1) A Well-Defined Vision
When you are launching your boutique, you will be faced with countless choices to make along the way. What kinds of clothing will you stock? Who are you trying to appeal to? How will you talk to customers? What kinds of items and styles are you going to emphasize? While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of decisions you have to make when it comes time to open your business, having a strong vision will make all of those choices feel much more organic and clear-cut.
Because this is such an important aspect of your business and will guide many of your decisions to come, take your time when it comes to determining what your vision is and what it means to you. To establish your vision, think about what you want people to experience when they shop at your store, and what you want them to feel during all parts of the shopping process. You can also think about boutiques and brands that you admire, and how they curate a customer’s experience from the first impression to closing a sale and getting that customer to return.
2) Get Ahead of the Trends
3) A Thoughtfully-Curated Stock of Clothing and Accessories
Along with partnering with active, fashion-forward wholesale partners, you’ll want to invest in a varied stock of items that gives customers a lot to explore. It’s always a good idea to stock a range of styles and sizes (while still maintaining your vision and brand) so that customers will feel enticed and intrigued by your selection. Stocking your store in a way that provides natural opportunities for cross-selling (i.e. knowing which bags or shoes you think would work well with certain outfits) is a wonderful way to build customer trust and increase your revenues at the same time.
4) A Unique Shopping Environment
5) A Brand That Has Personality
Whether you are opening a brick and mortar store or launching a boutique online, you’ll need to differentiate your items and your point of view from the many other boutiques on the market. What makes your store special and unique? What can you offer customers that others can’t? Once you have a sense of your boutique’s personality, you can use it to better connect with your ideal customers and make sure you are getting the attention of the kinds of shoppers who will make purchases but also become returning customers who will write good reviews and refer friends to your business.
6) A Distinctive Online Presence
Even if your business model relies mostly on brick and mortar sales rather than online purchases, every small business needs to leverage the power of social media in order to get the word out about their brand! Social media is a powerful way to communicate with customers directly and to give them a clear sense of who you are, what kind of styles they can expect from you, and is a wonderful way to directly get in touch with your target audience. Once you’ve established your vision for your business, your social media “personality” should be an extension of that vision—everything from the kinds of images you use to the way you word your posts is an opportunity to tell your customers about your values.