Starting an e-store for plus sized women

Hi all!

I've been living in Japan for about 3.5yrs now and will probably be staying here permanently because I'm engaged to a Japanese.

Anywho, I am about a size 16-18AU (12-14US) and even larger for pants sizes (I have huge hips :( ) Since living here, I've found it EXTREMELY hard to find plus size clothing (for obvious reasons) so I've often had to ask my family to send me stuff or buy online from overseas retailers. This is usually very expensive, especially where postage is involved. As I do know the Japanese language somewhat, I can buy from Japanese online plus size retailers but I know a lot of you can not and I know a lot of you ex-pat (and not-so ex-pat) women here have the same or similar issues trying to get plus sizes when living here.
SO I thought of this idea to start an online plus sized store aimed at selling to us foreign women living here, and also to the US, UK and AUS (I know in Aus, plus sizes are WAY overpriced and actually hard to get at times).

I would do my best to keep prices reasonable and shipping costs (especially for international orders) low. I've found a few suppliers from the US that sell 'Western' fashion and I'm going to look at a supplier here in Tokyo for 'Asian style' fashion. I'm aiming at selling sizes from 1XL to about 3XL, depending on what the suppliers have.

This little enterprise will cost a bit to start up, and considering I live in a small 3room apartment, my starting off inventory would have to be small until I build a customer base and pull in a profit.
On top of that, I still have to do research about legal stuff/tax, where I'm going to get the money to start up amongst other things so this is still just an idea.

I would really like people's (especially plus size ladies ;) input about this. If you think its a good idea, what type of stuff you'd like to see in store (things you might have a lot of difficulty finding elsewhere) and any other ideas you might have to help me, please reply!

Thanks all!

When I've been in Japan in the past, a lot of the plus clothing looks like it's for obasans. (Exceptions going to Monster Drops and Covely/SuPuRe) I think something contemporary and decently priced would be nice. Monster drops is expensive and I'm concerned about the quality of clothes that you can get in Jusco, Shimamura, and Nissen for the price.

I think your primary competition would be FiftyOneGlobal (http://www.fiftyone.com/clients) who help US retailers like Lane Bryant and Old Navy ship abroad and other companies like Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, and TM Lewin which ship to Japan anyway (although expensively I think!). If you beat them on shipping then I think you've got it. :)

Nissin is quite popular as a mail order place for plus size people. I am not plus size & have never ordered from them, but I think you can get their catalogues in some supermarkets & convenience stores? Check what they have before duplicating.
The really difficult thing with ordering online is sizing accuracy.
Many well endowed people I know buy a lot of stuff from bravissimo in the UK
FWIW As a foreigner here, I tend to just make do & have never bought clothes online - though buying them here isn't very easy here either.

Good luck with it