If you are wondering how to start a bed sheet business from scratch, you have come to the perfect place. Bed sheets are almost an integral necessity in everyday life. One of the key aspects of them is that they wear over time and people change it frequently. This makes the bed sheet business, one of the most lucrative ventures to start making money. Today, in this extensive guide, I will present the exact steps you need to take in order to start your own bed sheet business from scratch along with the pros/cons and a general overview of this industry.
Industry Overview
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the global market for bed and bath linen products was estimated to be US$ 74.4 billion in 2020. The good news is – it is projected to reach a market size of US$99.7 billion by 2027. This means a CAGR of 4.3% over the 7 years. Therefore, if you want to start a bed sheet business there is no better time than now.
Startup Costs To Start A Bed Sheet Business
To start a bed sheet business online, you will need at least $1000. Bear in mind, the startup capital massively depends on the scale of your business operation and the business model you want to operate on. For example, if you want to follow the dropshipping model for your bed sheet business $1000 will be more than enough. However, if you want to hold the inventory and do your packaging, $1000 will be a tight budget.
The basic startup cost breakdown for an online bed sheet business, while starting, is as follows :
Pros and Cons of Starting A Bed Sheet Business
There are a lot of pros and cons of starting a bed sheet business online. Some of the most important ones are listed below.
| Pros | Cons |
| Flexibility | High Competition |
| Work From Home | Minimal Physical Activity |
| Low Barrier of Entry | No Guarantees |
| Low Startup Capital | Finding the right supplier is hard |
| Ever Growing Industry | Size variation leads to a lot of returns and refunds |
| Highly Scalable and Profitability | Needs extensive marketing knowledge while scaling |
As you can see, like every other business, the bed sheet business has its own set of pros and cons. However, after analyzing them you can see the pros outweighs the cons.
One of our clients from Tampa, FL was in a difficult situation over a year ago when he came to us. He had an online bed sheet business and was making around $1700 a month from selling bed sheets and pillowcases through Shopify’s Online Store. The problem was – he was investing nearly 40 hours every week in this business. The business was around a year old and was seeing no growth for the last 4 months.
The first thing we did was the complete transformation of his online store and even optimizing all his Facebook Ads. We even implemented an Influencer marketing strategy for his business. Fast forward 1 year, he is currently generating a revenue of $97k every month with a take-home profit of 13%, which is $12,500 per month.
The lesson from this case study is that everything is possible if you do it the right way. There are advantages and disadvantages of owning any form of business, but if you have the grit and belief in yourself, nothing can stop you to achieve the unthinkable.
6 Steps To Start A Bed Sheet Business
With the basic overview of the bed sheet business out of the way, let’s get into the exact 5 steps you need to follow in order to start your own bed sheet business from scratch.
1. Bed Sheet Business Plan
Before starting a bed sheet business, you must draft a basic business plan for your business venture. A business plan is a key instrument in operating a bed sheet business. It is a document you can refer you anytime you run into business problems. An actionable business plan must detail the ambitions of the business and what steps the owner is going to take in order to achieve them. Some of the key points to include in your bed sheet business plan are budgeting, market research, target demographics, pricing strategy, and marketing ideas.
SBA has a great resource to help small businesses write their business plan. Make sure you visit their website before writing a bed sheet business plan.
2. Registering Your Bed Sheet Business
If you want to start a bed sheet business on a small scale or just want to test the business idea, registering your business is not essential. You can operate as a sole proprietorship. However, if your business does well and you want to scale it quickly, registering your business as a legal entity will have a lot of benefits.
Out of many options available, the best form of business structure for a small and growing business is an LLC. It stands for Limited Liability Company and as the name suggests it protects your personal assets from liabilities and bankruptcy. Although the protection is not fully-proof, it is significantly better than a sole proprietorship. Registering your business also unlocks the ability for you to open bank accounts, enter into contracts, hire employees, and get business licenses and permits.
