How To Grow Online Clothing Store Sales: 7 Proven Strategies

Can't get the sales of your clothing store moving – or don't know how or where to start? 

We've got just what you need, with really smart tweaks you can implement across 7 types of marketing strategies to get your clothing store’s sales moving:

1. Product marketing – create winning products 

2. Traffic acquisition strategies – get traffic that gets sales  

3. Social media marketing  – establish authority (and sales) 

4. Content marketing – a solid way to reduce CAC

5. Personalization marketing – a solid way to provide service

6. CRO strategies – turn visitors into customers 

7. Email marketing – turn leads to sales to fans 

Let’s go!

Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Clothing Business 

1. Product marketing – create winning products 

a) Just talk to your customers about ‘you’ 

You’ve done the research, selected a few product categories – and got your store online. 

Now, all you have to do is confirm or add to your own perception of your clothing brand. You can talk to your target/existing customers.

Find what makes ‘you’ (brand and products) unique to them – what made them buy – who would/did they consider before they buy?

The answers will give you areas to solve or jump on – get which products work – and, as a bonus: build loyalty. 🤩

Quick Tip: Consider doing this as 1:1 if possible – like a Zoom link or a Live Chat quiz. 

FURTHER READING: Build an eCommerce Brand without Splurging: A Founder's Guide

b) Don’t copy your competitors

ZERO differentiation kills sales.

If your store looks and feels just like another brand, wouldn't they just go to them? 

What you should do, instead, is look for gaps and opportunities – and fill them.

💡 Need ideas? 

▶ Check what products they feature – read the 3-star reviews to get a feel of where your competitors fall behind

▶ Look for gaps in their socials – read comments on their posts

▶ Get subscribed to their emails – check their email delivery routines, frequency, and content

▶ Add their products to your cart and check how soon they follow up on email/SMS

▶ Check if they offer real-time support through live chat or call

Quick Tip: Most eCommerce clothing stores lack long return periods – consider filling the gap with a longer return period. If you are worried about revenue, you can run a ‘thrift’ sale from returned products every quarter (or recycle them if you own the manufacturing process).

c) Create a brand value proposition using your PMF

“D**n you Old Navy and your reasonably-priced three-packs!” – How I Met Your Mother, S1, EP 16. 

Fans of the TV show or not, this is a perfect example of PMF and brand fit. PMF is all about the demand for a product within a certain market. 

Old Navy’s name pops up because of great product placement – but also the fact that Old Navy offers affordable products. 

How do you use your PMF to create your brand’s unique value proposition (UVP)?

▶ Show how you focus on solving problems like sizing issues for women

▶ Incorporate answers from your product survey into your product pages and descriptions

▶ Justifying your pricing – like showing your sourcing practices and manufacturing 

Check how Universal Standard, a plus-sized women’s clothing brand, creates its brand value by using the demand:

Quick Tip: Do not buy into the sustainability or cause marketing angle (unless you as a brand actually advocate it).

FURTHER READING: Inclusive Marketing: 22 eCommerce brands that do it right

2. Traffic acquisition strategies – get traffic that gets sales  

a) Get more higher intent traffic with eCommerce SEO

More traffic ≠ more sales. Higher intent traffic = people who come to you for “you” (also applies to product type/category).

What you need to do is optimize your product and category pages for maximum visibility. Alongside that, you need to look at building thought leadership through content marketing.

To optimize product pages, you can create variations of long-tail keywords that align with your UVP– like “plus-sized chemical-free clothing for men” – and include those keywords in your product descriptions, titles, reviews, and FAQ sections. 

Also, make sure that your URL structure is consistent and SEO-friendly. Other than that, you can also use schemas to optimize your category and product pages – think shipping locations, the aggregate rating, coupon codes, etc.

Quick Tip: Regularly update your Google My Business and Merchant Center Listings with the latest offers.

FURTHER READING: 3 eCommerce SEO mistakes to avoid and get more conversions

b) Experiment with paid marketing strategies (but there’s a catch)

Ads work on a lot of levels to grow your brand (that's another post altogether). 

You can experiment with ad narratives like a price match guarantee backed by social proof.

