Theft is often reported as the number one concern of boutique owners. You’ve put a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears into starting up your business and you just want to make sure that someone is not trying to take it away from you. Theft can hurt small businesses so quickly. It’s important to try and prevent theft from happening. It is almost always easier to prevent theft than it is to regain your footing after a major loss.

Internal theft is the biggest source of loss for retail businesses. Employee theft accounts for three times the amount of loss businesses incur from shoplifters. Employees that learn your business’s weaknesses are the most inclined to steal. Even if they have never shoplifted a thing, there will be a time when they are tempted to take something from work. The reasons for employees deciding to steal could include the security of knowing that they won’t get caught, frustration with low pay, dissatisfaction with job policies, or just about any other reason. It can be hard to resist when there is plenty of opportunity facing them every day.

There are a few ways to prevent internal theft from happening. Surprisingly, the first thing you should do is treat your employees with respect. Ever heard the saying, “Treat others as you wish to be treated”? Employees that respect their employers are far less likely to steal from them, especially if they know that the employee is personally vested in the business.

Monitor sales in a way that rewards employees for good inventory counts. Have one person per shift in charge of display cases that lock. Have the case inventoried at the end of each shift to make an employee feel personally responsible for high dollar items. Do the same sort of checks with the register.

Investing in a security system will let your employees know that they shouldn’t attempt anything. If you’ve done your reference checks and don’t hire anyone without exemplary recommendations, then it’s likely that you’re dealing with good people who do not want to get into trouble.

Arranging your store in a way that makes theft more difficult is also a good practice. If you cram your clothes on a basic clothing rack, then it’s easy for employees to slip something off the rack without it being noticed. Opt for clothing racks that have spacers and display clothing in a more orderly fashion so that it will be obvious if something is missing. Keep your clothing racks fully stocked so that it is easy to do a quick inventory at any time.

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.

One of the major things you should do is prevent theft. If you can closely manage your budget so that you at least have the inventory on hand that you’ve paid for, then you can avoid the pitfall of unexpected inventory costs sneaking up on you at a bad time. Theft is one of the biggest complaints of boutique owners because it’s almost impossible to plan for and it can make it nearly impossible to get back on your feet after it happens.

Sadly, most theft happens internally. Because boutiques are small, don’t have many employees, and generally can’t afford a surveillance system, employees feel too safe and can end up stealing from the company. In fact, employee theft accounts for three times the loss of shopper theft. You can help by eliminating temptations. You can offer quarterly bonuses to your managers for loss amounts below the norm. Show all of your employees respect and pay them enough that they care a lot about keeping their jobs. Employees that respect you and that feel respected are less likely to steal.

You can also install dummy surveillance systems so that it appears to employees that they are being recorded. This doesn’t cost much and can save you from going out of business. You can also use locking glass display cases for high dollar or especially tempting items. Employees can be responsible for inventory counts of certain items at the beginning and end of each shift. This way, each employee is responsible for what happens while they are the ones holding the key.

To prevent theft by shoppers, try not to overcrowd your clothing racks. Clothes crammed on a garment rack give shoppers cover for slipping things into their clothing or bags. You can use slatwall to keep things spread out and on the walls. This will give you better visuals throughout your store and keep your garment racks lighter and further apart.

Making these few changes can help you to better control some of the factors of retail failure. Stay diligent and you’ll be better able to manage the fluctuations that come with running your own boutique.

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) People that run their own businesses are very involved in every aspect of the business. Many people refer to their boutique as “their baby”, meaning that they’ve put a lot of heart and soul into growing it and they’re passionate about seeing it succeed. Your store can reflect your personality and your business decisions will as well. It’s hard to remain objective when making certain decisions, so this could be a reason to hire a professional. Professional retail management consultants may be able to give you the tools that you need to stay objective, organized, on task, and orderly. They could also help you to figure out how you actually can do something that you didn’t believe you’d be able to.

