Your general customer around the holidays may be looking for good deals. So, ask yourself what “a good deal” is. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the product is at the lowest price they’ve ever seen. If they were only looking for the lowest price possible, they would have already gone online at 3:00 in the morning to bid on the item from an auction site.

They are shopping in your store to get a good feel for what the product is all about. It’s not easy to get a secure feeling about the quality and craftsmanship of a product when you’re looking at a two dimensional product online. This is why web sites spend big bucks creating three dimensional views that can be enlarged to show more detail.

So, consider your advantage here. You have the product in your store. Now the goal is to convince the customer that the product that you carry is worth the price that you’re asking. Not only that, but that it is “a good deal” by virtue of the fact that the quality is undeniable. The customer can look, touch, feel, hold, test, and try out products in your boutique or retail store. Testing the product with their senses helps customers to make an educated decision about what they’re willing to pay.

Your goal is to get them to feel confident enough to pay the price that you want. Many things can influence what a customer thinks when they’re inside of a store. Just assume that everyone is coming in skeptical. They’re making snap judgments with every glance and touch. Their ability to quickly deduce how they feel from their first impression of your store is something that you need to cater to.

Make the customer immediately comfortable with everything that they see. Exhibit quality from your entrance to your dressing room, so that nothing throws them off of their positive path of assumption. Make sure that they don’t feel cramped by spreading out your garment racks and retail displays. Avoid harsh lighting and only use spotlights to deter shoplifting and showcase certain products. You don’t want someone to be able to take cover by reaching into a garment rack to slip something into their purse, but you do not want to put them on edge and make them distrustful of your store.

Work on your presentation, quality displays, neatness, and customer service to ensure that this holiday season will be a successful one.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

A mannequin wearing your boutique fare may not be very interesting standing alone in your storefront window. You will need to use your imagination to make grab attention if you’re on a budget. Here’s some food for thought. If you’re in a boutique, then you’re selling interesting and unique items, right? So it stands to muster that if you use something really unique in your visual display, then it will lend itself to being a hip and fashionable choice. After all, you’re the one setting the trends here.

Some stores have successfully used recycled and reused items to create stunning displays that didn’t cost them a dime. One store used an old oil drum cut up into a giant sheet of stars to create the background for their new summer line display. They painted multi-colored stripes on an old curtain and hung it behind the stars, adding depth and texture to their window mannequin display. It didn’t cost but a few bucks to the welder the cut out the stars, but the display ended up being pretty effective.

They dressed the mannequins in clothing that had lots of prints, plaids, paisleys, and spots. Sounds just awful against that striped and starred background, but when they added in some banana tree leaves and piles of pots and pans around the bottom, the mismatched assortment helped to communicate the unique nature of the clothing that was offered inside the store. People just couldn’t pass that window without wondering what in the world it meant!

Creating a little intrigue can go a long way. You can bring the theme of the window display into your store if you want. For example, take the store that we just mentioned. They could have the welder put together some structures made out of old pots and pans to put on top of their garment racks. They could take it a step further and fashion the pots and pans into chairs or even a tall column to display in the middle of the store. They could use pots and pans to display accessories, socks or tank tops.

It doesn’t really matter what you use. It could be petticoats, water bottles, CD’s, or old TV’s. You can decorate or paint reusable or recycled items to make them into works of art. You could even take various items, like softballs, flower pots, and computer keyboards, and turn them into a mannequin that displays your clothing.

The point is that you run a boutique. You can do whatever you want. The more “out there” your designs, the more attention you’re going to get. You can top each garment rack in your store with a mannequin’s head, a leg, or a giant stuffed bird. Use your imagination. If you get interesting enough, you may start to see people getting their pictures made next to your oddly intriguing visuals, and then just imagine how far the word could spread! Talk about effective marketing on a budget!

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

1) Boutique owners can experience exactly what their customers are experiencing. You live in the same town, experience the same events, and really have a feel for what day to day life might be like for your clients. Big corporations can’t do that. Make sure that you are talking with your customers and making them feel like you are on their side.

2) Boutiques generally have to narrow their focus to operate. You can’t necessarily afford to offer everything. You need to hone in on certain products and brands. This naturally narrows your target audience. By becoming a very specific type of retailer, you target a very specific group of people. This type of focus allows you to become an expert. People love to find the “expert in the field” when shopping for certain things. This gives you the advantage over bigger businesses whose focus is lacking.

3) As a boutique owner, you have the flexibility to offer what larger corporations may not even be aware of. If you know, for example, that all the kids are going crazy over one specific brand of pants, jewelry, or accessories, you have the flexibility to get it in there this season and make your customer base aware that you are the one to come to for this item. Bigger companies may have no idea that the fad has launched until it’s over. They end up ordering late and having to clearance out yesterday’s news.

