Nurses and doctors are required to wear medical uniforms, scrubs, in doctor’s offices and hospitals all around the world. This opens up a great opportunity to become a medical scrubs and uniform retailer. Below are several things to consider before becoming a medical scrubs retailer.
Apply for a business license from your local municipality. This serves to register your business with your city or county. Apply for a tax account with your state department of taxes as you will need to collect sales tax on items sold – if your state has sales tax. Apply, too, for a tax identification number (TIN) or an employer identification number (EIN) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If you are still not sure about all the licensing requirements to become a medical scrubs and uniform retailer, you can contact the Uniform Retailers Association (URA), a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to the growth and prosperity of the independent uniform retailer.
The first thing you will need to do is find and contact manufacturers of medical scrubs such as Landau, Fashion Seal and Cherokee. Make sure to look for things such as:
Determine if you will have a retail store location or if you will sell directly to offices, hospitals and other stores. If you decide to open a retail store, you must find one that's suitable, negotiate to lease or purchase the space and set it up for business. However, if you choose to sell directly to hospitals, offices, and schools, etc., you only need to invest in an office space in your home or other location.
Market your business to the offices, hospitals, schools and other businesses that will be interested in your uniforms. Bring scrub catalogs, price lists, samples and business cards with you when you visit. Advertise your medical scrubs business in medical publications, such as The New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health and The Journal of Clinical Investigation, and nursing journals, such as the American Journal of Nursing, The Journal for Nurse Practitioners and the Journal of Advanced Nursing. To help expand your reach, design a website where you can sell your products. If you don’t know how to do it yourself, you can use eCommerce platforms such as Retail Commerce or Uniform Program Management by UniformMarket powered by Sellers Commerce. They provide ready made templates and drag and drop features that allow you to easily design an eCommerce website.