The consistently high demand for women's underwear and a good level of profitability make the business idea for its production very promising for investors.
To take a leading position in this market segment, you need solid start-up capital.
Selling underwear or tights
Do you want to open a lingerie store or have you decided to sell exclusively tights? Or perhaps you intend to sell both? One way or another, you ask yourself a lot of questions at the first stage of this event, and this especially concerns the range of goods that need to be purchased first.
Indeed, it is often difficult for beginners to decide on a wide range of products such as tights and underwear; in addition, there are questions about prices and the needs of the modern market for certain products.
The situation is such that someone opens their own lingerie store, someone is more interested in selling tights wholesale, and lingerie in small wholesale. There are many reasons why this is interesting for businessmen, but in all cases, questions and difficulties definitely arise. As, in fact, in any other new business.
In particular, the assortment is important: exactly how many tights and underwear need to be purchased in order to completely fill the store windows, as well as what should be on the shelves all the time and what should appear as they are sold. Also important is the seasonality of such a product, etc.
The following recommendations will help make life much easier for novice entrepreneurs who decide to open their own store selling women's tights and underwear.
It is worth noting that tights and underwear are something that the fairer sex never spares money on, since these things always allow them to look beautiful and sexy.
Many people know that until the early 90s it was extremely difficult to purchase beautiful and high-quality underwear. An erotic lace bra was truly the ultimate dream of every woman in the Soviet Union. Moreover, such underwear was also very expensive. All that women could afford in those days were domestically produced products, but everyone knows how they differed in quality from what could be seen in fashionable foreign magazines.
Today the situation has changed dramatically. An incredible selection of underwear for every color and taste has appeared on sale. The variety of colors and models is simply dizzying - sexy lingerie for intimacy, cotton lingerie for every day, seamless for the picky, lingerie for sports, etc.
The main advantages of this business
The ups and downs of the economy affect the purchasing power of the population. Thrift is primarily reflected in sales of luxury goods, and the lingerie category remains in demand.
Weighing the pros and cons, we can highlight the main positive aspects for this business:
- Small area of rented premises . The product takes up little space, so there is no need to rent a large retail space, at least at the start.
- Profitability . On average, the markup on underwear is about 100%, but on crazy models it can reach 250-300%.
- Easy to store . Unlike food, linen is a non-perishable product.
- Low fashion influence . Among the lingerie models there are classic ones that will always be relevant and will not stay in stock.
The disadvantages include a lot of competition.
If you want to start your own business, but don’t understand how to open it correctly, you need to analyze the actions of your competitors. A lingerie store can be large, free-standing, or small, organized as a department in a shopping center. In the first case, advertising will be needed, in the second, the visitors will be buyers in the shopping center. You can start by offering products on the Internet, and over time, rent a room and invite your subscribers to come to the store.
The correct choice of target audience, expansion of the range of services, and most importantly, the optimal price-quality ratio will help you become a leader among similar stores.
Tights
Their abundance is simply amazing - they come in classic, not bright colors for business meetings and office work, fancy ones with a variety of all kinds of patterns, as well as for every day - it all depends on the purpose of going out and even on the mood of the lady!
It must be said that the presence of such an assortment clearly indicates that the trade in underwear and tights is on the rise today, and this is largely due to the fact that women really often spare no expense on this.
In many ways and in connection with this, the lingerie market is very competitive. Tights and underwear are sold today in markets, in tents on the way to the metro, and in specialized boutiques. Even in a large retail chain you can always find a department that sells stockings, tights and underwear. And, I must say, for every product in all these places there will always be a buyer who will be offered products for every taste.
Staff
“Personnel decide everything” is an axiom that also applies to a lingerie store. A friendly, friendly employee who is ready to advise and resolve a conflict situation is a big component of success. You can find the “right” seller by contacting a recruitment agency and listening to recommendations. When submitting a recruitment announcement, it is necessary to conduct an interview and instruct the employee.
Advice! For new employees, it is better to set up a trial period of 2-4 weeks, and if everything is in order, make it permanent.
When selecting, you should pay attention to the following qualities:
- communication skills;
- willingness to sell: offer, advise, consult;
- grammatically correct speech;
- neatness;
- goodwill;
- punctuality;
- honesty;
- politeness;
- non-conflict;
- discipline.
All employees are required [Clause 15] to have health certificates.
For a small store (up to 30 m²), it is enough to hire 2 salespeople working in shifts, but on the condition that it will work no more than 8 hours a day. With a 12-hour workday, the number of employees must be increased to 3.
To clean the premises, you can hire a cleaner or negotiate with the sellers on additional payment for cleaning.
