Do you want to boost clothing sales and build a brand? If YES, here is a sample clothing line marketing plan template that will help you attract and retain customers. Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a clothing line.
We also took it further by providing an in-depth sample clothing line business plan template. In this article, we will be analyzing and drafting a sample clothing line marketing plan backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for clothing line businesses. So put on your marketing hat and let’s proceed.
Clothing Line Marketing Plan & Ideas – A Sample Template
1. Our Present Business Situation
Classic Label™ Clothing Line™ is an international clothing line that will be located in Los Angeles. Presently, our clothing line business has been duly registered and we have the entire required legal document to fully operate the business in Los Angeles, California.
We are able to secure a good facility that will serve as our production line and warehouse at least for the first 2 years of operation before expanding the business. We have all the needed industrial sewing machines, pattern maker for clothes, heat transfer machines for Tee shirts, industrial pressing irons and all the needed machines and tools.
We are set to go into full swing production of clothes on the 5th of January, 2016 and currently our fashion designers and tailors are all undergoing technical training and they will be rounding up by the second week of December. As things stand, we have perfected plans to hit the ground running and have our clothes penetrate the market as soon as we start producing them.
2. Our Products
Classic Label™ Clothing Line™ was established with the aim of producing quality and highly fashionable clothes for men, women, young adults and children. We know that quality is a key factor that will help us sell our brand which is why we have but in place a competent quality assurance team that will ensure that all our clothes meet and even surpass our customers’ expectations.
We will work hard to ensure that Classic Label™ Clothing Line is not just accepted nationally in the united states of America, but also in other parts of the world. Here is a list of our products;
- Men’s corporate Shirts
- Men’s Casual Shirts
- Women’s corporate dress
- Women’s casual dress
- Pants
- Shots
- Jackets (male, female, adults and children)
- Sport shirts
- Children’s clothes
- Uniforms
- Robes
- Winter clothes
3. Our Mission and Vision Statement
Our vision is to establish a clothing line whose brand will not only be accepted in the United States of America, but also in other parts of the world.
Our mission is to establish a clothing line that will make available a wide range of clothes for male, female, young adults and children; a clothing label that will favorably with international clothing labels like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Gap, Mango and Calvin Kline et al at the global stage.
Our Market Goals
Our marketing goals is closely related to our mission statement and it is to establish a clothing line that will make available a wide range of clothes for male, female, young adults and children; a clothing label that will compete favorably with international clothing labels like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Gap, Mango and Calvin Kline et al at the global stage.
In view of that, we are set out to achieve the following market goals:
- Generate a total sale of 500,000 US dollars within the first year of launching our clothing line
- Generate a total sale of 1,000,000 US dollars within the second year of launching our clothing line
- Ensure that our clothes sell not only in the United States of America but also other parts of the world
- Work towards opening another clothing line factory in Asia preferably in Thailand
What we aim to achieve from our market efforts are as follows:
- To compete favorable with the leading clothing line label in the United States of America and in other parts of the world
- To build a self – sustaining business that will contribute to the growth of the economy of the United States of America.
4. Our Marketing Budget
The fact that our goal is to establish a clothing label that will compete favorably with international clothing labels like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Gap, Mango and Calvin Kline et al at the global stage means that we should be willing to spend more on marketing our clothing line label / clothes hence we have set aside a budget of 50,000 US dollars for marketing.
Going forward, we will budget between 10 percent and 15 percent of our annual income towards marketing our clothes.
5. MARKET ANALYSIS
- Industry Overview
Beyond every reasonable doubt, the clothing line industry is indeed a money spinning industry – just like the food industry and the real estate industry. Why is this so? Well, it is simple, clothes is amongst the top three needs of humanity.
Statistics has it that in 2010, American households spent an average of $1,700 on apparel, footwear, and related fashion products and services. In the 2010 alone, the global market for textiles made from organically grown cotton was worth well over $5 billion; that goes to show how big the industry is.
