Lingerie includes women’s clothing, primarily underwear items, lightweight robes, sleepwear, and intimates. These garments are generally alluring and fashionable. Those made from silk, lace, satin, charmeuse, chiffon, and Lycra have become prevalent.

In 2020, market analysts valued the global lingerie market at $42 billion. The global retail market is projected to hit $78.66 billion by 2027. There’s no denying that starting a lingerie business can be highly rewarding. This article explores how to create a lingerie brand successfully.

1. Study the lingerie market as much as possible.

We recommend conducting in-depth market research before starting your own lingerie business. This practice will help you determine the viability of your brand before your product hits the market. Keep in mind that your target market is primarily women. You may need to get their opinions from your prospective customers about their interest in what you’re offering.

The top product categories in the lingerie market include panties, bras, and briefs. A customer could walk into your store for a bra, thong, or pantie. Whichever way, you should always have products readily available. For inspiration, you can check out items from notable lingerie retail stores like Soma, Anita & Rosa Faia, Chantelle, Boy Shorts, Wacoal, TellTale, le Mystère, Elomi, SPANX, and Hipsters. Aim to gather qualitative, competitive intelligence from them to create viable products and gain a comparative advantage.

2. Decide on the type of payment system.

Before starting your lingerie business, you should decide on payment types you’ll accept from your customers. Before now, companies took payments in either cash or checks. Nowadays, some select stores accept debit cards, credit cards, and electronic bank transfers. Offering your customers more than one payment option can encourage bulk purchases and boost sales in your business. Many business owners cite high operating costs as challenges to their business’s bottom line. More so, they find it challenging to track their sales and expenses.

Whether you run a brick-and-mortar or an eCommerce retail store, consider integrating a Point of Sale (POS) system into your accounting processes. Today, business owners use point of sale (POS) systems to process payments, track inventory, and analyze sales. With a powerful point of sale software, you can accept online orders and process online payments. Essentially, you can efficiently manage your sales and inventory. For example, restaurateurs leverage Abacre restaurant Point of Sale for online orders and payments processing and receipt generation.

Think about setting up point-of-sale (POS) terminals in your physical store for processing card payments. That way, a customer can pay for a product using a debit card or credit card. Also, consider contactless solutions for mobile payments. Basic POS systems include cash register software to collate data from daily purchases. You can improve the functionality by installing a card reader or chip reader. For more information, feel free to check out Retail Plus for a free POS software download.

Depending on the POS software features, you can track inventory changes, pricing accuracy, sales patterns, and gross revenue. There’s no gainsaying that retail POS software can enhance customer management and employee management. The key takeaway is that POS systems can help with inventory management and financial account management.

3. Try to create attractive loyalty programs for customers.

Customers are the lifeblood of any business, primarily because they drive revenues and increase the bottom line. Companies are in constant competition with each other to attract customers. Developing unique products and advertising strategies may not be enough to guarantee customer loyalty.

The way you treat your customers can give you a competitive edge over your competition. As an emerging business owner, learn to prioritize delivering efficient customer service. Satisfied customers tend to show their loyalty through word-of-mouth referrals, favorable online reviews, and repeat business.

Nowadays, lingerie business owners sponsor loyalty programs to acquire and retain customers. A loyalty program aims to incentivize customers for prior purchases made. Retailers offer discounts and rewards for brand loyalty. Essentially, the more customers patronize your store, the more significant their rewards are.