by Jennifer Howe Rogan For those of you that have just joined us in the last few months, I would like to include some information on The Traveling Boutique. I actually got my start in the boutique business by doing “Trunk Shows," or as most people know them, “home parties." We have had several inquiries lately about The Traveling Boutique concept, including what lines do well and what some of the typical challenges are, so we will cover this topic a bit. Sometimes when people hear the words “home party," they clench up and don’t want to talk about it. I openly admit, when someone approaches me and says “Hey, I am having a candle party, come on over," I catch myself sighing with frustration! I am not sure if it’s because I’m forced to give up time that I could be doing something else or the fact I don’t really enjoy home parties. It’s ironic, but true! If you met me in person, you’d understand why. I have a hard time sitting still! But the great thing that comes from me forcing myself to attend these parties is that I gain knowledge of what NOT to do! There is a lot to be said for home parties, not the least of which is that you can schedule them at your convenience and have the hostess get people in the door. But one thing I can’t stress enough is that your party is only as good as your hostess. Your main goal for your first party is to get as many people in the door as possible. Your big selling point is that you don’t charge retail. Make sure you advertise the event as a great opportunity to get boutique quality clothing for a fraction of retail price. Don’t go overboard with fancy details for the event, just make it simple and sweet and no pressure for all! You don’t need snacks or dessert, after all who wants sticky fingers touching your clothing? A good idea is to recruit your closest friend to host your first party and have her help you (reward her with a free outfit of her choice). Have her greet everyone when they enter the door and give them a name tag. Make sure she hands them a price sheet, this will save tons of time by keeping you from you having to price everything. There doesn’t have to be a big presentation or a gimmick once the guests arrive. Let then browse at their leisure. You only need to ask everyone to sign up on a clipboard or guest book with their name, phone number or email address. You can also find out if they would be interested in hosting a party and earning their clothing free. How much you decide to give them can be up to you. If in a given night you have 10 people come and they each by 2.5 outfits, that’s about a $500 clean profit, so it would be nice for you to give your hostess 2-3 free outfits! That also will encourage other guests to host their own party. Every season, it’s best that you be the one to kick off the first home party! You’re not selling Tupperware, food, baskets, or candles here . . . you are selling adorable children’s clothing! The product is not overpriced, and if anything you are saving them some nice cash (how much is up to you), and the enthusiasm of your guests is sure to be highest if they haven’t already attended fifteen other home parties. If you don’t know what price points your guests will tolerate, the best thing you can do is purchase a line called Baby Togs, or BT Kids. They have clothing ranging from 0 through 6x in girls and up to 7 in boys. Their clothing comes in pre-packed sets, so you can get complete outfits. They offer the best bang for the buck and because people can get 2-3 piece outfits for under $35 they will often buy 2-3 on any given night. My Baby Togs rep actually owns an entire showroom of lines and represents Oink Baby, Queen Christine, Beets N Snips, Baby Togs, Good Lad, Vitamins, Goodlad, Playfair and a few others. Most of these lines are very affordable and if you’re looking for a nice assortment of lines to work with, Bob can help! The price point for you is from $9-$12 on average so you can see the nice mark up! As far as a return/exchange policy, treat it the same way you would a professional boutique business. If it’s on clearance, all sales are final! If they are buying at full price, you can offer a 7 day exchange option. Just make sure you have that printed clearly on your receipts so there is no misunderstanding later. This is a business, so there is going to be work . . . but it’s your business and if you do just one party a weekend and reward your hostess, you can reasonably expect approximately $1600 a month in profit. All that without the added expenses of daycare or auction site fees or Internet and mortar store overhead. You are going to have to shuck out some money to get started, but that’s what we all have to do. Even if you don’t have a huge amount of cash available, invest what you can at first, and then for the first few months, reinvest your earnings back into your business. Before you know it, you’ll have a sizeable inventory that will generate even more sales and profit! Another exciting concept that can grow your home party business is to host an online boutique party. If you have a website, you can market yourself to your schools, church, and friends. Your online “hostess" just sends an invitation to their friends with a unique code you give them, you track their sales for 10 days and then credit them with their free outfits after everything is purchased online by their “guests." How cool is that?! A good example of someone that does a fantastic job at this is Becci Kerry of Something to Brag About. You can find her at www.something2bragabout.com if you need some help with ideas on how to make this work. I hope this motivates some of you to get started with a home party business! There is much more info on eboutiqueonline.net if you would like to learn more. Also available is Bob’s contact information if you would like to get started with a nice line that everyone loves. (HINT: Think nice Easter collections!)
For additional advice, help, and discussion boards for eBay sellers, please logon to E-Boutique Online. www.eboutiqueonline.net
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Thursday, March 09, 2006 View other articles written by Jennifer Howe Rogan(77)
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