- Interesting Statistics You Must Know About the Clothing Industry
In the United States, Canada, united kingdom, Australia, France, and Italy and in other part of the world; people spend on clothes especially renowned clothing line brands, just to feel among and look trendy. For instance; Manhattanites spend the most cash on apparels in the U.S.; they spend an average of $362 per month whilst shoppers in Tucson, Arizona, spend the least on apparel; they spend an average of $131 per month. In the United Kingdom, consumers have an estimated £30 billion ($46.7 billion) worth of unworn clothes lingering in their wardrobes.
The bureau of statistics stated that employment in the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry has declined by more than 80 percent (from about 900,000 to 150,000 jobs) over the past twenty years. However, labor productivity in the U.S. manufacturing sector more than doubled from 1987 to 2010. Labor productivity also more than doubled over that period in U.S. textile mills and nearly doubled in footwear manufacturing sector as well.
6. SWOT Analysis
Because of the nature of business we are involved in and the brand we want to build, we are able to hire the services of an HR and Business consultant with bias in fashion and retailing to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives. This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for Classic Label™ Clothing Line™ Clothing Line;
- Strength:
Perhaps one of our strongest points of strength could be attributed to the quality of employees and the latest machines and equipment that we have in our production factory. Our chief executive officer will be bring is wealth of experience to the table and that is indeed a huge positive for Classic Label™ Clothing Line.
- Weakness:
A major weakness that may count against us is the fact that we are a new clothing line company and we don’t have the financial capacity to compete with multi – billion dollars fashion label like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Gap, Mango and Calvin Kline et al when it comes to controlling the market.
- Opportunities:
One thing is certain, whether good or bad, people will always look for clothes to wear; the opportunity for clothing line to sell their clothes is massive and we hope to leverage on these opportunities.
- Threat:
Just like any other business, one of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn. It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new clothing line who may want to adopt same business model like us.
7. Our Target Market
No doubt the clothing line industry has the widest range of customers; everybody on planet earth wears clothes howbeit different designs, quality and style.
In view of that, we have created strategies that will enable us reach out to people that cut across different classes in the society; we will produce clothes for male, female, young adults and children. We have conducted our market research and survey and we will ensure that our clothing label is well accepted in the market place.
These are the different group of people that we will be producing clothes for;
- Male
- Female
- Young Adult
- Children
- Corporate Executives
- Expectant mothers
- Sports Men and Women (sport clubs)
- Students
- Churches (Customized church robes)
- Para Military organizations (Uniforms)
8. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY
- Sources of Income
Classic Label™ Clothing Line™ will be involved in the production of clothes (casual, corporate, sport clothes et al) that will meet the needs of male, female, young adult and children. In view of that, we will generate income from the sale of;
- Men’s corporate Shirts
- Men’s Casual Shirts
- Women’s corporate dress
- Women’s casual dress
- Pants
- Shots
- Jackets (male, female, adults and children)
- Sport shirts
- Children’s clothes
- Uniforms
- Robes
- Winter Clothes
9. Sales Forecast
It is important to state that our sales forecast is based on the data gathered during our feasibility studies, market survey and also some of the assumptions readily available on the field. It is important to state that people buy clothes for different purposes and clothes sell all through the calendar year. If it is winter, the demand for winter clothes will increase and if it is summer, the demand for summer clothes will increase. Below are the sales projections that we were able to come up with for the first three years of operations;
- First Year-: $ 1,000,000
- Second Year-: $1,500,000
- Third Year-: $2,500,000
N.B: This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the clothing line (fashion) industry and with the assumption that there wouldn’t be any major economic downturn, as well as any clothing line that will adopt our unique business model. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.
Our Unique Selling Point; What Makes Our Clothing Label Superior to Our Competitions
Our unique selling point as a clothing line company is the fact that we are going to be producing clothes for a wide range of people; we will produce clothes for both the rich (customized production) and the poor (mass production).
Another competitive advantage for our Clothing Line is the quality and wealth of experience of our management team. Our management team comprises of professionals who have worked with some of the leading international brand in the fashion industry. Our latest machines and equipment also count towards our advantage especially when it comes to competing with clothing line within the same category that we operate.
The quality of every clothes that comes out of our production line must be certified ok before they are released to the market.
10. Benefits Our Client Stand to Gain When They Purchase Our Clothes
The fact that our clothing line will be designed for both the high profile customers and the low profile customers means that we will go into both mass production of clothes and also go into customized production of clothes specifically for high profile clients such as celebrities and top politicians et al.
