What’s so good about using an ecommerce solution for clothing stores and fashion outlets?

The traditional model of a high street clothing business has long been hampered in terms of growth by the ever-present necessity of rental costs, stock overheads, staffing, utility bills and a whole range of other material outgoings associated with managing a store front in town. In fact, in the light of the recent global economic turndown, many market specialists have cited uncontrollable increases in energy prices, inner-city rental costs and inflation as the cause of unoccupied properties in shopping centers, markets and malls, while a record number of small businesses in developed economies like the UK have either suffered greatly or entered administration due to similar financial constraints.

But, in the last decade or so, another option has become available to clothing and fashion merchants. It’s one that has helped to eliminate the potentially damaging reality of financial debt by simultaneously eliminating the need for rented property, bloated staffing teams and utility subscriptions. It’s also one that has soared exponentially to become one of the world’s most popular commercial models right across the board, now holding a nigh on monopoly over sectors as broad and divergent as computing, electronics, groceries and fashion.

Of course, I’m talking about the ecommerce solution; a system that allows sellers to market and present all their goods online in an organized catalogue that’s easy to navigate and secure in its processing of payments. Today, the benefits of the system are so widely accepted that it’s extremely unusual to encounter any major brand that doesn’t have either a fully-fledged ecommerce solution in action, or at least an online presence of a similar sort.

In fact, the earliest beginnings of ecommerce are largely attributed to a number of big name pioneers who not only made their fortunes from utilizing this low-risk, low-cost model, but also made their names trading online. Think of ASOS (appropriately the abbreviation of ‘As Seen on Screen’); today one of the world’s fastest growing online fashion retailers and a brand name that’s undoubtedly here to stay.

In the fashion and clothing sector, the bonuses of using a viable ecommerce solution for businesses (especially start outs) cannot be overstated. Not only does it allow managers to mitigate stock levels in accordance with demand (for example, by only printing certain designs upon order), but it means all sales, tax deductions and transaction records are neatly stored in an online backend database too.

These are just some of the bonuses felt by fashion and clothing brands that decide to make the move online, and with more and more plugins, scripts and additions being added to the various open source ecommerce systems every year, their functionality and advantages are only set to increase.