Store assortment
Another problem for an entrepreneur is the need to competently and quickly navigate the diverse range of underwear and tights that wholesale companies offer today. It wouldn’t hurt to even conduct your own marketing analysis on the best-selling brands. And when you decide on the manufacturer whose product you will sell, you will also need to study its assortment, thinking about what exactly you should purchase in a given season. For example, the “dead” season for trading tights in the central part of Russia is considered to be the period from June to August, so at this time it is better to focus on the assortment of underwear.
Consider regional differences as well. Thus, there are regions in which the demand for tights never falls due to the cool climate.
Closer to the body: how to launch a lingerie brand in Siberia
Spouses Alexander and Natalya Kuznetsov have been selling underwear of various brands in Siberia for more than 20 years. And then the crisis pushed them to create their own brand. The Kuznetsovs developed the Mon Plaisir trademark and created their own small production facility for it in Barnaul. The couple say that they are tired of depending on their franchisor partners - and now, finally, they are completely autonomous. Alexander and Natalya Kuznetsov told the Biz360 portal why they decided to rely on complex models and how they see the future of lingerie retail and their place in it.
Dossier
Alexander and Natalya Kuznetsov
, entrepreneurs from Barnaul, founders of the lingerie brand. Natalya graduated from Altai State Technical University (specialty in enterprise economic management). Alexander was educated at the Link business school. Since 2004, the Kuznetsovs have worked under franchises of the Palmetta and Calvin Klein brands in Barnaul, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk and Novosibirsk. In 2008, they launched their own lingerie brand, Mon Plaisir, which today operates 4 stores. In 2020, the couple opened their own linen and homewear production.
How it all began
Alexander and Natalya started doing business back in the 90s - and, like many then, they went into trade. At first it was wholesale, then it grew into retail. They sold hosiery and sportswear.
At that time, of course, there was no underwear market in Russia as we know it today. Therefore, as soon as Palmetta stores appeared in different cities of the country, they created a sensation. One of the entrepreneurs who developed this brand as a franchise was Alexander Kuznetsov.
“We were one of the top ten Palmetta franchisees in the first half of the 2000s. Then the brand began to develop retail, and before that we had already worked with the brand at the wholesale level,” says Alexander. — At that time, the lingerie market in the country was in its infancy; apart from the Belarusian Milavitsa, there was nothing special, and the assortment was presented in black, white and beige colors. Therefore, customers came in droves to the first Palmetta stores: they saw colored underwear, and even grabbed models that did not fit in size. Because it was something new and accessible.”
At the same time, together with their partner, the Kuznetsovs opened three more outlets under the Calvin Klein franchise. But this brand was designed for a higher price segment and did not have such a mass audience as Palmetta.
The first two Palmetta stores appeared in Barnaul, then in 2006 the Kuznetsovs opened the first location in Kemerovo. “I still remember: she appeared in a shopping mall that opened at night,” says Alexander. — In the first hours, 1.5 thousand people passed through the store. Sales at that time went crazy, and we eventually opened three stores in Kemerovo. Subsequently, revenue there was always two to three times higher than in Barnaul.”
For your pleasure
It's been a good few years with Palmetta. The first alarm call, as Natalya says, came in 2008, when the Kuznetsovs already had 12 stores in Barnaul, Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk. Then the owner of the brand refused to approve the opening of another boutique in Barnaul, saying that during the crisis he did not need a new store. And the Altai franchisees have already found and equipped a site for it.
The Kuznetsovs decided that a good place should not be allowed to go to waste, despite the difficult economic conditions. And they came up with their own brand, Mon Plaisir (translated from French as “My Pleasure”), under which they opened a store.
The name was specially chosen to be French in order to associate the consumer with European quality. At first, French brands began to be sold under the brand. But then we had to move away from them, as it became clear that the demand was not great enough and we needed to sell something to a wider audience.
Soon, the entrepreneurs, using old connections and acquaintances, managed to find a large transnational supplier in London with production in Hong Kong with a capacity of 12 million products per month. The company produced underwear both under its own brands and for other brands, for example, for H&M. This enterprise became Mon Plaisir's main supplier.
“We took things from them for all segments at once: economy, average and above average,” says Natalya. “The bulk of our assortment then consisted of, for example, bras costing 1,300-1,400 rubles.”
Push to production
The Kuznetsovs have been working on their brand for a long time in parallel with franchise projects. But by 2012, Palmetta moved into a higher price segment, and Siberian buyers were not ready to spend more. Prices for products eventually quadrupled, and sales fell. And in 2013, the Kuznetsovs stopped collaborating with the owner of the brand, as well as with Calvin Klein.
