3 Things You Don’t Know About Selling To Boutiques That Could Hurt You

Updated for 2024

If you have a clothing, jewelry, or accessories line you want to get into boutiques, know this: Selling your line to a retail store is NOT the same as selling directly to consumers. Here are 3 things you need to know about selling to boutiques.

1) Boutique owners really just want to know 2 things about your line:

• How does it fit into my store?
• Can I make money from it?

   

Fashion & jewelry designers must be clear on these two points to get a retail buyer’s attention. They care a lot less than we’d like to think about your line philosophy and your inspiration for the season’s styles. You want to focus on filling the stores’ needs rather than telling them about yourself and how great your line is. Sad but true.

Be sure you know who your line “hangs with” and do your research on what other brands the boutique carries before you reach out. Retail buyers are inundated with vendors wanting to sell to them so please, please make sure the store’s actually a fit before you approach them.

2) They hate when you say, “This would be a great fit for your store.”

I could fill about 7 pages on “how to approach a store” and “how to send an a email  pitch for a boutique.”  For now, just know this…

You may think your product is a great fit for their store and you may really believe it will sell well for them. 

But… if you SAY IT in a certain way – I just know this would be great for your store – you’re probably going to piss them off. Because, you don’t actually know. THEY work in their store every single day and it’s their money to risk on picking up a new product line.  Just because you visited their website and follow them on social doesn’t mean you know what’s good for them.

It’s a HUGE pet peeve of retailers when brands tell them what’s good for them. Just don;t do it. 

3) Getting no response from a retail buyer is not the same as getting a NO.

Look, buyers get hundreds of pitches a day. It’s impossible to keep up with them all. (Three years after I sold my I was and STILL getting around 50 emails a day from brands wanting to sell to me. No lie).  

If  you contact a store and don’t hear back from them, hang in there. Keep trying until someone tells you NO THANKS. Be nice, respectful, and persistent.  Try contacting them different ways – email, phone, and snail mail, stop by if you can, maybe DM them…

No response from a retail buyer doesn’t mean no. It means maybe.

Use all the options and see what gets the best response. Don’t overlook the good ol’ postal service.  So many vendors use email these days that you might have a better chance of standing out if you mail something.

Want more information about getting your clothing or accessories into retail stores? Check out our training for  “How to Sell Your Line to Boutiques” here: https://fashionbrainacademy.com/programs2/