Finding the right boutique to sell your crafts is a key component of developing a successful business selling your crafts. Here are some tips that will help you discover a boutique that helps you sell your crafts, find consumers who want to purchase your products, and will enable you to actually make a profit doing what you love.
4 tips to finding the right boutique to sell your crafts.
1. Find a boutique that works for your style, your niche, and your product.
Not just any old boutique is going to work for you and be successful for your product. Different boutiques cater to different niches. They have different customer bases. You want to sell only at boutiques that appeal to the type of customer who will be buying your particular crafts.
So you know that not every boutique is going to be right for you. What do you do to find the right one? What does this mean for you? It means that it’s time for you to get out there and start checking out all of the boutiques in the area. It can be just in your city, or it can be in several surrounding cities. It all depends on what works best for you and how willing you are to drive further to deliver your crafts, or how far you want to ship them.
Check out the kinds of goods that each boutique is marketing. Talk to the people at the boutique to see what they are interested in. Talk to the shoppers at the different boutiques to see where they like to shop and what they are looking for in their crafts and other products.
2. So you have found a good boutique. Now you need to contact the boutique owner.
When you find a boutique or several boutiques that seem to work well with your own craft style and craft niche, ask to speak to the owner. Ask for the owner’s phone number, if he or she isn’t there. Tell them that you are interested in becoming a vendor in their boutique. Bring in samples of your products so that the owner can see why he or she would benefit from selling your products in their boutique.
Ask about any fees that you will have to pay and what the arrangements are for portions of the proceeds. Will you have to rent a space from them? Most boutiques will have this type of arrangement. How much freedom will you have to set up your own display? Ask about the types of crafts that sell well. What is the owner’s marketing plan?
Now that you have found a number of different boutiques that seem to work for you. Now it’s time for you to sit down and compare boutiques to determine which one(s) will really work for you.
3. Compare boutiques to discover which one will work best for your product and your budgeting needs.
It’s time to make a spreadsheet. Or at least make lists that will make it easy for you to compare pros and cons and prices of the different boutiques. What is your particular budget for fees and rents? Will you still be able to make a profit when combined with your labor costs and your materials costs? What kind of profit do you want to know?
What about the boutique owners? It’s important that you get along with the owner(s) of the boutique(s) that you are working with. If you found any of them to be abrasive, then it might not be a good idea to go with that particular boutique. Which boutique(s) seem(s) to work with your style and your niche, from jewelry to shabby chic to woodworking?
You need to decide if you have the money to be a vendor in just one boutique or in several. Then you need to decide which store(s) will be the best for you.
4. Contact the owner of the craft boutique and fill out any necessary paperwork.
Sign a contract with the owner of the boutique. Look carefully at the contract. Are there any surprises? If there are, then you should walk away. Ensure that everything is clear on ayments, on dates, on stipulations, and on fees.