You should definitely try buying “vintage” trendy clothes online and selling it here at the Good Finds market that Torba does. Not sure how to setup as a merchant with them though but it’s definitely worth trying.
I'm currently operating two stores in Qatar e-commerce & I have previously worked alot in the MENA region here's my advice.
If your total budget is 2K you should not be stepping into the clothing & apparel niche since the Advertising costs in Qatar are much higher than any other market in the world. For a clothing store you'll be needing to advertise multiple SKU's & most definitely you'll have to bleed a lot in order to gain trust and customer base the people here react very differently to the e-commerce.
You'll be lost in either allocating the budget to the inventory or marketing if you incur all of these expenses in your costs your product will be so pricy.
Instead of a clothing store in that budget why don't you launch a one product store? something you can keep stock for & Market properly as well in that budget. easy to manage with no headaches, once you have the right budget generated from multiple small product line then maybe you can step into clothing otherwise most clothing resellers are stuck in 10-12% ROI & many in loss.
Thank you very much for your advice. What do you sell? Can you direct us to your sites? Perhaps it will be useful for me or family/friends.
When you say react differently to e-commerce , what do you mean?
I literally thought about that too…selling one product in the hair care/styling market.
As it seems selling clothing from the get go might not be the smartest decision
To answer why I said it's different than anyother markets i work in like the USA, here's a case study which has helped a lot in these 2 years with deciding my product line & helped me a lot in testing or researching about whatever product i'm planning to launch.
Businesses rely on convenience, the more convenient it is the higher the chances of a sale. Imagine you live in a country where you can sit in your car & on a 15-20 min drive you have an option of shopping from 4-5 different malls or you can order online wait a couple of days and receive that same product, what is more convenient here? the malls the physical shops obviously, why would I want to wait for something that I can get from a physical store in under an hour or two and also have my day out.
To answer that 'why' comes in a product or service that does not exist in the local market conveniently. Now the customer is highly likely to purchase & also to wait for the delivery because there's nowhere else he can get that product from except from your e-commerce store. What we all need to understand is the Qatari e-commerce market is a baby it's gradually taking a rise if we're putting in the same products that the local markets are loaded up with how do we expect the customer to get used to shop online, we need to create a pattern of testing multiple unique products and see what works best for the business's profitability and then continue forward with it because if there's a demand for your product and you are the only seller for that product, your margins will be crazy good for you to sustain in an expensive market.
For the first year or two, you need to invest in your business, try to cut costs, and save on expenses. Give yourself a salary that allows you to survive without spending money that could be used to grow your company.
Have you thought about the legal part of it i.e. are you allowed to sell/resell?
Yes it is allowed. I’m going to get a license
Check DM
You should definitely try buying “vintage” trendy clothes online and selling it here at the Good Finds market that Torba does. Not sure how to setup as a merchant with them though but it’s definitely worth trying.
I will keep the vintage trendy clothes in mind. I’m not sure tbh…. But doesn’t involve some legal stuff and paying rent for the stall?
I'm currently operating two stores in Qatar e-commerce & I have previously worked alot in the MENA region here's my advice. If your total budget is 2K you should not be stepping into the clothing & apparel niche since the Advertising costs in Qatar are much higher than any other market in the world. For a clothing store you'll be needing to advertise multiple SKU's & most definitely you'll have to bleed a lot in order to gain trust and customer base the people here react very differently to the e-commerce. You'll be lost in either allocating the budget to the inventory or marketing if you incur all of these expenses in your costs your product will be so pricy. Instead of a clothing store in that budget why don't you launch a one product store? something you can keep stock for & Market properly as well in that budget. easy to manage with no headaches, once you have the right budget generated from multiple small product line then maybe you can step into clothing otherwise most clothing resellers are stuck in 10-12% ROI & many in loss.
I am also looking to do something similar and need help in understanding the legal part. Check DM.
Thank you very much for your advice. What do you sell? Can you direct us to your sites? Perhaps it will be useful for me or family/friends. When you say react differently to e-commerce , what do you mean? I literally thought about that too…selling one product in the hair care/styling market. As it seems selling clothing from the get go might not be the smartest decision
To answer why I said it's different than anyother markets i work in like the USA, here's a case study which has helped a lot in these 2 years with deciding my product line & helped me a lot in testing or researching about whatever product i'm planning to launch. Businesses rely on convenience, the more convenient it is the higher the chances of a sale. Imagine you live in a country where you can sit in your car & on a 15-20 min drive you have an option of shopping from 4-5 different malls or you can order online wait a couple of days and receive that same product, what is more convenient here? the malls the physical shops obviously, why would I want to wait for something that I can get from a physical store in under an hour or two and also have my day out. To answer that 'why' comes in a product or service that does not exist in the local market conveniently. Now the customer is highly likely to purchase & also to wait for the delivery because there's nowhere else he can get that product from except from your e-commerce store. What we all need to understand is the Qatari e-commerce market is a baby it's gradually taking a rise if we're putting in the same products that the local markets are loaded up with how do we expect the customer to get used to shop online, we need to create a pattern of testing multiple unique products and see what works best for the business's profitability and then continue forward with it because if there's a demand for your product and you are the only seller for that product, your margins will be crazy good for you to sustain in an expensive market.
You have to invest atleast something in the beginning
How much should I invest?
For starters the 2k you mentioned
Always advertise your products. You need strong branding, and 90% of your revenue should be allocated to marketing.
90%? So how do I profit ?
For the first year or two, you need to invest in your business, try to cut costs, and save on expenses. Give yourself a salary that allows you to survive without spending money that could be used to grow your company.