Are you looking for a new business venture? Do you have a passion for clothing, accessories, and fashion? Are you sick of sitting at your desk all day, dreaming about buying that gorgeous blouse but never having the budget to go ahead with it? Well, I have some great news for you! You can start an online boutique business from home and make money from it. But how do you get started?
There are three main ways to set up an online boutique:
- Go directly to the manufacturer or wholesaler and buy items directly from them (this is what most people will recommend).
- Purchase items wholesale and resell them through Amazon or another third-party platform. This way gives you more control over pricing but may not be right if your focus is quality products, as many of these platforms require low prices (although there are exceptions).
- Buy second-hand goods on eBay or Craigslist, then resell them as “new” via your own website.
1. The Two Types of Online Boutiques to Consider
Most online boutiques follow a similar model: they sell products that are already being produced by another company, then immediately ship them to their customers. This is called “drop shipping.” For example, you could sign up as an affiliate for AliExpress and have your store’s logo on products from their sellers. When someone buys one of your products through your site, AliExpress will ship it directly to them (you won’t see any inventory).
Dropshipping can be a good way to get started because you don’t need any inventory or space for storage—the retailer does all the work for you! However, this also means that if there are no orders coming in from customers, there’s no income coming into your pocket either: there’s no money in the bank until someone buys something from you.
Another common business model is Consignment: retailers sell items using consignment services, which act as an intermediary between sellers and buyers by sending out emails about new items available for sale. You may learn more about consignment here.
2. How Much Money Do You Need To Start An Online Boutique?
Starting an online boutique business can be a very cost-effective way of earning extra income. You don’t need to have thousands of dollars lying around to get started, and you don’t even have to have any money at all! The only upfront investment that may be required is some time and energy.
There are many factors that affect how much money you will spend on your business, but if you follow these steps, you’ll be able to launch it with minimal risk:
- Choose a niche where you know there is demand for your product or service (this will help cut down on marketing costs). For example, if there’s already a lot of competition in the space, then it may not be worth entering at this point because there’s already enough demand for everyone else selling similar products. However, if there isn’t much competition yet in that niche, then now might be perfect timing! But regardless of whether it’s too late or too soon, always choose something that people want because it means customers will come back again when they need more later down the line.”
3. Where Can You Get Suppliers for Your Online Boutique?
As you continue to research online boutique businesses, you will find that supplier sourcing is one of the biggest challenges for people who want to start their own businesses.
You don’t need to be a fashion guru or have a lot of money to start an online boutique business. The first thing you need to do is find suppliers for your products.
There are many different ways to source your products, including:
- Directly from the manufacturers
- Purchased from wholesalers and distributors
- Marketplaces such as eBay and Etsy
- Retail stores that sell in bulk or wholesale
Tip: When sourcing goods, go with a reputable provider. Start your online business with well-known dropshipping companies like Amazon, Walmart, or AliExpress.
4. How to Market and Promote Your Online Boutique
You’ve decided to start an online boutique business. Now what?
You’ve got a great idea and know how to do it. The next step is to figure out how you’re going to market your products and services.
One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make when they start out is that they don’t think about marketing until after they’ve launched their product or service. This is a huge mistake because if people don’t know about your brand, then chances are that no one will buy from you!
When you’re an e-commerce entrepreneur, you know how important it is to market your brand. But sometimes it can be hard to know where to start.
You may already have a great website and social media presence, but are you getting the most out of it? Do people even know about your brand? If not, these tips will help.
1) Drive traffic to your website through social media.
What’s the point of having a website if no one visits it? Social media is a great way to drive traffic to your site by posting images and links with hashtags that are relevant to your business and encourage users to click through.
2) Produce content that people will want to read.
Using social media as a marketing channel is great, but if all the content on your feed is boring or spammy, people won’t want to follow your posts anymore. Make sure each piece of content is engaging, valuable, and unique so people will keep coming back for more!
You’ve decided to start an online boutique business. Now what?
Learn how to start an online boutique and make money from home
As you may have guessed, starting an online boutique business is not as simple as putting up a website and waiting for the money. In order to make your dream of making extra cash from home come true, you’ll need to go through a few steps first.
First things first: You need to set up a business plan. This will serve as your guide as you progress through each stage of your journey and help ensure that every decision is well-informed and calculated.
Next, it’s time to find out which niche or niches would be best suited for this type of business model—and how many different products are already in those spaces. Once you know what other people are doing with their businesses, then it’s time for some research into what kinds of products might interest potential customers and how to price them so as to make a profit.
Meet Sellvia, an ecosystem that includes all the ecommerce, customer service and marketing features you need to start, run and grow your business.
Sellvia is a 5-in-1 e-commerce network, connecting hundreds of manufacturers and brands of products across multiple categories all directly with you. The service is easy to use and doesn’t require advanced IT or business backgrounds to incorporate into a website.
This game-changing service lets everyone (and anyone) – YOU included – enjoy running a US-targeted online business from the comfort of home:
- Turnkey online store with top-selling products that will work on autopilot and bring you profit for years to come.
- Worry-free products: we’ve done the work (so you don’t have to). Our Sellvia team has researched all our service’s items for quality and high market demand; everything is added to our Sellvia catalog.
- FAST US shipping: unlike traditional dropshipping services, all of Sellvia’s inventory is physically stocked in our warehouse in Irvine, CA, meaning that they can (and will!) reach any US destination within 1-3 days of ordering.
- High-quality product offerings: our team vets our brand and supplier partners to ensure inventory upkeep and overall product quality, so your customers can enjoy only the best.
- Ready-to-promote items: with all Sellvia items, you also get informative and buyer-oriented product pages, created by our team. Engaging descriptions and vivid product images make it easy for you to just add items to your store and start promoting to people.
- ZERO marketing guesswork or wasted ad spend: Sellvia also includes pre-tested marketing materials with each product you add to your store, so you can set up your own ad campaigns quickly, with zero testing and frustration involved (just follow our included guidelines!).
- Free access to the Sellvia Academia educational materials including video guides on store promotion and management.
- Free personal support – your dedicated manager will do everything to help you reach your business goals. Just let us know your preferences – and get all tasks fulfilled, all issues solved, all questions answered.
Ready to boost your sales?
Here are two main Sellvia offers:
Sellvia PRO includes a turnkey ecommerce business, which is handled within just 24 hours or one business day. Each new Sellvia Business Partner gets a FREE online store with a personal manager and full access to all Sellvia’s features and marketing materials. Price: $399/year or $69/month after a 14-day trial.
Sellvia with a monthly subscription can be used to upgrade new Business Partners’ existing online stores (up to 10 domains). It also includes full access to all of Sellvia’s features, services, and products. Price: $39/month after a 14-day trial.
Not sure? Browse the catalog FOR FREE to find out more about our products
Conclusion
Whether you want to work from home, start a fun-lifestyle business, or make money in the process of having fun, starting your own e-commerce boutique is a great way to go. Create a professional website and set up an Amazon store devoted to selling products that reflect your personal style (you can sell on Amazon using a free eCommerce website like Ecwid). With the right products and consistent updates on social media and your blog, you could build up a steady clientele for the items you sell.
This is a really exciting time for small businesses and entrepreneurs. You don’t have to be big to be successful, and there are so many ways to build your brand and grow your business with the right tools. There are also plenty of opportunities available for people who want something more than just a 9-to-5 job. Starting an online boutique can be an amazing way to make money while doing something you love–whether that’s selling clothes or crafts!
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: As a participant in affiliate programs as a way to maintain this site, Murrays Digital Marketing Service may get a commission when you make a purchase through links on this website…