4) Boutique owners should focus on providing personal level service. People crave to be educated about certain products. They want to know the pros and cons of an item before they buy it. Boutiques are where they come for honest advice. If a customer asks about a certain brand of shoe, you may be able to give them some very specific information. For example you could say, “When I wore mine in the water, I liked it because the rocks didn’t get inside of my shoes.” This type of personal touch is what will keep customers coming back.

5) Respect! Respect! Respect! Who wants to shop somewhere where they are not respected? Customers of boutiques expect to be respected because they know they’re not just another customer. Each customer feels that they are important to the success of your business, and they’re right. Be respectful, helpful, and keep everything where customers can easily touch, feel, and experience your products. Keeping organized clothing racks is one way to make this happen. An orderly clothing rack tells the customer that you respect their time and don’t want them to have to rummage through crowded racks.

Keep all of these things in mind as you run your day to day business and you’ll be taking advantage of the many benefits of running a boutique!

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality clothing rack or garment rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Your brand will make or break you in any economy. If you’re concerned that the economy is negatively affecting your business, then you’re not thinking in the forward manner that you should be. Consider a down economy the time when you should be more competitive. People are out there spending money, they just need to come to you to spend it. Taking business from your competition is job #1. Get excited and innovative to take advantage of a time when customers are only buying from those that they believe in.

Branding has a lot to do with trust. When customers are skeptical because of the economy, who do you think they’re going to spend their money with? Retailers that they know and trust. They don’t want to risk spending money on something that may not deliver. They are going to go with brands whose image they are familiar with. They want to know that what they are getting is a high enough quality that they won’t be throwing their money away.

Building trust with your customers should be first and foremost on your mind. Use every aspect of your retail business to build that trust. Your web site, your social media efforts, your mailings, even your store displays has an effect on people’s impression of you.

Start by thinking about how to build trust while reinforcing your image. A down economy doesn’t mean that you have to lower your prices. It makes people think that you are just trying too hard to get their money, and lowering prices, if not done carefully, can instill that seed of doubt that you want to avoid.

Everything about your store, catalog, or web site is a promise to the customers. If you have a lot of high quality images, then they perceive you as a high end retailer. If you skimp on something, they may perceive you and your brand as a lower quality outfit. At any step in the process of making a purchase, you could betray the trust that you’ve begun to establish. Be careful to pay attention to all the details of the shopping experience.

Inside your store, make sure that your displays are tidy and neat, your staff is courteous and respectful, and that your garment racks are fully stocked. If people see a garment rack that is lacking in sizes, they will not trust that you will have what they need when they find what they want, and may leave. Keep everything streamlined, from the moment someone enters the store to the moment they leave or need to make a return. Make check-out on your web site easy to manage. Make ordering from your catalog as easy as possible. With your customers’ trust, your business could flourish, despite fluctuations in the economy.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Retail design plans are generally rigid and set in stone, so to speak. However, you can come up with a solid display arrangement that is flexible enough to accommodate promotions, inventory fluctuations, and seasonal changes if you do your planning. Figure out a way to achieve your goals by creating a basic list of key points to adhere to.

Let’s say that your retail store constantly has new designs coming in. Of course, you will want to promote them and feature them. You can work a staging area into your store design, where new items will always go before they get thrown in the mix. A good way to grab attention when something is new is to use it on your mannequins.

Mannequins allow you to display something as it will look after purchase. People love to see this cut and dry display because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of whether or not they’ll like it. If something catches their eye, you want to make sure that you have it displayed on a table or special clothing rack as soon as they come in the door. You don’t want to distract them with something else, immediately, because if they don’t like the other item as much, then they won’t look long before they just leave.

Use clothing racks that face the clothes outward if possible. Rolling clothing racks are great for rearranging things as needed to accommodate your inventory. If you’re low on inventory, you can easily roll a clothing rack into storage so that your store still looks fully stocked. Racks that turn the clothes outward make shopping a breeze. But, there is actually more to it than that.

People are willing to pay more for clothes that face outward. The reason is simple. They have been conditioned to believe that round racks are for deeply discounted and clearance items. If things are neatly arranged so that it’s not a lot of work to look through them, then they are automatically going to assume that they should have to pay more for that item.

Lights, signage, the amount of space between your clothing racks, and attention grabbing items should all be considered every time you change something in your store. After deciding which way to go to achieve the look you’re going for, always ask yourself if you are following the rule. Even if your store makes drastic changes, your customers will still identify your store with the things that they like about you if your design stays the same.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality clothing rack or garment rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

When customers were interviewed and asked about their reasons for avoiding department stores and shopping in boutiques, the biggest complaint across the board was the lack of customer service and product knowledge by the employees of the retail chains.

