In this blog I will share what all successful boutiques have in common and what the most important tool to harness is to successfully launch your boutique.
Sitting in college class as an English major in the early 2000's it struck me that I was headed in the wrong career path that simply didn't align with my passions. Although I finished off my college career and secured a degree I immediately decided to pause my further pursuit of being an elementary teacher and give a try at my real passion, fashion and clothing. I began by attempting to create my own boutique! Long story short I failed miserably but I learned a lot about the business that would help me down the road.
Dejected, rather than head back to school for a masters degree I decided to enter the market and was fortunate enough to become the assistant brand merchandiser for TJ Maxx, eventually ending up as a head buyer for their juniors clothing department. Working with manufacturers for those eight years and being behind the scenes at a multli-billion dollar corporation gave me knowledge that elevated my understanding of how a successful business is run. Some of that knowledge includes:
Market and Trend Analysis - Learning how to analyze season fashion trends, customer preferences and price points for different groups and demos.
Manufacturer relationships and Sourcing - Negotiating clothing prices and best terms, developing an eye for quality fabrics that would elevate brand value.
Inventory Management - Balancing stock and avoiding overstock while securing profits in strong economic times from not under stocking. Buying early trends and beginning flashy and effective sales sooner than your competition.
Pricing Strategies - Always securing profitable margins and harnessing effective markdown strategies.
Leading and managing - Managing people was the hardest aspect of my job and every year I understood how to do that better by showing strength and assertiveness and kindness when it counts.
Financial Planning - A continual revisit of past effective strategies to enhance new ones and learning from the bad months of financial history.
Competitive Edge - Comprehensively studying my competitors to learn what they are doing well. Copy the parts you can while enhancing your own vision of what you can offer your customers.
At 28 years old I decided to quit my job and make a second go at launching a boutique.
It was now 2013 and the economy was absolutely horrible. In fact it was probably the hardest time to start a small business, but still holding onto some youthful naivety I gave it another try. With still very little capital I decided to focus on creating a business and product that was cost effective yet unique and something most customers had never seen before. At this time subscription boxes were doing really well. Companies like StitchFix were becoming huge and I decided to jump on the trend and make my own subscription box. I built a cute website on Shopify, shot some original photos in my rustic backyard and marketed it out on facebook. In a matter of months it was a huge hit. Family and friends were intrigued by this subscription box and loved the novelty of having items picked out for them by a fashion expert. This brings me to my number one tip and tool if your really interested in quitting your job and starting a boutique, and that is:
Jump On a New Trend Early
The fashion market is like an ocean of waves and every so often a good wave comes a long and has the opportunity to sweep you up and take you for the ride. But just like surfing, you must be aware, equipped with the skills to take advantage of the opportunity and a strong determination to hop on before your competitors do. Every four to six years there is generally a new big wave, think internet boom, social media, flash sales, subscription boxes, fast fashion, drop shipping. Every season there are essentially smaller waves and these are fashion changes that occur every season, think floral, animal, gameday, gingham, boho, maxi dresses, lace tops, etc.
The goal is to capitalize on these developing trends before other businesses beat you to it. In the world of fashion small businesses do just that and that is why boutiques make up a huge chunk of fashion consumer spending. In fact large department stores rarely capitalize on these trends because of their lack of ability to adapt. Large stores concentrate on ease and ultra low price points to lure consumers. This leaves a massive vacancy for small businesses and boutique to bust in and utilize new developing trends to generate sales.
I'm writing this blog and the day is January 20th 2025. The last massive trend to ignite thousands of boutiques was drop shipping and live selling, but unfortunately this has deflated in the last year. The answer to which trend will be the one you need to hop on is still yet unknown. It's your task to find the next Tiktok and be always alert on clothing trends that will allow you to ride the wave all the way to owning a successful boutique.
My prediction for the next big wave is two fold, in-store experience and boho. Post covid markets like cruises and camping resorts have exploded and I think we will see a continuation of these trends move across every consumer market.
Within fashion the in-store consumer experience will be where women will decide to spend their hard earned savings. Unfortunatley the online experience has been oversatured by Temu, Shein and a host of others that have rigged the game to destroy any boutique who dare come online. That is why it will important in the future to develop either in-house/garage/campervan boutiques for those on a budget and those with a budget an aesthetic store front where shopper can get royal treatment and royal clothing.
In terms of the next fashion wave, it's looking like Boho is about to come alive again. This trend was ultra popular some ten year ago and as trends do, every decade they come back with a vengeance with a new twist.
When you start your boutique on the back of a developing technology or trend, success is not ensured. You will still need to be versed in all of the businesses practices I mentioned before to help sustain the energy and momentum to keep surfing on.
If you would like to learn more specifics about licenses and costs to starting a boutique you can click here or visit the many blog posts on this website that will enhance your knowledge on what steps to take first.
