You are now in a world where the internet and phones are more integrated into our lives every day. In such a situation, you will have to keep up with the innovations that change every day. This digital world has changed many habits of people. One of them is shopping. You have to follow the innovations both as a seller and as a consumer. Otherwise, shopping becomes an activity that wastes not only money but also time for both parties.
There is a huge difference between traditional shopping and online shopping. Although both have positive and negative aspects, the positive aspects of online shopping outweigh them. For this reason, if you want to sell on the Internet, there are some rules that you should pay attention to first. In this article, you will learn in detail the steps you need to know to sell t-shirts online, create an online store, and online order forms.
Advantages of selling your t-shirts online
Starting selling online t-shirts has many advantages in many ways. It saves not only money but also time for both sellers and consumers. Moreover, starting a new business may have challenging aspects for some, but the only thing to start selling is a small amount of capital. Here are some advantages of selling t-shirts online:
1 - Accessibility
As in any business, being accessible is also important when selling t-shirts. For this reason, selling online has a great place in terms of accessibility. All customers can purchase your t-shirts with a few clicks, regardless of day or night. In addition, your online store is easily accessible from your phone, tablet, or computer so that you can reach more new customers.
2 - Low cost
Selling t-shirts online is a method that reduces your cost in every aspect. First of all, since you don't have a physical store, you get rid of the rent problem, which is one of the most significant expenses. Secondly, since you don't have a store, you don't need any sales consultants, so you don't have to worry about employee salaries. Finally, you don't have to keep large warehouses for your t-shirts. Especially if you sell t-shirts as a print on demand, you can even use your house as a warehouse.
3 - Increase in sales
Increasing sales and steady growth is everyone's dream, especially for small business owners. Making sales online is one step that will help you achieve this. Opening an online store is actually creating a store that is open 24/7, and all consumers can shop from this store whenever they want. In addition, you can increase your sales even more by reaching more consumers as a result of comments and recommendations made by users about your t-shirts.
4 - Detailed analysis
E-commerce for small businesses is a great chance because they can analyze their sales with the help of analytics and statistics. These are very important for online businesses because you can see in detail which products and colors are more interesting to consumers and how many sales there are. As a result of these analyzes, it will be better for your sales to take measures such as stock increase.
5 - Less capital
Online stores for small businesses are very suitable because you can create your own online store with small capital. If you want to set up a store physically, you need a lot of products to fill it, which means a lot of money. However, when you want to sell t-shirts online, you do not require significant capital because it is one of the logical ways to organize your capital accordingly as the order arrives.
How to start an online t-shirt selling business (first steps)
Selling online is beneficial in many ways for both business owners and consumers. You may have no idea how to start an e-commerce business. Marketing online may seem complicated at first, but it's pretty easy when you go step-by-step. The steps you should pay attention to are as follows:
1 - Find a niche
All business owners prefer to have very high sales and appeal to everyone. However, catering to everyone's tastes can be challenging at times. In addition, appealing to everyone's taste can also make the patterns of your t-shirts quite ordinary. For this reason, it is very important to find a niche that fits the current trends.
Niche actually means that you define a specific target audience to sell your t-shirts. Rather than designs that appeal to everyone, unique designs that appeal to people with specific tastes can elevate your business. For example, metal-loving teenagers, fans of famous bands, and lines from popular TV series can be examples of niches. When you look at them separately, even if you prepare t-shirts for less audience, you make designs for a group that you will sell more.
2 - Work on your branding
Once you choose a niche, the next step is to create your brand. This step is crucial for building a serious business. You need to find a company name, register your company, design a logo for your fashion brand, write a catchy tagline and slogans, and finally, build a detailed branding guideline to have a consistent design.
3 - Design your t-shirts
Depending on the niche you are targeting, researching designs is another step. You can design your t-shirts if you are talented, or you can create designs in different styles by being inspired by the endless resources on the internet. Being creative and original is better for both shirts and your customers because consumers especially may like to have unique shirts that not everyone has.
4 - Choose suitable fabrics
Another noteworthy step is to choose the main fabric of your t-shirt. Fabric is one of the necessary steps because the fabric actually determines how the design and print will look on the t-shirt. The colors and kind of fabric have an essential place in this section. In addition, many consumers do not neglect to look at the fabric of the t-shirt they are going to buy. Printing on a high-quality fabric is a good choice for you and your customers.
5 - Print the T-shirts
Another step is to print your t-shirts. Print, as well as fabric, has a very important place in t-shirts. A quality print will make not only the t-shirt but also the design look better. Quality prints are generally one of the reasons why they are most preferred by many consumers.
6 - Decide on price
Another part that will affect your sales is the prices. If you have worked hard for both fabric and printing to be of high quality, it is your right to keep your prices high. However, when determining your prices, you should not forget that you will sell online and save on many expensive items. For this reason, you should set prices that will satisfy both parties.