Boutiques offer an honest opinion to shoppers and are more interested in making the customer happy than just making a sale. Boutique owners know that customer loyalty goes a long way. Even if a customer doesn’t buy anything, their word of mouth advertising is invaluable.

Today’s shoppers are savvy and want to know details about the items that they are considering for purchase. Make sure that your employees are trained in product knowledge. You should probably make it a weekly trend to give your employees more and more information about your products.

Take it beyond giving them information provided by the manufacturer. Let your employees try your products so that they can give first-hand accounts to your customers. Boutique customers are looking for honest opinions and will often purchase something based on the quality of the information that they receive. This means, don’t leave out the cons when you’re giving a detailed account of a product. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to sell it, but it simply means that your honesty will be rewarded.

For example, if a customer is looking at a sheer button down shirt. Your employee could go over and say something like, “That is a beautiful shirt. I have one like it and I love the fit. The fabric is really soft and I get a lot of compliments when I wear it. The only thing that I don’t like about it is that it needs to be hand washed or it wrinkles up. But, I love it enough to put forth the extra effort.” Customers want to be trusted to decide for themselves whether or not they should buy. Giving them all of the information that they need to do so will satisfy any doubts that they had and let them know that they can ask you questions and get honest answers.

Another thing that is special about boutiques is their attention to detail. Customers appreciate the joy that they get from their shopping experience. Unlike giant department stores, boutiques are generally set up so that there are little surprises around every corner. The clothing racks are not crowded or overfilled. The walking trip from garment rack to garment rack is filled with interesting items to keep their attention. Boutique garment racks are generally smaller and only hold a few items. This helps the customer to easily see what you have to offer while they enjoy the charm of the boutique.

Keeping your customers happy can be as easy as making your store a pleasant place to visit, being honest with your recommendations, and always providing superior customer service, whether a customer is spending money or not.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

If you are not in a position to hire your own visual merchandiser or visual merchandising team, then you will want to do some research before you attempt to do it yourself. You don’t want to neglect certain areas of need.

The first step is to go over your business plan. What is your theme? Does your store look like you envisioned it? Does it communicate to the customer the types of messages that you wanted it to? This is the first step because the look and feel of your store can make a huge impact on a customer’s decision to buy, enter your store, or return for repeat business. Keeping the visual displays in your store congruent with your vision is important for branding your image.

Work on window displays and keep them up to date with promotions and the seasons. A window display that changes often is eye catching and keeps customers interested. Make sure that your signage also conveys the message that you want. Large signs with big fonts communicate discount deals while smaller signs give you a more subtle approach and prepare customers for spending more money. You don’t want to lure in people looking for cheap deals and then surprise them with your pricey merchandise. It’s ineffective and can hurt your store’s image.

Even the arrangement of your clothing racks can have an impact on the visual feeling that your store portrays. Garment racks that are close together give the store a busier feel. A garment rack that is packed with merchandise makes people think that the items are cheaper, like clearance items. Leaving space between one clothing rack and the next gives people room to leisurely shop. Having space between the clothing on the rack subliminally prepares customers for a higher price tag.

Keep all of your displays arranged in alignment with your prices and the message that you want to portray. Visual merchandising is all about making the customer feel how you want them to feel. Identify your target market, figure out how they want to feel when they make a purchase, and go from there. If they want to feel unique, make sure that you don’t put out too many of one item. Make them feel like they are one of the only people that will buy this item. Take all of these tips and work them into your displays and you will be building the brand image that you want in no time.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality clothing rack or garment rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Department stores and other retail chains are very limited in what they can do. They are controlled by a corporate vision that they must strictly adhere to. Everything in a store contributes to its image. The types of hangers that they use, the style of garment racks, the color of the wood trim, the volume of the music, and more. The goal when you are creating your brand is to be consistent in enough areas that customers know exactly how your store makes them feel.

Getting customers to feel something for you requires some inventive measures. You’re not really tricking the customer, but rather giving them a certain experience. If you play club dance music in your store, customers are likely to buy things that they would wear when they went out on the town. If you play folk music, they are more likely to buy organic cotton casual wear.

Use your personality and taste to bring the customer into the feeling that you get when you are in your store. Many boutiques adopt the “controlled chaos” decorating scheme where nothing seems to go together, and therefore it does. It’s deliberately chaotic. This can work really well when you want to continually add odds and ends into your collection.