2) Sometimes you may just want to hire a professional for the business start-up. If you do, make sure that you choose one with a few boutique start-ups under their belt. This can be a good way to learn about the best practices of this part of the retail world. You can avoid a lot of problems that others have learned to fix through trial and error, saving you time and money. Doing things your own way is part of the attraction of owning a boutique, so don’t be afraid to trust your instincts when you need to.

3) Talk to other boutique owners. Whether it’s a call on the phone, a comment on their blog, or meeting them face to face, it’s important to network with other people who are doing what you’re doing. People like this can offer valuable advice about point of sale software, tax consultants, and other things that you may not know how to choose yet.

4) Lastly, make sure that your store’s appearance matches the vision that you had in mind. Avoid crowding garment racks together. You don’t want people squeezing through the clothing racks to get to the back where your sale display is. Make the boutique experience one that they’ll enjoy and remember. You want them to talk about you to their friends, so take care with everything that you do and you’ll be fine.

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) Using gridwall or slatwall in a small area helps you to take advantage of the vertical space available to you. These systems are relatively inexpensive to install and once there, you can have the versatility that you need to personalize them to reflect your brand image. With just a few slatwall accessories, you can create interesting displays and find creative ways to fit more inventory on the wall than you thought. It’s easy to maneuver shelves, racks, and hanging bars so that you can change up your displays with each promotion, season, or new arrival.

2) Garment racks can help you to display a lot of your inventory on the floor, but they are also useful for creating easy-access storage for your store room or behind the counter. Nesting Z-Racks are very popular for store rooms. You can hang a lot of inventory on them and then they nest together to take up less space. The heavy duty construction means that your racks will last you for many years.

3) Ceiling racks are also useful in small settings. Ceiling racks are often used in garages to store boards, skis, and other long awkward items that are difficult to contain. In a boutique, you can use ceiling racks for cardboard boxes, mannequin forms for your slatwall or gridwall, or any other items you can think of. You can also hang hangers and other items from the ceiling rack and make more room on the floor.

4) Garment racks and clothing racks are useful in the store room, but on the sales floor you’ll want to be careful. Round racks are great if you don’t overstuff them. Customers do not want to sift through a cramped clothing rack to find their size. Consider racks with bars that keep clothing separated. Getting a lot of inventory off of the floor and onto the walls is a great way to show your customers what you have without limiting what you carry.

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.

Consumers have changed their behaviors. There is a more frugal mindset, meaning that people are not spending as much money, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t shop at boutiques. Shoppers are not just looking for low prices, but value. People are trending more towards buying in bulk. They are also buying just as much name brand and private label product as before the recession. This has come as a surprise to market analysts.

Usually during a recession, customers will trend towards buying more generic products or cutting down on spending any extra money at all. However, today’s consumers are much savvier, they have more resources, and they’re ultimately more educated than they have been in the past. Customers aren’t just looking to save a few bucks. They’re being selective about where their money goes. They are shopping online to find the best price for the highest quality product. They want to spend their money where it counts on things that will mean more to them or serve them for a longer period of time. Generics and lower quality items are, in the customer’s mind, moving from “a good deal” to “a waste of money”.

This is good for boutiques. If you can hit it at the right angle, then you can bring in customers that are looking for those higher quality products. They may not be in your store spending wildly, but they will appreciate the high end clothing and product lines that you carry. You need to make them comfortable with the quality and value of your product. You should also concentrate heavily on making the customer comfortable with you.

Coming across as a dependable, trustworthy, advocate of small or local businesses can go a long way with your customers. Be active in the community. Not just to get your name out there, but to portray your boutique as one that cares about the local economy and small businesses in your town. Instead of advertising trends, advertise quality.

You may need to change up the look of your store to get the right message across. From the moment people enter the store they should feel like you offer high quality goods that will add value to their lives. Your garment racks should be kept neat and stocked at all times. A messy or under-stocked garment rack gives the impression that you don’t care anymore or that you’re going out of business. Don’t give your customers something to worry or wonder about in these trying times. Treat everyone with the utmost respect and you’ll start to see your business emerge from the grips of the recession.

