Boutiques Must Evolve to Thrive!

The point of this blog post is not to tell you how to run your business but to provide you a historical education and a philosophical approach that you can utilize to create a long lasting boutique business.

We are years beyond the the golden age of boutiques. Some would argue the 70's, 80's and possibly a little of the 90's were that golden age; where buying a clothing at a boutique was common place for the average consumer. However, fast forward twenty years and the bulk of shopping is done inside huge, sometimes multinational corporate stores that utilized the corporate distribution model to drive prices to unheard of rates. "Price wins" as they say and sadly this market takeover by corporations including, Macy's, Ross, TJmaxx, Target, Walmart and Amazon meant that boutiques could not thrive in such a landscape of cheap products. 

Let's fast forward to today, the long forgotten entrepreneurs are re-emerging in a technological transformative period. Technology offered through the likes of Facebook, online marketplaces and UPS,Fedex, are giving small businesses a much needed advantage over big box stores. In some cases small business can now match the prices of big box stores while also giving that personalized boutique experience and first to the trends. 

So what's the future hold? Because it's so easy to make a boutique or be a drop shipper it appears that just about every is doing it and this is making it a very competitive market. What will allow you to separate from the pack? That's where I will leave it, it's for you guys to figure out the next transformation.

by Anna M – July 26, 2021