Really, that is a great way to do it. Shop antique stores, garage sales, estate sales, and online auctions to find truly unique furniture and store fixtures. Think outside of the box. You can use a mannequin to display clothing and accessories, this is true. But you could also screw hooks all into a mannequin’s body and use it to display your necklaces or hats. A chair could be just a chair, or it could be discretely hung from the ceiling in a corner for an eye-catching piece of art.

The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to decorating a boutique, but be careful not to go overboard. Cluttered is not necessarily your goal, because it can distract a customer from buying anything. If it looks like work to sift through a garment rack or table display, then most people will skip it. Our eyes are drawn to order. So, even if your store is filled with knick-knacks, your clothing racks can still remain orderly and easy to sift through.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Boutiques are popular because they offer interesting items and give people the sense that they’ve found something unique. Boutiques carry unique brands that can’t be found in big department stores or other retail shops. Choosing your decorating style and executing it are as important as the brands you choose to carry. This is because boutique shoppers are looking for more of a memorable experience than they would be if they were shopping in a regular store.

Many boutiques use an eclectic style of decorating. This style allows you to take your own unique finds and use them in the store. Everything doesn’t have to go together, so it opens up a lot of opportunities for finding good deals and second hand bargains. You also don’t have to buy everything at once. You can add to the décor when you find something that you think is interesting.

Creating the eclectic feel can be a little tricky if you don’t know where to start. You want to avoid making your boutique look cluttered or thrown together. Start with your bigger items and go from there. If you plan on creating interesting nooks and corners of your store, then start by looking at furniture that can be used to separate sections of the store.

Dressers, couches, end tables and more can be used to divide areas of interest and also can be used to display items. Shop antique stores, furniture stores, or even used furniture stores to find some special pieces. This is probably where you are going to spend the most money, so budget accordingly. You will probably fall in love with a particular piece, so use it to determine what else you might want that goes along with it.

Try not to match wood or colors unless it goes along with your theme. This will help you to not limit yourself when it comes to future purchases. Diversity is the goal when you are going for an eclectic feel. Purposely combine different woods, metals, finishes and fabrics. You may even decide to recover old couches yourself, using interesting fabrics, to make sure that you have an original on your hands.

You can use rugs to help bring certain areas together. For example, if you have a white-washed dresser, you probably don’t want a modern looking black sofa next to it. But, if you do want to make extremely different items look like they go together, then think about the accessories. A rug that contains both colors can help make the two look like they match. Art, throw pillows, blankets and ottomans can make things come together.

Think about your eclectic feel when you select a style of garment rack. There are many interesting clothing racks on the market that break the mold of the standard chrome circular. You can get a garment rack that is ornate and fits your style. You can use different types of garment racks in different areas of your boutique to make sure that you are keeping it interesting.

Using unique furniture and garment racks is a good way to set the stage for future decorations. Less is sometimes more, so choosing these items wisely will help you decorate without creating clutter.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Just about anything can brand your image. From the color and brightness of your light bulbs to the string on your price tags, little details can help customers remember you. You’re not only trying to get people to remember you, but you want them to create a strong impression of your store and brand. You need to plan an attack on the senses that will delight, encourage, fascinate, inspire, and build trust in your shoppers.

The first impression is so important. The window displays, signage, lighting and mood are so important. Think about how you want your customers to feel. Lighting and display designs can induce excitement, relaxation, intrigue, you name it. You really have to decipher how your target audience will respond.

If your shoppers are more likely to make purchases when they are relaxed, then that can have a big impact on your store’s appearance. You will want smaller garment racks with forward facing clothing. Rummaging through a cram-packed clothing rack is no one’s idea of a relaxing experience. You’ll need lower lighting with soft spotlights and lit showcases to draw attention to certain areas without creating a harsh feeling. Colors are important, too. Muted colors, black and dark colors draw light away from the eye and can create a soothing visual while making your merchandise pop into the foreground of the shopper’s mind.

It is important to develop a theme that is congruent with your marketing plan. Don’t diverge from the theme so that the feeling shopper’s get in your store can become part of how they feel when they shop or talk to their friends about you. When they put on clothing or use accessories that they bought in your store, the feeling that they got when they shopped there should return. This is how you create a strong bond with customers. They’ll be subconsciously drawn back to that feeling, time and time again.

Make sure that your clothing racks are always in order. Whether you are running a fast-paced sale or soothing customers into their comfort zones, cleanliness, neatness and ease of shopping experience are always important. Shoppers can become frustrated with a tightly packed or disorderly garment rack. Make sure that sizes are clearly marked and your clothing racks are spaced out properly. When you make the impression that you want, it will be associated with your brand from then on.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.