7 - Find a suitable platform
Finally, finding a suitable platform for t-shirts is another step. There are many platforms where you can sell your products. Some of these may be social media, e-commerce sites, mobile commerce apps, or online order forms. Finding the best online store platform for small businesses can be difficult at first, but after researching thoroughly, you will find the one that best suits your interests.
How to set up your store with online order forms
As we wrote above, it is of great importance to be accessible when selling online. Creating online order forms is also one of the best eCommerce solutions for small businesses. Creating customizable forms is essential for both the consumer and the growth of your business. With forms.app, one of the best form builders, you can create an order form by following the steps below.
1 - Open forms.app in your browser
2 - Choose one of the order forms templates
3 - Add or remove questions
4 - Add online payment options
5 - Decide the theme of form
6 - Share on your social media account
7 - Embed it on your website
Frequently asked questions:
Traditional methods vs. print on demand
You may like the business of selling t-shirts online and want to put it into practice, but you may be confused about which method to use. Traditional methods and print-on-demand are the most common methods. In the traditional methods, you pre-print the types of your t-shirts and all sizes the targeted number of times. This process is quite costly because you need a lot of money both to print the t-shirts and to store them.
On the other hand, print-on-demand is a very practical method, especially for beginners. You put the products and sizes you designed on the platform you want, and then you print t-shirts as the order comes. For this reason, there is no risk of being unable to sell the t-shirts and there is no need for cost expenses such as keeping a warehouse.
Can I get custom orders with online forms?
forms.app has many advanced features, and with these features, you can get custom orders. First, you can add images to your order forms. For example, a customer of yours can upload a design to the form and ask for prices, or you can upload photos of your t-shirts. In addition, it is possible to upload files with forms.app.
Moreover, there are many options to design your form beautifully in forms.app, and you can change and customize the background or the theme of your form. Finally, you can embed the forms you create in forms.app on your website, so many of your customers can buy your t-shirts faster.
Can I add stock information for my products on forms.app?
Yes, with forms.app, you can easily see how much stock your products have left. After creating your product order form, you must first select the product basket from the field. You can then add stock information by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner of the product basket field. When the stock runs out, you can decide how it should look on the form.
Can I add variations and options for my t-shirts?
Yes, you can add options. After adding the product basket to your form, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select options. In this section, you should list the options you need to add to your t-shirts. For example, you can add the sizes, colors, or patterns of your t-shirts.
Which payment options can I offer?
You can add a payment field to the order forms you create with forms.app. In addition, you can quickly create payment forms using free ready-made templates. There are two major payment options on forms.app, one is Paypal, and the other is Stripe. With these payment options, which can be used in many countries around the world, you can receive the payment for your t-shirts.
Are there any transaction fees?
forms.app does not charge any fees for using these payment options. However, PayPal and Stripe charge you for these payments. Paypal fees start at $0.49 and vary depending on the amount you pay. Fees vary depending on what you do on Stripe and start at $0.30 in addition to 2.9%.
Is an online t-shirt business profitable?
As in any business, there are risks in selling t-shirts. However, if you find a suitable niche for yourself, it is possible to run your business with huge profits. In order to design t-shirts, you need to follow popular culture and trends. Making creative designs and printing on quality fabrics will be one of the reasons why you are preferred.
Moreover, you should carefully choose the platform where you will sell your t-shirts because platforms are a tool to reach more customers. It depends on your strategy to sell fewer shirts with higher profits or to sell more shirts with fewer profits.
Free order form templates to create your online store
Creating forms may seem confusing at first, but it's actually easier to create many forms with forms.app. There are lots of ready-made templates on forms.app, and by customizing them, you can create forms that suit your tastes in minutes.
Summary
In short, selling t-shirts online is a type of business that can be very profitable if you are interested in and follow the trends. First, selling online already has a lot of advantages, mainly because it's a profitable form of shopping for both parties. It is useful for consumers as they can compare many different options without wasting energy. For sellers, it is a type of business where they can sell without setting up a physical store and not spend much money.
Moreover, you can get detailed analysis and statistics about your products thanks to online sales platforms and online form builder sites. Also, you can improve customer satisfaction in your Ecommerce business thanks to analysis. One of these online form builder tools is forms.app and with forms.app, you can use eye-catching design options and add product baskets and payment fields, providing great convenience to your customers. If you want to sell your t-shirts online without wasting time, download forms.app now and start using ready-made templates.
Ebru is an Outreach Operations Specialist and content writer at forms.app. Writing is her passion, particularly on topics such as eCommerce, social media, customer engagement, surveys, and online forms. During her free time, Ebru enjoys watching movies and exploring new destinations.