And in 2014, the ruble devalued, and the stores of the creators of Mon Plaisir were among those who came under attack.
“If it weren’t for the currency jump, we would have continued to sell other people’s products under our own brand,” Alexander believes. - But this turned out to be impossible. When your contract for 100 thousand dollars begins to cost 8 million rubles instead of 3.2 million rubles, then it is obvious that you will not sell for that amount. Because for a bra that yesterday cost 1,300 rubles, no one will suddenly pay 3,500.”
“In the end, we had to make a difficult choice: leave the underwear niche altogether or continue no matter what, moving on to production,” says Alexander. — The first option meant starting from scratch - this is always very long and difficult. The second option also meant a difficult path, but already familiar. I had a long dialogue with myself. And in the end, we decided that we had devoted too much time to our activities to now take and retreat.”
“We are tired of living from partner to partner, and from crisis to crisis,” adds Natalya. “Before 2014, we already had the desire to create our own product, so the jump in currencies simply pushed us towards this.”
The Kuznetsovs began by shrinking their retail business by closing five stores. Six remained to work in Kemerovo, Novosibirsk and Barnaul under the Mon Plaisir brand.
Technologist from Europe
The experience of working as a franchise gave the couple connections in the private lingerie industry and information about how large retail structures operate in it. In addition, the entrepreneurs managed to travel to specialized lingerie exhibitions abroad - this also enriched their knowledge base. They turned out to be the key factor at the start of their production.
In Russia, the creation of underwear is a fairly empty niche. Small companies of this profile began to appear simultaneously with the start of the Kuznetsovs in 2014 on the wave of import substitution, most of them in the central part of the country. Therefore, there is very little information on the Internet on technologies and equipment, and most importantly, there is no personnel. There was only one thing left: to follow the path of trial and error.
In 2020, the Kuznetsovs launched an experimental workshop in an office building. We simply bought three sewing machines, a small batch of cotton fabric, hired a design technologist and began producing three models of simple panties. Imported analogues became expensive, there was a demand from the market - and Mon Plaisir began to supply its first products for 199 rubles apiece. Such products were sold in thousands of pieces per month.
But for the corset line, that is, things with a solid frame - bras, bodysuits, etc. – Russian technologists were no longer suitable. They just didn't have the necessary skills.
“We didn’t have time to train someone on our own - we had to quickly start work, produce and sell,” explains Natalya. — As a result, only thanks to our established contacts we found our design technologist in Europe. This is a professional with extensive experience working in well-known international companies, a freelance specialist with a very narrow profile who works simultaneously on different projects. This person made us the design of our first bra, which we produced only towards the end of 2020. This is how we continue to work through outsourcing. Later we were able to find a designer for the collections - he was already in Russia, but with experience working for European brands.”
It was the technologist who suggested to the Kuznetsovs what equipment was needed and who could be used as suppliers. Today Mon Plaisir has about 10 of them, all of them located in Europe. Various fabrics are used in tailoring - cotton, lace, microfiber, etc. One bra can contain up to six types of fabric. And if you count the accessories, you may end up needing 10 different suppliers to create one bra.
Size matters
The Kuznetsovs did not apply for grants, did not take out loans, creating production entirely with their own funds. And by the end of 2020, they were able to fully equip a real production site of 200 square meters.
The premises were found quickly - on the territory of a former factory in the city center. There they put on stream not only panties, but also lines with home clothes (T-shirts, dressing gowns, shirts) and framed underwear. By the summer of 2020, Barnaul products had completely replaced other brands in Mon Plaisir stores. The core of her target audience was women 30-35 years old.
“The most difficult group in production is corsetry for women with a breast size larger than 85D. It’s very labor-intensive to do,” says Natalya. – Therefore, a huge number of overweight women today face problems when choosing underwear - in general, less of it is sewn for them. Push-up models for small sizes are much easier to make, because they have a ready-made cup in their design. Therefore, there are plenty of such products in the mass market. But large cups need to be modeled, and different models are needed, because all customers are individual. It takes about six months to develop and implement one large bra shape (from the pattern, the first batches to the creation of the collection).”
Now the Barnaul production mainly makes bras of small and medium sizes. But developments are also actively underway for clients with large breasts. To date, 25 collections have been released. Every time Natalya personally studies world trends for new products - for example, color solutions are laid out there. But it is important to take into account not only them, but also the specifics of your own sales.
“We don’t make our collections big - since we only have our own product in our stores now, variety is more important to us,” comments Alexander. — Therefore, we focus on the maximum number of forms and types of “landing.”