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 often have a harder time managing their inventory than big department stores, because bigger chains have money to hire outside inventory companies, or their inventory is closely tracked electronically. Boutique owners usually have to manually keep track of everything, which translates into a big job.

Delegating some of the work to your employees can help to take a lot of the grunt work out of the job. Divide the store into sections and have each employee work on the inventory counts in that section during down times. Assigning small sections to each employee keeps the job from becoming overwhelming for any one person. When everyone is done with their counts, have them go back and check each other’s numbers.

You can offer incentives and rewards for accurate counts if the employees seem unwilling to do the job. Holding a pizza party or something similar outside of business hours to get it done is a quick and effective way to do it. Letting everyone know that first they will count and then they will check another employee’s work will generally ensure that counts are accurate the first time around. You can also assign a team to each section so that they can take turns counting and double checking numbers.

Most companies make inventory counts outside of normal business hours a mandatory requirement. However, boutiques often have part-time employees with other obligations outside of their normal schedule. If you worry about making things mandatory and risking losing valued employees, offer extra discounts or bonus money to those who participate.

Avoid the problem of miscalculating how much time each section will take by having employees that finish early help out in other sections until everything is done. Have them take on an extra clothing rack or straighten out displays so that the store is ready to open on time. Clothing racks and displays can be marked with tags or notes so that everyone knows when a section is complete.

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.

If you’re considering starting up a boutique, there are a few things to consider. Think about how you will compete with big retailers. There is actually a lot that you can do to take advantage of the shortcomings of big retail stores. Customer interviews over the years have revealed that customers are a lot savvier than they used to be. They have the internet at their fingertips to do research and really know what they’re looking for.

Retail stores may be able to offer more products at lower prices, but think about what customers want that they can’t get in a big department store. They crave knowledgeable employees. Retail stores often hire employees for very little pay and give them very little training. Their job may consist of straightening or stocking shelves and little else.

Customers love to shop at boutiques because of the atmosphere. Not just the decorations and eclectic appeal, but the attitude and knowledge level of the employees there. Successful boutiques educate their employees about the details of the products that they sell. Boutique owners don’t have the luxury of carrying every brand of a particular item. They have to be picky and choose the ones that have a higher quality or more unique details than the mainstream clothing lines. Then, they make sure that their employees know how to communicate these special features to their customers, helping to make sales.

Customers love to feel like they are special, not just another face in the crowd. When they shop at a boutique, they can get personal service, honest advice, good information about the products, and the employees might even know their names when they come in. This personal type of experience is an important part of what you should offer your customers when you run a boutique.

Make sure that you respect each and every customer, whether or not they are buying anything. Make sure that they can see everything you have to offer in a unique and efficient manner. Don’t cram everything on to a shelf or one tiny rack. A garment rack should not be overstuffed. Spread items out so that they can be seen and admired. This also helps to promote the idea that the garments are unique, or maybe even one of a kind. Consider using specialty garment racks designed especially for boutiques. These may have varying levels of hanging bars, or mix bars and shelving, giving your store a more textured look.

When you start your boutique, remember these tips. Treat the customer like a valued individual. Be honest, give good advice, and offer information about your products that no one else can. Keep the store tidy and easy to shop through. With these things in mind, you’ll be able to take advantage of the things that make boutiques unique.

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.

You can get involved in your local community drawing positive attention to yourself and your business. You can make personal contacts and actually keep up with them easily on social networking sites. Big retail stores could never do these things. Your presence in your community will make people want to support you and your small business. It makes them feel like they are doing some good to preserve small businesses in their community. You can show people you care by attending benefits and other local events where you can get your name out there.

