Unfortunately, many stores miss out on this golden opportunity to cater to their fall-sentiment loving customers. We’re so anxious to get the Christmas season off to a great start that we kind of tend to leave Thanksgiving in the dust. Are you looking to stand out from the crowd? Do you want to boost your holiday sales without waiting around for the end of December before you see it? Maybe it’s time to give Thanksgiving a little more attention.

No one has ever suggested that skipping a season is a good idea. We seem to dote over spring, summer, back to school, and Christmas, but we leave that beautiful fall weather theme untapped. Many customers are turned off by seeing the Christmas decorations out really early. Many companies start planning, stocking and decorating for the winter wonderland in early October. This leaves many customers thinking, “What about Halloween? What about Thanksgiving?” The weather has barely required you to bring your jeans out of storage and already you’re looking at snow, Santa Claus, and heavy winter gear.

Just imagine how refreshing it would be for your customers to see how much you love fall, like they do. Finally, this beautiful time of year has been given the respect that it deserves! Bravo to the stores that don’t try to push Christmas before a tree has lost a single leaf! Be the one. Make sure that your customers know that you are celebrating the Thanksgiving season. No more squeezing into the “back to school” or general “holiday season”. Thanksgiving deserves the attention and your customers who love it will appreciate it, too.

Make sure that you make it known. Send out your newsletter, mailers, flyers, post signs on your garment racks, whatever it takes to show that you’re different. You’re sure to stand out among the competition when you put your best fall foot forward. Display those rich reds and bright yellows. Leave no garment rack undecorated. Get those window displays popping. Show the world (or at least the mall) who loves the fall weather!

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.

The first rule is pretty basic. You don’t want your store to look like a mess when customers come inside. Using too many tables and shelves for displays can make your store look disorganized, because customers will invariably need to rummage through folded stacks of clothes to find their size. Even if you have sizes separated by shelf, customers will still have to unfold to get a good look at the garment and will put it back on whichever shelf is most convenient.

Use wall space and display systems like slatwall to keep the store looking neater. You can use garment racks to hang extra clothing and keep the store looking neat. Be careful not to crowd garment racks. You do want the customers to have plenty of space for maneuvering about the store. They don’t want to be back-to-back with other customers or staff.

Also, using too many garment racks can make the store look crowded and bland. If the customer can’t see what you have without sifting through, then they’re not likely to look around for long. Make sure that you utilize three dimensional displays to keep the customer interested. Hanging mannequin forms are great for creating feature displays on garment racks and slatwall displays. You can also display hanging outfits on top of your garment racks. Customers that can see how clothes look and stay interested as they make their way through the store.

Another thing to keep in mind is that customers tend to shop at eye level. Make sure that the focal points of your garment rack and shelving displays are where they will get customers’ attention. Every display should have a point of focus and should be designed to make the customer want to slow down and investigate. The longer a customer spends at your garment racks or feature displays, the more likely they are to spend extra money.

People associate the quality of an item with the way that it is displayed. Cheap, plastic displays communicate discounted, lower quality merchandise. People expect sunglasses on a checkout rack to be a lot cheaper than sunglasses in a glass display case in the same location. Price things according to the display quality and you should increase your sales and minimize the amount of merchandise that you have to clearance out.

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) POP displays were originally designed to get the customer to make extra purchases at the checkout. These types are highly effective. Position them around your register or where customers will have to look at them while they’re waiting in line. Countertop and impulse buy displays should display a product and also have some sort of logo, graphic, or information about the product. This is your chance to really convince the customer to increase their purchases because they actually have time to read the details about the product or brand. When a customer feels informed, they are more comfortable making the decision to buy.

2) You can use POP displays around your store, too. They are effective around mirrors, dressing rooms, outside of major departments, and at the ends of aisles. They are great for drawing attention to certain areas of the store. They draw the eye and can help you to control what the customer looks at next while shopping. Our inclination is to read something when we see words, so take that into consideration when you set up your display. You might want to keep it brief so that the amount of reading is not overwhelming. A simple name brand, logo, or tag line that gives a person the gist of what the product is about is sufficient. Once they’re drawn over, you can go into more detail about how the product is made in the USA, uses only organic materials, or donates a certain portion of their sales to charities.

3) People choose boutiques over giant department stores for specific reasons. Keep these reasons in mind so that you can tailor the display to your target market. Uniqueness is one reason that some people shop at boutiques. They enjoy the “off the beaten path” brands and designs, so make sure that they are aware of the brands that you carry by using POP displays. Sometimes companies will even provide you with a free display if you ask so that they can promote their brand as well.

4) Keep your boutique easy to shop in by leaving space between your garment racks or the garment rack and the wall. You don’t want to crowd your customers with numerous POP displays and clothing racks. You can use a POP display, even a small one, as the only display of that particular product. Just make sure that you keep it fully stocked so that people don’t think that they won’t be able to find what they need in other areas of the store.

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) The décor in a boutique is a large part of what makes it unique. People love to browse the merchandise and admire the furniture, rugs, and art. Even though these things may not be for sale, they still show the customers what type of style you have and how much you care about creating a boutique that caters to shoppers like them. The more you can feed this desire to be somewhere beautiful and unique, the more your shoppers will enjoy their experiences there.

2) Many boutiques take it a step further and use furniture around the shop to encourage customers to hang out, have coffee and cookies, or simply relax when they are tired of shopping. Not only does it encourage people to shop longer, but it gives you another way to make the customer feel like you care about their comfort. Vintage or upscale furniture pieces are like works of art that customers can appreciate and admire, adding to the mood experience of the boutique.

