Start with your expenditures and go from there. Create a list or spreadsheet to track your cost on your inventory. Sometimes boutique owners want to carry certain products, but they turn out to be more time consuming than profitable. Figure out which of your products are the most profitable and then think about why that may be.

Your most profitable products may reveal a trend or niche in the market that you can take advantage of. If people are coming to you for purses more than anything else, you might consider promoting and carrying more brands this year. If independent label clothing is your money maker, consider meeting with more designers. By doing this, you can take your business in a more profitable direction that you may not have originally considered.

When you bring in new products or product categories, you need to make sure that they have the impact that you want them to. Find new ways of displaying and promoting that will grab attention and make it known that you are going in this new direction. You don’t have to stray from your original vision of your store, but keep money in mind so that you don’t stretch yourself too thin and suffer financially.

Sometimes it’s easier to introduce new products if you rearrange the store. Get some interesting clothing racks or retail displays. Alternating between garment racks, shelving, hanging bars, and wall displays will help to break up the monotony of offering a lot of one type of item. Make sure that you have varying degrees of textures, heights and depths.

Because you are in a boutique, you are not very limited in the way that you display clothing and accessories. You can use mannequins as hat racks or trees to display gloves. The possibilities are really endless. Just be careful not to stray too far from your theme or overdo it in one area. You want your store to be shopper-friendly, not cluttered or cramped.

Use your clothing racks as a way to display signs and décor that doesn’t get in the way of the shopper. You want promotional signs and key pieces of décor to be visible, but you don’t want them to take too much attention away from your actual products. Using a garment rack or the top of a display to place a sign can be subtle, but it won’t go unnoticed if it’s at eye level.

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.

Write down what you want people to think about your boutique. Do you want them to feel like your boutique is eclectic? Maybe you would rather stick to vintage. Some boutiques need a really sophisticated feel. Some like a more classic environment. The environment in the store adds to your boutique’s appeal. You need to make sure that the decorations and displays that you choose for the holiday still fit in well with your overall plan for the store. It’s all about building that image and branding yourself. Straying too far from what you originally intended will confuse the customers as to what you’re all about.

Christmas is really about having some special promotions, making as much money as possible before year end, and gaining some more long-term customers. Make sure that you are hitting on all of these areas and not just decorating.

Promotions during the holidays can be fun. You may want to roll out some clothing racks on to the sidewalk, porch, or out in the hall, depending on your location. This is a really effective marketing technique. People strolling by or driving by that normally wouldn’t have looked will check out your merchandise. Putting the clothing and accessories out into the sun can fade them, so switch them out often. People also get the feeling that they are going to get a good deal when they see a sidewalk sale. So, some signage may be in order here. Another idea would be to greet the customers out near the clothing racks and hand them a coupon good for that day or the next couple of days.

Make the inside of your boutique festive and interesting, sticking with your image, of course. Make sure that decorations feature your products and don’t overpower them. One way to do it is to decorate each garment rack with a small tree, angel, globe, or whatever you feel draws attention. You can simply hang a glittery snowflake over each garment rack, hang some lights and be done. Try not to go too gaudy or your store may start to look crowded. Make sure you keep the clothing racks straight and the aisles clear. No one wants to squeeze in with a crowd and rummage through crowded racks.

Keep everything simple, keep your clothing racks straight, your promotions moving, and stick with your image and you can have a wonderfully successful holiday season in your boutique this year!

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.