Starting an LLC is really simple through Incfile. Their pricing plans start at just $0 (plus filing fees), and you can add more services as you go.
Once your register your business as an LLC, the next step is getting an EIN through the IRS website. EIN stands for Employee Identification Number and it is a 9-digit number provided by the government to all businesses in order to identify them as a tax-paying entity. You will need an EIN while filing taxes, hiring employees, or opening a business bank account.
3. Sourcing Your Bed Sheets
This is perhaps, one of the most important tasks for your business. Finding the right bed sheet supplier is key to success for an e-commerce business. If you are looking to follow the dropshipping model for your bed sheet business AliExpress is simply the best choice. However, if you want to order the bed sheets in bulk, you can choose any of the following suppliers and/or wholesalers :
- Alibaba(Global)
- The Linen Factory (Philadelphia, USA)
- Home Fords (UK)
- Manchester collections (Australia)
Keep in mind, a lot of these wholesalers and suppliers will have MOQ in place. MOQ stands for Minimum Order Quantity. Therefore, before ordering the MOQ make sure to ask for a sample piece to touch and feel the quality of the bed sheet.
Furthermore, I will suggest you not spend more than $500 on the inventory while starting out. This way you will not feel the pressure of clearing your huge stock and can focus solely on the business side of things.
4. Selling Bed Sheets Online
All you need to start selling your bed sheets online are a domain name and a Shopify subscription.
You can get a domain name from Namecheap for as low as $11/year. If you have decided on a business name for your bed sheets business, I would suggest checking the availability of domain name and registering it quickly. If someone else registers your name, you need to pay a premium price to make it yours. Use the tool below to see if your domain name is available.
Find a domain starting at $0.88
powered by Namecheap
Another tool you need is Shopify. It is one of the best tools for anyone who wants to start an e-commerce business. Whether you are starting a denim line, an activewear business, or a leggings business, Shopify helps to create an online store in minutes. The pricing plan starts from just $29/month. But trust me, it is worth every cent.
Did you know? Shopify offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card needed). This is perfect for someone who wants to get a feel for the tool before committing themselves. Create an account in Shopify and play around with it. It is, simply, the best drag and drop tool to create an online store for your bed sheet business.
Once you have an online store ready from Shopify, you can connect your domain to Shopify’s Domain section easily. And after the connection is done, your online store is ready to take orders.
If you want any professional help in creating a Shopify store for your bed sheet business, please let us know through this form. We will get back to you with the help within an hour.
5. Marketing Your Bed Sheet Business Online
So once you set up your online store to sell your bed sheets online, the next task is acquiring customers. Customers are constantly looking for bed sheets online, however, the issue is they don’t know your business exists. Marketing and advertising help you tackle this issue. By marketing and advertising your business among potential customers, you will not only get much-needed exposure but also help in creating a brand and followings for your business.
Marketing comes in two flavors. One is traditional and the other is digital. Since your bed sheet business is likely to be online therefore traditional forms of marketing are not that important. On the other hand, digital marketing will play a crucial role in your business. Digital marketing can further be sub-divided into two channels.
I. Organic Channels :
Organic channels include marketing strategies that are completely free. SEO(Search engine optimization) and social media management are two of the biggest form of marketing in organic channels. Since it is free, this approach is going to take some time before you see any significant results.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. is a great place to reach your customers organically. Moreover, you can use it to keep your current customers up-to-date, or as a tool for attracting new customers. Therefore, make sure you regularly post on your social media accounts and engage with your followers. This will create a long-lasting relationship with your customers, which means they will come back to your store whenever they need a new bed sheet.
II. Paid Channels :
Paid digital advertisements have the ability to target audiences within a certain demographic and region. This can be a brilliant tool for your business. You may want to consider running paid ads through services such as Facebook Ads, Yelp, or Google AdWords. The best thing about paid channels is that – they generate results quickly which, in turn, helps to scale your business both vertically and horizontally.