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You know the stats: 20% of small businesses fail within their first year.
Why? Because they fail to make a profit fast enough to sustain themselves. To keep your quilt store open, you need a well-thought-out retail strategy — this includes understanding costs, profit margins, customer demand, and seasonal factors.
An effective way to boost profits is to pursue multiple revenue streams. If you’re only making money from selling fabric and notions, hosting quilting classes at your store and charging admission creates an additional source of income.
In this blog, we’ll share strategies for increasing profits through both retail sales and in-person classes. With multiple streams of income, you can make more money faster and ensure that your business keeps growing.
Getting Started
We get it, starting a new business can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips to get you started on the right foot.
Manage Startup Costs
If you’re opening a new quilt store, there’s a lot to do. Start by making a list of everything you need to get your business off the ground and estimating how much each one costs.
Here’s a rough estimate of quilt store startup costs:
- Rent: $1,500–$5,000 per month
- Inventory: $20,000–$50,000 per month
- Store fixtures and decor: $5,000–$15,000 per month
- Utilities: $200–$600 per month
- Advertising: $500–$1,000 per month
- Employee salaries: $2,000–$8,000 per month
- Point of sale (POS) System: $1,000–$5,000 for setup, $100–$200 per month, plus payment processing fees
Remember: These costs vary greatly depending on your quilt store’s size and location. Once you’ve estimated the cost of getting your business up and running, you likely need to look for funding. Most new business owners don’t have the resources to do it on their own, so they look for assistance from bank loans or investors.
The more research you’ve done and the more clear your plan is for achieving profitability, the more likely banks or investors are to finance your business.
Related Read: 8 Mistakes To Avoid When Turning Your Quilting Hobby Into a Business
Plan for Seasonal Cash Flow
Like most retail businesses, quilt stores are affected by seasonality. Rather than plan for the same estimated revenue each month, it’s best to analyze sales trends and prepare for periods of fluctuating sales.
Quilt stores tend to see more sales during the fall and winter months, fueled by holiday-related quilt projects. They tend to be less busy at the beginning of the year, following the holidays, and during the summertime. You can plan for these months by placing larger inventory orders in preparation for your most busy seasons and reducing orders before slower seasons, which helps you prevent stockouts and overstock.
Boosting Profitability From Retail Sales
As costs rise, it’s hard to stay in the black. Here are a few retail strategy tips to protect your profit margin — and your business’ future.
Increase Product Profit Margins
Pay close attention to the margins for your products. As a general rule, fabric usually delivers about a 50% margin. After accounting for all overhead expenses, quilt store owners generally aim for a business-wide margin of between 7% and 10%.
Based on the price of acquiring each piece of inventory, carefully set the price to create a margin and pay for fees like shipping. Research competitor prices and try to price your products at the same level or lower, unless you can provide higher quality or a better customer experience.
Related Read: 7 Retail Pricing Strategies To Boost Fabric Store Profitability
Manage Fractional Yardage
It’s common for quilters to buy specific measurements of fabric based on the project they’re working on — this means you need a digital system that allows you to sell fractional yardage. Some POS systems have this feature, allowing you to sell ⅛, ¼, or ⅓ of a yard (and adjust the price accordingly).
This way, you can cater to each customers’ needs, prevent waste, and increase profit.
Keep Up With Quilting Trends
When you continuously research which fabrics and projects are trending, you can better meet customer demand. Pay attention to new quilt supplies and techniques on social media and stock them in your store.
When you receive these trending items, create displays with finished projects so customers can clearly see what they can be used for. For example, if retro, classic fabric patterns are making a comeback, create quilts, pillows, or bags from these fabrics and display them to inspire your customers.
Be careful not to purchase trending fabrics in high quantities at first. If the trend is short-lived, you may have a hard time selling all of it. Start with a more modest order, and if sales are high, order more.
Related Read: 10 Trending Fabrics To Stock in Your Sewing Store
Compete With Online Fabric Retailers
Sure, online vendors are becoming more popular, but brick-and-mortar stores still offer a unique in-person shopping experience. To compete with these online outlets, your retail strategy should focus on customer service and the in-store experience.
Be friendly and get to know your customers. They don’t just come to your quilt store to make a purchase and leave — they come to be inspired, ask questions, and meet other quilters. Put up decorations and displays that generate ideas for a customer’s next project.
Learn about each product you stock so you can answer questions customers may have — like which fabrics and threads are best for each kind of project. Focus on what online quilt vendors can’t provide, and you’ll remain relevant and profitable in a shifting marketplace.
Hosting Profitable Classes
Offering great classes builds a sense of community in your quilt store — but first, you need to create a strategy and work out the logistics.
Handle Class Logistics
First, determine where a class will be, what will be taught, and who will teach it. Hosting an event in your quilt store is ideal for marketing purposes, but you may have to move some displays and furniture around to make room for the class. Set up tables and chairs and give ample space for quilters to work on their projects.
Charging a small admission fee brings in revenue and covers the cost of supplies used during these classes. If you aren’t teaching a class yourself, you can pay instructors with these funds as well.
After supply and instructor costs, leave a profit margin for yourself. Determine how many seats you need to sell to make a profit on the events and decide how early a customer who’s registered can cancel for a refund.
Listen to Your Audience
Effective classes teach the skills quilters want to learn. To determine what these are for your audience, ask them. You can create surveys for customers to fill out and ask them what skills, projects, and supplies they’re interested in and what kind of classes they would sign up for. Read their responses and use them to plan future courses.
Leverage Classes To Increase Retail Sales
Classes get more customers in your quilt store and get them excited about quilting, which boosts revenue. You may include some simple supplies with the price of admission for a class, but you can also suggest additional materials that you have available for purchase. If a customer needs an item that isn’t included, they’re likely to pick it up in store.
To prompt greater sales, add a discount, like 30% off the entire store for class attendees. If this is a limited-time offer, good for just that day or week, customers are even more likely to make a purchase.
Improve Your Quilt Retail Strategy With Like Sew
Creating multiple streams of revenue for your quilt store is a great way to increase profits. While retail sales are likely your main source of income, hosting quilting classes offers an additional area you can capitalize on.
To boost profits on the retail side, be aware of the profit margins you’re making on your products, as well as the overall margin factoring in overhead. Keep up with popular quilting trends and emphasize what sets you apart from online vendors.
As you offer classes, work out all the logistics up front and listen to feedback from your customers so you can improve their experience. Remember to use these classes to promote your projects, including offering special deals for attendees.
To manage retail, classes, and the rest of your business seamlessly, you need the right tools in place.
Enter: Like Sew, an all-in-one, cloud-based POS solution that’s built just for quilt stores. Our system offers marketing tools to increase brand awareness and fractional yardage settings to make it easy to sell custom cuts of fabric.
It also features scheduling software to help you manage registration and inventory management tools, like automatic reordering so you can consistently keep your shelves stocked. With both general and fabric-specific features, you have everything you need to run your business in one easy platform.
To see Like Sew for yourself, schedule a live demo today!