3) Another form of décor in your boutique is the lighting. Imagine the difference between a shop lit with fluorescent bulbs and one with soft spot lights, natural light, track lighting, and unique chandeliers. You want to encourage your shoppers to use all of their senses while they’re in your store. You want them to have a “whole body” experience and open their minds to new ideas, products and even price categories. Using creative lighting will help to put them into the mood to do just that.

4) Your displays should also all be interesting and easy to access. Don’t overfill your garment racks, making it difficult for shoppers to see what you have. A neatly organized garment rack is much more attractive. Use open pieces of furniture, like an armoire, to create displays. Hanging things facing out towards the center of the store also helps to entice customers to browse. Use mannequins or hanging forms to show customers how pieces look when worn because sometimes you can’t tell how appealing something is when it’s simply on a hanger.

Use these ideas and come up with more of your own to have your boutique décor represent you and give the customers what they’re there for, a unique shopping experience.

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.

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.

Suggestive selling is also known as “up selling” or “add-on selling”. Customers generally expect suggestive selling. If you are selling them a game system and don’t let them know that the controller is separate, then they would leave feeling like you didn’t do your job. You should always try to let the customer know about products related to what they are buying so that they can decide if they want it or not.

Suggestive selling can even be used on your web site. If someone is looking at an item or selects it for their cart, you can have a pop-up that shows them the accessories and products that go with it. You can even use that point to offer a discount if the products are bought together. Up selling someone often gives them a better deal, even if they are spending more money.

Offering benefits to your customers that accept the up sale is a great way to gain customer loyalty. Even customers that don’t buy more appreciate that you offered them a deal and remember that the next time that they are shopping.

Retail workers should always at least ask if the customer would like to upgrade or add on to their order. If you don’t ask, you don’t sell. Suggestive selling is an easy way to offer customer service in a way that also increases profits and salespersons’ confidence.

Train your staff to make a habit of asking for sales. Instead of saying, “That shirt looks great on you!” your staff should say something like; “I’m going to let you see how great that shirt looks with this skirt and hat. We also have really cute jewelry that really brings the whole thing together. Oh, that all looks great! Would you like for me to hold it at the register for you?” Making suggestions will help customers to see what all you have to offer just in case they didn’t think of it before.

You can use garment rack displays and mannequin displays to accomplish suggestive selling without saying a word. Hang shirts and skirts that look good together on the same garment racks so that customers will automatically assume that they go together. Dress a mannequin with all of the matching accessories so that people will consider more products to go with the featured one that they really like. Suggestive selling is something that can provide a service to your customers while increasing your sales and profits. Make sure that your staff is trained in the art of suggestive selling and see how your profits can soar.

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) Customers look for a few key things when they shop at a boutique. They don’t want an oppressive sales staff, but they may be looking for a personal experience. People who shop at boutiques may go in expecting the staff to recommend clothing and accessories. They may also expect an honest opinion when they ask if something is appropriate for an occasion or is something looks good on them.

2) Believe and practice that the customer is almost always right. Listen carefully when they have complaints, concerns or questions. Apologize, explain your position if necessary, and immediately offer to find a solution to the problem. Have your sales team immediately notify you if there is a complaint so that you can make sure that the customer leaves happy and satisfied. Sometimes simply speaking to the manager, owner or person in charge is enough to make most people happy.

3) Make sure that your staff is never negative, offensive, rude, or combative. Respecting the customers, even if they’re not spending money, is very important. Small businesses like boutiques depend on word-of-mouth advertising to survive. Every customer should leave impressed so that they can spread to word to other possible shoppers.

4) Another thing that people expect in a boutique is a vast and extensive knowledge of the products in the store. Your employees should be familiar with each brand and be able to give information to the customers about where the products were made, why you like to carry certain brands, etc.

5) If someone seems interested in a product, it is okay to occasionally interject and let them know things that may make that product unique. Don’t hound your shoppers, but definitely let them know that you’re knowledgeable and informed about the products in your store.

6) Keeping your garment racks and displays fully stocked so that your customers never have to worry about whether or not you carry their size. Don’t over stuff a garment rack or display because it makes things feel cluttered and cramped. Just keep your garment racks perfectly stocked but easy to look through and your customers will have a pleasant experience shopping in your 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.

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.

1) Get the creative juices flowing by imagining what you can do to make your boutique stand out among the competition. A bland boutique is hardly a boutique at all. Customers shop at boutiques to gain a unique perspective on things. They expect to be inspired and find things that excite them and get their creative wheels turning. Make sure that you provide your customers with these experiences by using unique concepts and creative displays around your store.

2) When you have a promotion, it is the perfect time to let the creativity soar. You definitely want to draw attention to your promotion, but don’t forget the meaning of the promotion. It’s generally not to make a quick sale, but to introduce your boutique to new customers and ensure that the ones you have will keep coming back. You want to give them something to talk about so that they spread the word to their friends. Word of mouth is the best advertising that you could ever have, so make sure that you do something unique enough to mention.

3) Start by checking out what you have to work with. If you have slatwall, then it is easy to maneuver shelving and racks creating interesting shapes, textures and patterns with your slatwall accessories. Moving your garment racks around may not seem like it would make a big difference, but consider how effective a sidewalk sale is. Simply placing a garment rack or two outside of the store attracts new and old customers to the store so that they can check out what’s going on.

4) Now that you have everything arranged how you want it, try using objects that are not usually used for displays to get things looking good. You can place mannequins on top of garment racks or create a storyline with the mannequins around the store. Have something interesting waiting for your customers around every turn. Hold their interest in this way and you’re sure to leave a lasting impression.

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.