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How to start an online boutique
How to start an online boutique
Jessica Matson
Posted on
October 27, 2022
You have a passion for clothes and want to start an online boutique. It’s a great small business idea—you’ll capture some of the $294 billion consumers spend on clothes each year.
The problem? You don’t have any money to invest in starting a clothing business.
Click here to start selling online now with Shopify
Here’s how to open an online boutique with no money. From discovering products to promoting them online, you’ll get your boutique up and running in record speed—even if you’re budget strapped.
How to start an online boutique with no money
- Choose a business model
- Select products you’ll sell
- Write a business and marketing plan
- Create a brand
- Open your online store
- Decide on your shipping strategy
- Price your boutique’s inventory
- Get set up to take payment
- Start promoting your online boutique
- Optimize your online store
1. Choose a business model
A business model describes how you’ll sell clothes through your online boutique.
Dropshipping clothes is great if you’re starting out with no money. Find a dropshipping clothing supplier, use their imagery on your store, and pay for inventory once it sells. You’re responsible solely for marketing. It’s your supplier’s responsibility to pick, pack, and ship items from your boutique to customers.
Other budget-friendly options include:
2. Select products you’ll sell
Choosing a niche market for your boutique means you can be known as the go-to place for one specific type of clothing. That might be:
Hannah Nash, online boutique owner and co-founder of Lucy Nash, says, “Our boutique specializes in high-quality jewelry that is designed to be worn. Rather than buying mass-produced jewelry that will end up in a drawer, our pieces are unique and will add distinction to any outfit.
“We also focus on quality over quantity. We only select the best materials and use skilled artisans to create each piece. This attention to detail ensures that our customers can enjoy their jewelry for years to come.”
3. Write a business and marketing plan
An online boutique business plan details how your store will attract customers and make money online. Use this free business plan template to break down how you plan to work around minimal investment, detailing:
- Your business structure
- How you’ll source inventory
- Whether you need a business license
- If you’ll secure financing or funding
- Who your competitors are
- Budgets for inventory, marketing, and paid advertising
While you’re planning, spend some time crafting a marketing plan that details your target market and how you plan to reach them.
Which social media marketing platforms will you use? What types of content does your target customer engage with? How will you drive them to your online boutique? Use a free marketing plan template to answer these questions.
4. Create a brand
A brand sets your online boutique apart from the rest. Yours should communicate what you sell, who you sell to, and why someone should buy from your boutique.
To DIY a visual brand on a budget, create:
- A business name
- A tagline or slogan
- A value proposition
- Core values
- A visual identity, including a professional logo, colors, and fonts
Whatever you choose, be consistent with your online boutique’s branding across all touchpoints with potential customers. Brand consistency can increase revenue by as much as 33%.
5. Open your online store
To sell clothing through online boutiques, you need an ecommerce website for potential customers to search, browse, and purchase your inventory.
“Shopify makes it super easy for anyone to create a really nice, professional, and useful website, so long as you do a little research into what themes work best for you, and are willing to pay a little money for their use.” —Mariko Ichikawa, founder of Mariko Ichikawa
An online store (instead of marketplaces like Etsy) gives you greater control over the brand experience, and helps you retain important customer data that can be used for future retargeting.
Pay attention to the following elements of your online store:
- Clothing product photography. Showcase what your boutique inventory looks like in various scenarios, like models of various sizes, hung on a hanger, or folded up.
- Product descriptions. Share your size guide, the material it’s made from, and why your boutique’s inventory is different from other brands.
- Navigation. Help people discover new products in your boutique by linking bestselling products and categories.
- Store policies. From shipping to returns, giving potential customers this essential information upfront often makes them more comfortable in making their first purchase.
The best part? You don’t need tons of cash to get started. Start selling online with Shopify’s Starter plan. For just $5 per month, you’ll get all the tools you need to sell via social media. Mariko Ichikawa, founder of Mariko Ichikawa, found it was easy to get up and running: “Shopify makes it super easy for anyone to create a really nice, professional, and useful website, so long as you do a little research into what themes work best for you, and are willing to pay a little money for their use.” For just $5 per month, you’ll get all the tools you need to sell via social media.
6. Decide on your shipping strategy
How will you get items from your online boutique to your customers? Use Shopify Shipping for discounted shipping rates. It’ll prevent extra costs that deter almost half of potential customers from making a purchase.
Consider domestic and international shipping rates, and whether you’ll offer free shipping—some 66% of customers are put off if they have to pay for shipping. Work around this problem without sacrificing your profits by enforcing a minimum spend threshold, such as “spend $50 for free shipping.”
This problem is taken off your plate entirely if you’re using the dropshipping business model to run your online boutique. Order fulfillment and shipping are the responsibility of your dropshipping supplier.
7. Price your boutique’s inventory
One of the hardest things about opening an online boutique is pricing your inventory. You’ll need to sell products for more than they’re costing you.
Consider different pricing strategies, such as:
Regardless of which pricing model you’re using, calculate profit margins using this free calculator. Bake fixed costs (mainly your domain and Shopify plan) into your product pricing to make sure you’re still turning a profit after paying for the online boutique’s overheads.
8. Get set up to take payment
You’ve set the prices for each item in your online boutique. Next, get your payment processor up and running to collect money from each customer.
The most popular payment method is debit or credit card. Accept these on your online store using Shopify Payments. Customers can use their American Express, Visa, or Mastercard to pay for online purchases.
Alongside debit and credit cards, offer alternative payment methods on your boutique to generate more sales. That includes:
- Mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay
- Buy now, pay later, such as Shop Pay Installments
- Bank transfer
9. Start promoting your online boutique
Your job isn’t over once your boutique is up and running. Smart marketing strategies increase the odds of people stumbling upon your online store. The more ecommerce website traffic you have, the greater your chance at making money online.
Promote your online boutique using free promotion tactics like:
- Gifting free products to fashion influencers
- Guest posting on clothing publications
- Creating TikTok videos
- Offering a discount code
- Running an automated email marketing campaign
- Hosting a social media giveaway
Use Shopify analytics to figure out what’s working—and do more of it.
10. Optimize your online store
The average conversion rate for an online store is just 2.86%. The type of traffic you’re driving to your online boutique largely impacts your conversion rate. But there are things you can do to squeeze more revenue from existing website visitors.
Optimize your online store with conversion rate optimization (CRO) tactics like:
- One-click checkout
- Trust signals, such as payment processor logos or free returns policy
- A/B testing elements on the page, such as your product photos or layout
- Showcasing social proof, such as customer reviews or user-generated content
- Mobile-friendly design that automatically resizes based on a visitor’s device
Read more: The 17 Best Shopify Apps for Clothing Stores in 2023
You don’t need cash to start an online boutique
Opening an online boutique is a great low-cost business idea. Choose a business model that doesn’t require upfront cash, like dropshipping or print on demand, and explain how you’ll work around a minimal budget with a solid business plan.
