a clothing shop website: catalogue or shop, decided honestly

business · 2026-10-29 · 4 min

catalogue or shop: the right question

the choice is not about budget, it is about how many variants you have. forty pieces, one per size, changed every month: an online shop is a machine you spend the day refilling, and a catalogue with "available in store" plus the option to hold an item serves you better. four hundred references with sizes and colours, selling outside your city: the shop pays for itself.

a catalogue has one hard rule: if it is not synced with the till, it lies. "available" turning into "sold out" after the order is the fastest way to lose a customer who had chosen you over a marketplace.

what it really costs

the cost is not the platform, it is the variants. every colour needs its own photos, every brand its own size chart, every garment a page with composition, washing and fit. without photos you do not have the product: a supplier catalogue image used without permission is also a rights problem.

then returns. online you have fourteen days by law, and you must say who pays for the return shipping; in store there is no statutory right of withdrawal, only the policy you choose. write the difference on a clear page, because it is the first thing a customer checks before buying. for the full picture, i wrote about an online shop for a store.

the store is the conversion

for a neighbourhood shop the conversion is not "add to cart", it is "come to the store". real opening hours, a tappable phone number, a map, and the sentence that removes the last doubt: "if you want to try it, message us and we will hold it until tomorrow". that works, and it needs no warehouse and no courier.

keep your google business profile updated with holiday hours and seasonal closures. put the sizes available in store on the homepage, not a generic line: someone looking for a 46 wants to know whether it is there, not whether the shop carries that size. and if you run private sales, publish the dates: people look for them and nobody posts them.

photos and sizes

three photos sell a garment: worn, laid flat, and the fabric close up. better if worn by different people of different heights, because fit is the first objection. shop light is fine if it is diffused; direct flash is not.

size charts go per brand, not per shop: a 48 from one label is not a 48 from another. if you do not have the measurements, ask the supplier or take them with a tape on a sample garment: half an hour of work that reduces returns.

this week: count how many references you really have per size and decide whether the site should sell or bring people in.

faq

catalogue or online shop?

it depends on variants, not on the number of models. few references, one-off sizes, local customers: catalogue. many variants, sales outside your area, managed stock: online shop.

are online returns mandatory?

yes, within fourteen days of delivery, with the exceptions in the law. you also have to say who pays the return shipping and how a return is requested.

should i put prices in the catalogue?

if you only sell in store, you can leave them out or write "price in store". if you sell online, the final price must be clear, taxes included, before the cart.