Business Ideas | Small Business Ideas: Open a Clothing Boutique Business

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Open a Clothing Boutique Business | Fashion Boutique Business

A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The term entered into everyday English use in the late 1960s when, for a brief period, London was the center of the fashion trade. Carnaby Street and the Kings Road were the focus of much media attention as home to the most fashionable boutiques of the era. Also referred to as lejolie boutique meaning beautiful sounding relaxed. Boutique is a beautiful version of a shop, and also a relaxed version of shop.

A clothing boutique can be a profitable venture. The key is establishing a particular niche for your clothing boutique. For example, you could specialize in women's formal clothing and accessories, including jewelry. Consider purchasing an existing franchise if you have money to invest. Go to Franchisedirect.com or Franchiseopportunities.com and look for potential clothing boutique franchises. You can also start you clothing boutique from scratch with a wholesale supplier.

Boutique industries

This term can also refer to a specialized firm in other industries, such as a boutique investment bank or boutique law firm. The word is often used to describe a property in the independent sector of the hotel market (such as The Rockwell in London) in order to distinguish itself from larger chains (such as Hilton Hotels). In such cases, the establishment aims to convey the idea that its operation is small, elite and highly specialized.

Some multi-outlet businesses (chains) can be referred to as boutiques if they target small, upscale market niches..

Recently, the term "boutique" has begun to be applied to mass-market items that are either niche or produced in intentionally small numbers to be sold at very high prices. This can be referred to as boutique manufacturing. For example, before the release of the Wii, a Time Magazine article suggested that Nintendo could become a "boutique video-game company", producing games for niche audiences rather than trying to compete directly with Microsoft and Sony.

Although some boutiques specialize in hand-made items and other unique products, others simply produce T-shirts, stickers, and other fashion accessories in artificially small runs and sell them at high prices.

Instruction:

Step 1

Contact your bank and get an application for a merchant account, as credit cards can increase your sales potential.

Step 2

Obtain a vendor's license anddoing business as application through your local county administration office. Use your business name as your DBA when applying. Fill out the application and mail it back with your application fee.

Step 3

Make a list of all the types of clothing you want to sell. Visit competitive clothing boutiques that sell this merchandise. Notice what clothing these retailers sell and the prices they charge.

Step 4

Search for a wholesale supplier for your clothing boutique if you are starting from scratch. Contact the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. Ask your contact person if they can supply a list of clothing wholesalers. Visit the Tradepub.com website, according to Businessknowhow.com. Order some free trade publications on retailing. Read through the classified ads for potential clothing wholesalers.

Step 5

Call several clothing wholesalers. Find wholesalers that offer all the products you want to sell. Select the wholesaler that offers you the lowest unit cost of clothing products.

Step 6

Search for a location for your clothing boutique store. Look in areas where traffic is heavy, such as strip malls or busy intersections. Study the clientele in neighboring stores. Make sure the shoppers fit the demographic profile of the shoppers you want for your store, according to Entrepreneur.com. Select a higher income area, for example, if you will be selling high-end clothing in your boutique. Negotiate the lowest rent possible with the store's landlord.

Step 7

Estimate how much investment you will need in six months in business, including product costs and advertising. Finance your business with your savings or a retirement account. Apply for a loan through your bank.

Step 8

Place your first merchandise order through you wholesaler. Set up your counters, shelving units, floor stands and in-store signage. Clean the counters, shelving units and floor as well as the glass. Place business hours decals on your front door. Make sure all cash registers and your computer are working.

Step 9

Place your merchandise on shelves and hangers when you receive it.

Step 10

Employee a spouse of family member to keep your labor expenses down. Hire an employee through a newspaper "Help Wanted" ad if necessary.

Step 11

Distribute stacks of fliers to non-competitive retailers, including muffler shops and beauty salons. Place fliers on people's windshields in busy mall parking lots. Contact a local newspaper reporter and see if he will write a feature article about your new clothing boutique business. Promote your clothing boutique through display ads in your newspaper.

Things Needed

Wholesale supplier
Products
Store location
Shelving units
Floor stands
Signage
Cash registers
Computer
Business hours decals
Fliers

Tip

Start a loyalty program in your clothing boutique store. Reward your most frequent shoppers and biggest spenders with gift cards and special deals. Also, establish a fair return policy for all merchandise. For example, allow customers to return merchandise for any reason within 30 days.

References

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Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

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