You can use your personal connections around town to figure out which promotions will be most effective. Have people tell you what they would like to see. Would they want a portion of their purchase price to be donated to a charity? Would they rather see some other brands that you haven’t thought about carrying? Would they be more inclined to stop in if they received regular coupons by e-mail? All of these things could be invaluable to know and could really help your business to take off.

People love the atmosphere that a boutique offers, as well as the unique products. Make sure that when they approach a clothing rack that it is not too crowded for them to see what they’re looking for. Keep things stocked so that people know that you’re likely to have the sizes that they need, but make sure that they can leisurely look through the clothing racks without much effort.

Make your displays interesting and enticing for customers to explore. Heighten their curiosity by having special visuals around every corner. If someone can look into the store and immediately start planning which sections they are going to want to visit, then you’ve done a good job. Making the atmosphere relaxed and personal, in a way, will help you to provide the experience that boutique shoppers are hoping to encounter when they come inside. Take advantage of the many advantages of being a small boutique and you’ll reap the benefits.

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.

Creating an effective visual display means convincing customers that you care enough to have quality products that are fully stocked and easy to shop through. People are put at ease when they can see that you have plenty of inventory and sizes, increasing their chances at finding something that they would like. Boutiques are in a unique position of having limitless creative licensing to make some really eye catching displays. The better you become at reading the needs and wants of your customers, the better you will be at creating these types of high impact displays.

Great displays are the easiest way to draw attention to your promotions. People want to feel like they’re getting a good deal on a high quality product. When they shop in boutiques, they are hoping to find products that are as unique as they are attractive. Pointing out the products that you have by promoting them effectively will help your customers to have the shopping experience that they crave.

Rotate products and retail displays regularly to keep customers interested. You can rotate around holidays, or on a regular calendar schedule. Make sure that you have a few places around your boutique where customers can easily see what your products look like when they are worn or used. Mannequins are most effective, but you can also use other things to display clothing in a three-dimensional way. You can hang things from the ceiling to draw attention to areas deeper into the store, or you can use hanging forms on the fronts of your garment racks or shelves to save space.

Think about color, balance and texture when you set up a promotional display. Try to combine items from around the store to draw attention to your other products while giving the display more depth. Accessorizing the hanging form on a garment rack will get the attention of customers that are more focused on one thing at a time and are not looking around the store. Rotating things around and regularly mixing things up will keep the attention and interest of your customers year round.

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.

As a business owner, you should be aware that online shoppers are savvier than ever. You can’t just set up a cute site with pictures and prices expecting people to be “wooed” by graphics. Customers want to see that you are divulging as much information as possible. Having clear and concise product descriptions will help you to gain the confidence of your shoppers.

Turning browsers into customers is your main focus when setting up your online shop. Consider everything that a customer may want to ask about a product and provide that information up front. Furthermore, determine what the customer might notice if they were physically touching the product and divulge that information as well. Sizing guides, fabric content, product care information, measurements, weight and feel are all important aspects.

However, you should be careful not to make descriptions too wordy. Be clear and concise. Links or balloons that pop-up additional information can be helpful. Customer reviews and product ratings are weighed heavily by consumers. Commonly asked questions are good to include on your product page. Anything that increases the customer’s confidence will help you turn a browser into a customer. Things like advertising your “no hassle return policy”, live chat customer service, or special deals for customers that leave reviews will help you to get the customers involved and comfortable with your business.

Try to give the shopper an in-store experience through your web site. Use decorations in your store to inspire your web designs to keep the same look and feel that they get while shopping in-store. Use pictures that actually communicate the uniqueness of the garment to the customer. 360 degree views, extreme zooms, and virtual store shopping experiences are a plus. A really great idea would be if a shopper could virtually look around the store, click on the clothing racks they were interested in and shop that garment rack. In boutiques, surprises should lurk around every corner, clothing racks should be filled with interesting items and displays, and shoppers should experience a feeling that they don’t get in any department store. Capture this with your web shop and you’ll be golden.

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.