Or display a UGC video that shows a customer or an employee trying your fits – or a mystery unboxing video. 

You could also retarget organic visitors from your socials (YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok) on Google search results with Shopping and Search ads. 

Or retarget website visitors with incomplete carts on your website on social media platforms. But, what's the catch here? 

Do this only when there’s actually some craze and buzz around your brand. 

Nobody wants to be the first batch of buyers – so ensure you’ve got a buzz going from your socials first. 

Quick Tip: Once you start your website, invest heavily in your social media marketing strategy (more on that later). 

FURTHER READING: Convert more paid traffic—9 strategies that always work (eCommerce)

c) Have a referral program in place

Giving a piece of the pie in exchange for a new customer is a great way to increase traffic, and sales while reducing CAC.

For example, you can offer $10 off on every order in exchange for bringing in a customer who will also get $10 off on their first order of $X.

Or, create a free gift card or a custom coupon code, that customers can send and earn a discount on their orders.

You can use your email list to get more referrals – want more ideas? 💡

FURTHER READING: eCommerce Referral Email: 10 Examples That Really Work

d) Consider listing on marketplace platforms (Etsy/Amazon) 

Sure, your website is a great place to sell – but, platforms like Etsy or Amazon have their own value propositions.

What gets the sales going is that customers rely on platform policies – and you can test your product market fit. 

You get a custom brand microsite – reach unique customers – and a good amount of sales if you have optimized your listings for SEO (and generated some hype through your socials).

All you have to do is ensure collecting customer information – and read up on reviews.

Quick Tip: To ensure that your listings don't compete with your entire site in the long run –  start listing a small sample – consider limiting certain product ranges to Amazon/your chosen platform.

FURTHER READING: 17 Creative (Yet Economical) Ways To Drive Traffic To Your eCommerce Store

e) Create a partner program

Fashion designers, tailors, influencers, gym trainers, personal stylists, and MUAs have their own audience network – and can refer ready-to-buy customers your way.

Remember, this isn't an affiliate program that makes customers a salesperson – it’s more exclusive (and has higher margins).

For example, you can incentivize tiered benefits like “Generate $X worth of sales and get X% FLAT” or “Generate $XX worth of sales and get XX% FLAT.”

You even generate a huge buzz as well as sales if you manage to create strategic partnerships, as Alphaturi does by partnering up with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile:

3. Social media marketing – establish authority (and sales) 

a) Host influencers or experts on live streams

The new age of PR is built on peers. Live stream events with peers like micro-influencers, designers, or your employees themselves can generate a buzz like no other.

The best part is that the scope is endless – because customers see relatable faces – you can talk about custom limited time ranges you built in collab with the influencers/experts. 

Or, you can open up a Q&A session or take feedback. 

Either way, this marketing strategy builds participation – but also lets you find active advocates within viewers.

Quick Tip: Make sure you thank viewers for participating – and send the recommendations shown during the live stream via DM (or email). 

FURTHER READING: 15 Underutilized Social Media Ideas For eCommerce Brands

b) Enable seamless shopping with social shops 

Social shops help across the funnel – lead to impulse purchases (and cater to window shoppers as well). 

All you have to do is make sure your products are available for purchase with great product images (read relatable), consistent pricing, and some exclusive deals:

c) Encourage customers to create with you

Customers see other customers – they buy. 

But, you’ve got to be quick – you can create casting call campaigns or giveaways in exchange for videos or content using your merchandise. 

For example, ‘show the weirdest way you wear our {product}.’

You can also reply to mentions with your own content – or comment on their photos. 

As you keep doing this, visitors who aren't customers (yet) will want a part of the action (which is half the job done).

FURTHER READING: 10 eCommerce brands winning at Social Commerce (+ Lessons we can learn from them)

d) Build your thought leadership on socials

Other than the social shops and UGC, you can build your thought leadership as a ‘cloth’preneur.

You can use your own channels and also partner up with other creators to get a buzz going.

For example, you can create a playlist on your channel out of reviews.

Or create mood boards on Pinterest (their visual search engine will lead your shoppers to your shop if you’ve got it linked).