So far, Mon Plaisir produces 5 thousand units of products per month, although the capacity allows for up to 15 thousand units.
“Although corsetry is sewn on an assembly line, it is actually manual labor: each bra is assembled by hand,” says Natalya. — We have found some specialists for this area, but we are still looking for some. Therefore, if the market suddenly asked for twice as many products right now, we simply would not be able to provide it - despite the fact that our equipment fleet is ready and there are raw materials.”
Online is coming
The Kuznetsovs plan to focus their efforts on corsetry in the future. On the one hand, there are no problems with the production of home clothes and panties - it is not difficult to find personnel here. On the other hand, this is why such things are easy to repeat, and competitors can easily steal ideas. This is what happened with the Barnaul brand of underwear.
“At the start of production, we tried to hide our activities, but it failed. Industrial espionage, unfortunately, is very common in our field,” states Alexander. — For example, such “intelligence agents” infiltrated us under the guise of hired personnel. And we already have competitors who are trying to copy our products. That’s why we will focus on the corset line: it’s much more difficult to copy here.”
Also among the immediate plans is to increase online sales, which were launched in November. “Trade is changing a lot now. Obviously, all the prospects for retail lie in the network. At the moment, in Central Russia, underwear is more often purchased via the Internet - but, of course, all trends reach Siberia with a delay,” says Natalya.
“Sales volumes in online stores are growing, but offline ones are falling,” states Alexander. “For example, we opened stores in several new shopping centers that have appeared in our city in the last couple of years - and we are disappointed. Passability is low. It turns out that you yourself must prepare and bring your clients to this shopping center - and we actually came to the shopping center because we thought that there were already buyers there. As a result, there seems to be a flow of people there, but there are no purchases. Shopping malls have gone from being places of shopping to simply being entertainment centers.”
The Kuznetsovs are not going to close all those points that are already open - these are test sites that are needed to “test” their products in sales. But two of them will still stop working in January 2018, and entrepreneurs abandoned their intentions to open new stores in other regions. Now they think it makes more sense to simply supply their products as a manufacturer to partner stores.
We are currently looking for such partners. And there is already a plan to start selling Mon Plaisir products in Moscow next year. “I think everything will work out with this, we have a partner there who is interested in selling such products,” says Alexander. “But we have a lot of promotion work ahead of us.”
What's next
Mon Plaisir has a lot of stereotypes to break. In the stores of Barnaul entrepreneurs who worked before creating their own product, things are going well - there is a prepared target audience there. But developing new points is more difficult. The Kuznetsovs say that when customers see their products for the first time, they often experience disbelief: what kind of Barnaul underwear is this?
But the Kuznetsovs do not plan to create a massive PR sensation: this requires a large budget (for example, for dozens of outdoor advertising billboards in different cities). The owners of the lingerie brand believe that it would be better to invest in production. From classic advertising channels, they tried local gloss, considering television and billboards ineffective. And they see promotion prospects in the same place as sales prospects - on the Internet. And now they are actively conducting photo shoots of their collections and creating other content for their online presence.
“True, here we have more than once been disappointed by those who rather imitate virtual advertising activities, that is, do not generate real sales. For next year, we have selected a team for online promotion with an analyst and a marketer on staff. We think this time there will be an effect,” says Alexander.
The Kuznetsovs believe in their product. Moscow partners once told them that for the capital, premium Mon Plaisir products cost like things from the mass market: bras for 1300-1800 rubles, panties for 490, etc. And in any region of the country, prices for Barnaul underwear are still half as much as their European counterparts. For a Russian buyer this is a very powerful argument.
How much money does it take to open a lingerie store?
For the first purchase of goods in your store you will need about three thousand dollars.
We also must not forget about one of the main rules of trading - the larger the assortment you have, the better the trade will be and the higher the likelihood that the buyer will come to you for tights and underwear. The most ideal option is if the assortment includes many sets of panties and bras of different types: from tango and thongs to classic slips. And in the summer season, increase the range of swimwear.
Statistics show that 70 percent of the fair sex prefer underwear in sets, and only 30 percent choose it individually.
In addition to a good assortment, you must also have all sizes in stock, otherwise the buyer will not be able to buy the model he likes if it does not suit him. A huge plus of trading tights and underwear is that these things take up little space and do not spoil. That is, if you were unable to sell tights this year, you can be absolutely sure that with the onset of cold weather, all stocks will instantly go away, unless, of course, they are a hot commodity.
One of the main points when initially purchasing a product is knowledge of the assortment. Another important key success factor is competent and experienced staff. The product range is large, and you need to know it well in order to accurately determine what will suit a woman, based on the characteristics of her figure.