In view of that, here are the benefits our customers and potential customers’ stands to benefits when they purchase our clothes:
- Good quality and long lasting clothes
- Affordable clothes
- Good value for their money
- Opportunity to order customized clothes for special occasions either as individual or in group
- Warranty on all customized clothes purchased from us.
Strategic Marketing Alliance with Our Competitors in the Clothing Line Industry
No doubt, it is pretty difficult to form any strategic marketing alliance with a competitor in the clothing line industry simply because every clothing label will do all they can to take advantage of the available market as much as they can even if it means altering their design to fit into the latest fashion trend.
If at all there is any opportunity to form a strategic marketing alliance with any clothing line label it could be a clothing line label whose niche is far different from yours.
For example, a clothing label that is specialized only in producing African native attires may likely enter into a strategic marketing alliance with a clothing line that is into the production corporate wares. So also a clothing label that is into the production of sports clothes may likely for strategic marketing alliance with a clothing label that is into the production of baby’s clothes, children’s clothes and maternity clothes et al.
11. Our Customer Retention Strategies (Ways to Improve Our Customer Experience)
The success of any business is directly proportional to the numbers of repeated business they are able to generate. If a company is able to achieve over 60 percent retention the company will sure experience huge turn over. We have perfected plans on how to improve our customer experience from time to time.
These are the ways we intend utilizing when it comes to improving our customer experience so that we can create a good impression and generate repeated sales from them:
- Ensures that we only roll out to the market good quality clothes free from defects
- Ensure we get feedbacks from our customers at all times
- Give our customers the options to choose from a wide range of colors, sizes, and designs et al.
- Make use of effective customer relationship management (CRM) software to effectively manage our clientele base.
- Ensures that we carry our customers along when making decisions that directly affect them.
The Possible Ways We Intend Offering Incentives to Our Customers / Clients (Bonus, Discounts, etc)
Part of our marketing strategies which is clearly stated in our business plans is to ensure that we offer our customers incentives in order for us to retain them and of course continue to generate repeated sales from them and also to attract new customers. We know that if we are going to win our own fair share of the existing market, then we must be willing to outsmart our competitors.
As a matter of fact, we have perfected plans to sell our clothes with close to 50 percent discount during off peak period so as to attract potential customers who may eventually become our loyal customers cum unofficial brand ambassadors.
We will create a loyalty plan that will enable us reward our loyal customers who have been consistent in purchasing clothes from us. Rewarding them could be giving them discounts on every purchase they make and also giving them gifts during special occasions
12. After Sales Service and Customer Support
We are all out to favorably compete with leading clothing labels in the United States of America and in other parts of the world hence we have put in place a team that will help us handle any complain that those who purchase our clothes may have.
We have a call center and walking center where anyone who purchase our clothes can call in or visit to lodge their complaints if they have any and as a matter of fact they will get a replacement right on the spot. We will do all we can to ensure that we only release high quality clothes without any factory error.
So must likely the kind of complains that we envisage is the issue of size. For example, a customer may purchase our clothe only to realize that it is not their size, in such cases, when they visit our walk – in center or call our call center will change it for them without delay or additional cost on their part.
Possible Questions We Intend Asking Our Customers During Our Market Survey
These are the 10 possible questions we are going to put forward when conducting marketing survey on our customers / clients:
- Are you satisfied with the quality and designs of clothes?
- If you are not satisfied with the quality and designs of our clothes- what areas would you want us to improve on going forward?
- What is your size of trousers, shirts and what is your preferred color?
- How would you want us to communicate with to you when we roll out new designs of clothes? Text messages, e – mail, or via mobile apps (BBM, twitter, WhatsApp et al)
- How much are you willing to pay for a customized dress?
- How often do you buy new clothes / dresses?
- Where do you buy your clothes from? Online boutiques or brick and mortar boutiques?
- If you are giving the opportunity to change one thing in our clothing label / or style what would that be?
- Can you comfortably recommend our clothes to your family members, friends and colleagues?
- Are you satisfied with our customer service delivery? If not what areas would you want us to improve on?