Quick Tip: You can use LinkedIn to talk about your struggles or breakthroughs within your business or manufacturing processes – which will establish your authority (and bring in solutions as well as customer types you haven't explored before). 

e) Act as a secret shopper on Reddit

Want information on what an average shopper looks for in a clothing store? 

Reddit is a platform where you can get your own store reviewed – get insights on what bundles seem attractive – and how to price your product right. 

Above all, you can act as a curious critic and ask on forums like “r/malefashionadvice”:

“What do you think of {your brand name}? Considering buying their {product}, but can't decide.”

Quick Tip: Be sure to build up enough comment karma before you put this into practice—or else, this strategy fails.

4. Content marketing – a solid way to reduce CAC

a) Create more customer-oriented content

There’s a lot of BAD content out there – vague stuff – people do read (just differently).

Want to grow sales for your clothing store? Use your USP’s to craft a content strategy across different channels. 

Gazman, an Australian clothing brand, gives their take by targeting “how to pair" keywords – the result is that they rank first on SERPs:

So, good keyword research is key – you can repurpose best-performing live streams (which led to sales) into keyword-led blog posts and shorter videos.

You can also use those keywords to create a series where your employees talk/write about their style inspiration from your store’s products.

Ensure that you spread your best-performing content via your email newsletters as well.

Remember: your only goal is driving quality traffic – so don’t fall into the trap of creating content that doesn’t perform.

FURTHER READING: eCommerce Marketing Calendar 2024 (& Expert Marketing Advice for Businesses)

b) Use video marketing on product pages 

Video is way more engaging than static photos or blocks of unreadable text. 

Repurpose best-performing live streams (ones that led to sales) – expand them into a blog (or vice versa) & send them via your emails. 

Other than that, you can also create “How-To” videos on product pages – like “how to pair products for {occasion}” or “how to find the right size for your body shape.”

c) Get featured on blogs 

Another really quick way to reach shoppers is partnering with bloggers by guest posting. 

It’s cheaper than running ads and works great for building awareness (especially when your website is entirely new).

This strategy helps build a lot of backlinks for your clothing store. The bonus here is the cred and trust – especially if you get yourself featured in fashion publications with high authority (think Allure, GQ, etc).

Note how Yes Friends, a UK-based clothing store brand, gets itself featured on Good on You, a leading website that ranks brands by their ethical practices. They get a backlink as well as sprinkle in keywords like “affordable ethical clothing” and “affordable sustainable clothing”:

FURTHER READING: 14 eCommerce content marketing mistakes (+ their fixes)

5. Personalization Marketing – a solid way to provide service

a) Personalize your pop-ups

Personalization Marketing is all about making the experience cohesive for every shopper – pop-ups are where you start collecting first-party information.

Trigger quiz-based pop-ups when you want to collect feedback or get more information about a user.

For example, showing a discount in exchange for the customer’s birth date to returning users with incomplete profiles. 

Need more inspiration for using pop-ups effectively? 

FURTHER READING: Exit-Intent Pop-Ups: overcoming common mistakes + 20 brilliant examples

b) Use nudge marketing effectively

Customers who come across your site are often apprehensive – and returning customers would like to see their choices.

Thus, this personalization combines an aspect of conversational commerce – you can timely nudge users when they display signs of exit or indecisiveness while browsing. 

Or display a “Pick up where you left off” section – which shows the browsing history. You can also show this by triggering an in-website push for live chat (or opening up to a chatbot).

Quick Tip: Try displaying FAQs in your live chat to handle queries most searchers leave on your search bar. 

c) Create recommendations using quizzes for sizing

Sizing is a huge objection in clothing eCommerce stores – especially in lesser-known brands. 

Here’s how you can address these objections – and increase personalization as well:

Quiz based on what brands a user already wears or how a customer likes to wear their clothes – like loose or tight.

Quick Tip: You can also offer a virtual consultation – just ask customers to send their photos via WhatsApp or Live Chat. 

d) Try location-based marketing

Customers from Alaska wouldn’t really care much for your summer collection – or, customers from Europe wouldn’t care much about US holiday-themed promotions. 