VISHKOPT
The VISHKOPT company is the official supplier of goods from famous European brands Passion, TARO, Gabriella, Verano, Beauty Night, Donna, Ewlon, Obsessive, Me Seduce, Doctor Nap, Mia-Mia and others, more than 20 brands in total. And the product catalog contains more than 5 thousand items, there is plenty to choose from. In addition, according to the supplier’s representatives, the catalog is updated with one new brand approximately once a month.
What's in stock:
- men's and women's underwear;
- swimsuits and swimming trunks;
- erotic lingerie;
- home clothes;
- fitness clothing;
- stockings and tights.
Terms of cooperation:
- the minimum cost of a consignment of goods is 10 thousand rubles;
- for orders over 20 thousand rubles - free delivery to the transport company terminal;
- a discount on the first order of 10 percent (for a batch cost of 50 thousand rubles);
- shipment of goods - within 1 minute after placing an order on the website;
- any composition of the batch: individually, in size ranges, and so on;
- work with online stores of any organizational and legal form.
The VISHKOPT website can be integrated with your inventory accounting system for timely updating of balances. This way you will see on your side what is available and what is not. There is no need to make any additional requests.
Price issue
Practice shows that underwear from the middle price category sells much better. There is no point in having many expensive sets of underwear, since their purchase is usually a one-time purchase. This is usually an impulse purchase. Meanwhile, the profit from selling an expensive set will, of course, be higher than from selling panties for 150 rubles.
The markup on tights and underwear ranges from 50 to 100, less often - up to 150 percent. Everything will depend on how popular this store is.
As for the demand for underwear, it does not depend on the season. These are not tights. Linen is in demand throughout the year. And growth is observed closer to the New Year and March 8th. During the summer holiday season, the demand for swimwear certainly increases significantly.
Opening costs
Start-up costs:
- opening an individual entrepreneur
- rent,
- purchasing the first batch of linen,
- equipment,
- repair and decoration.
Registration of an individual entrepreneur will cost about 7 thousand (with a stamp and bank account). You will have to spend at least 80 thousand rubles on the first batch. You will have to spend about 50 thousand rubles on equipment.
A lingerie boutique is not just a store. Clients should feel comfortable. Therefore, at a minimum, you need to create a colorful showcase near the entrance and two fitting rooms with false walls (it is better not to use simple curtains, it is not aesthetically pleasing and undignified) made of plasterboard or other simple material. Therefore, repairs cannot be avoided. The costs for it depend on the degree of “neglect” of the rented premises and can range from 30 to 60 thousand rubles.
Total start-up costs are at least 200,000 rubles.
Additionally, you need to take into account the monthly costs of paying employees, as well as renting premises, purchasing goods, taxes and advertising a lingerie store. You can meet the amount of 100-150 thousand rubles per month.
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Step-by-step plan for organizing a store
Having studied the regional market for such delicate and delicate products, you can begin the following steps to implement your plan:
- Selection of premises for the store. Points of sale should be located in places where a large number of potential customers, that is, women, gather. These could be areas where there are fitness clubs, beauty salons, shopping centers, busy streets, etc.
- Purchasing store equipment taking into account the range of goods and customer convenience.
- Concluding contracts for the supply of products, taking into account seasonal preferences and holidays.
- Personnel selection.
- Advertising company.
Advertising for a lingerie store
It is important to come up with an original name and order a bright sign for the store. If the store is located in a walk-through location, you won’t need to spend a lot on advertising. Additionally you can:
- Hand out flyers to passersby.
- Order outdoor advertising
- Consider special promotions - “three sets for the price of two.”
- Use announcements in elevators and on public transport - if your budget allows.
- Promote the store on social networks, especially Instagram. You can also set up targeted advertising there. Hold competitions among subscribers, give out prizes (discount coupons), publish customer reviews.
Sales technology for underwear and hosiery
Lingerie sales volumes depend little on the season, but may increase as the holidays approach. While tights and other hosiery products are in seasonal demand. At the start of the project, you should decide on the price category of the assortment and, according to this, correctly place the outlet in the place where your potential buyer is concentrated. To increase demand for a product, it is advisable to organize all kinds of holiday promotions and bonus programs for regular customers. It's good to have related products on sale. For example, bags for gentle laundry, linen closet fragrances, laundry care products, delicate fabric brighteners, etc. Such pleasant little things are readily purchased in addition to the main product by the buyer himself. But they can serve as a gift, a bonus for regular customers of the store. And an important factor is the quality of products and the level of service, thanks to them satisfied customers will come to you for new products again and again.
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