partner agencies in India who can help you start an online store in no time.

With their expertise in eCommerce and our platform, we have had retailers start an online store in less than a day as well, reaching their customers faster than they imagined!

For setting up your business online, the partner agency will charge a one-time flat fee of INR 10,000 for a basic storefront. This will include the following:

UI/UX design using a free theme template- upto 3 banners and 7 pages (including about us, contact form, collection pages)
Product upload (upto 50 products or at max 10 categories)
Payment Gateway (onboarding, integration, and cash on delivery)
Shipping Charges
Contact us Page
Setting up a maximum of 5 free apps as per requirement
Setting up a pick-up point, if required
Tax Setup

The fee charged by the agency partners does not include:

Domain name purchase costs
Additional customizations
Operational costs that you may incur once the store goes live

Here's a list of some of vetted Shopify Partners who can help you take your fashion and apparel business online:

Ready to start an online store with Shopify?

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Save more than 1 Lakh INR with our carefully-curated offers from industry-leading technology, solution and service partners to help you start an online store for your clothing/ fashion apparel business - Get the complete Back to Business Guide.

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