The simple way out is a really intelligent tactic: serving different versions of your site at different locations. For example, you can change currencies for customers coming in from EU regions – while changing up the language and promo types.

Savile Row, a UK-based tailored clothing store, asks users to select their currency before they enter the site:

FURTHER READING: 31 Brilliant Examples of eCommerce Personalization

6. CRO strategies – turn visitors into customers 

CRO or conversion rate optimization is all about optimizing and sprucing up what already exists on your website – so that you get more sales from your traffic. 

Here are some ideas you can explore to up your conversion rate:

a) Help find products faster

The goal here is to offer a better user experience and lead visitors to the right pages – for example, you can:

▶ Use intuitive filters on category pages like sizes, colors, fabric materials, price

▶ Show suggested searches on the search bar, like “search for shirts/dresses/shorts”

Quick Tip: Highlight your promotions better – for example, Free People uses different color coding within their navigation menu to lead people to their products on sale and newly launched collections:

Other than that, you can also highlight the seasonal aspect of your sales or limited-time promotions.

b) Display images with better information 

Think of images that show your apparel’s quality up close:

▶ Offer zoom functionality on product images (remember, minute details matter)

▶ Include sizing information within product images

▶ Use trust badges like a ‘fit-guarantee’ badge

▶ Show relatable models within product displays – like plus-sized models within plus-sized product listings

c) Up the persuasion factor

The goal here is to create scarcity and up the persuasion to drive sales for clothing stores– for example, you can:

▶ Use price anchoring (showing a price after auto-applying a discount)

▶ Show that they can pay later – with BNPL payment options (Pay $X in X installments)

▶ Show that the product is in demand – use your inventory levels:

FURTHER READING: Scarcity marketing: Fix these 6 most commonly made mistakes

d) Make the checkout process seamless

▶ Use guest checkout – or prefill form fields 

▶ Offer real-time support on checkout – through a live chat or call option

▶ Hide the navigation on checkout (or use a custom one)

▶ Show an estimated delivery date on checkout – make sure you highlight your returns window as well

Need more inspiration for your CRO?

Read: How to Boost Fashion eCommerce Conversion Rate

e) Put Customer content and behavior to solid use

All you have to do is infuse user-generated content like comments, videos, or photos across your store

▶ Show customers within your product display image carousels

▶ Show a quote from customers about your brand/products on your first fold of product or key pages

▶ Show recommendations based on popularity – like a “customers also bought” section

▶ Create dynamic recommendations based on the product being viewed:

Quick Tip: You can also link to your “how-to pair” content here as well, in case dynamic product recommendations seem too complex.

FURTHER READING: 27 Brilliant User-Generated Content Examples (eCommerce)

7. Email Marketing – turn leads to sales to fans

a) Use discounts smartly

Chances are, you already have a few orders – or getting emails (in exchange for discounts). 

All you need to do is segment your list by buying pattern – for example, young customers buy more (but spend less).

Meanwhile, mature shoppers look for quality (but love savings). 

Segment your list smartly – offer more savings to mature customers on high-end products – and discounts on adding more items to younger customers. 

Quick Tip: Avoid creating tiny segments (less than 50 people) – you will be spending too much time on recommendations and creatives – which will lead to lower revenue.

Tl;dr: Small samples lead to sampling bias – which leads to lower revenue.

FURTHER READING: 40 Discount Email Templates (& Examples) for eCommerce Stores

b) Automate your emails

Segmenting is a strategy that works – only when you don’t have to hit send for every campaign. 

Do this right – and you get the gold of marketing strategies: brand lift. 

For example, you can send behavior-triggered emails like cart abandonment or browse abandonment emails to reduce sales drop-offs. 

Quick Tip: Do check your flow once in a while – create smaller segments out of non-engages and purchasers – ask for feedback on the recommendations they’ve been getting. 

FURTHER READING: Fashion Email Marketing: 32 Workflow Ideas (With Real Examples)

Need a solid conversion strategy for your clothing store?

Most eCommerce clothing stores struggle to move beyond a conversion rate of 1%. 

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors. 

And this is the problem Convertcart solves. 

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions. 

How we can help you: 

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions. And we won’t charge for this one. 

<Get a free UX audit today>