How to Buy Wholesale Clothing for Your Boutique

Hey. Welcome to the boutique hub, the connection point for the global boutique industry. And every tip of boutique owner, a retailer, and an e commerce store must know. Hey, guys. I'm so excited you're here today. I want to talk about one of the most commonly asked questions by new boutique owners as you're wondering about getting the right products stocked in your boutique. I get asked this question all the time, and I have to tell you, there is a science and to knowing how to shop wholesale and finding the right vendors for your boutique. So first things first. Let me start here and tell you that you're a boutique owner for a reason. You're not a big box store. You're not JCPenney. You're not Old Navy, and you're not Target. You are a boutique. And the gift that you have that nobody else has is your ability to style your customers and give them the most personal service anywhere in shopping land, right? Whether you are an online store or a brick and mortar store or you're mobile and you go to vendor events, your service and your authentic relationship that you build with your customers is something that no big box store can ever match. So you have to use this superpower to your advantage. And by picking the right brands and the right products is one way to do that. So let's start here. Your gift is you probably love fashion, right? You probably love people, you probably love the marketing side of the business, right? But you may not love the analytical side of the business. But I want to talk to you about how important the analytical side is. And that means making sure we're tracking inventory, making sure we're pricing our products right, and making sure we're digging into the science of what is actually selling in our business and not just hoping that this pretty leopard coat lands in somebody's order. At some point, you have to be smart about what you're buying. And the reason is you have a gift of styling products that your customers frankly don't have. That's why they're coming to you for knowledge, right? They want you to teach them how to style pieces. What's a capsule wardrobe? How do I fit the fears and frustrations that I have on a daily basis when I try to dress my body type right. You have to break down the real needs of your customers and fill those needs, right? That's how you start to drive repeat business and customers over time as your business begins to grow. So, so in order to do that, that means bringing in the right brands and building the right level of trust with your customers. Bringing in cheap brands or pricing your pieces at wholesale and not building any margin, or running pre orders and not actually having the products in stock so you can look at the quality. You can get to build trust with that brand. You can take your own photos, you can do your own styling and educate your customer on how to wear the products. If you're not doing those things, you never get that chance to make another first impression again. So you have to make sure that from the start, as you were ordering in these products, as you're building relationship with these vendors and brands, that you are building your own brand with it. Again, you are not doing pre orders. You're actually ordering in stock and you're styling those products yourself. That's your gift, right? And your customers are going to love you for your own unique ability to style products. You're going to be able to talk to them about quality. You're going to talk to them about fit. You're going to build a brand name out of the brands that you're ordering from. Because, guys, if you haven't found this out the hard way yet, one thing that's so true in fashion is you have to understand not just quality, but fit. Like junior contemporary, Missy, right? You've got to know how different pieces will fit different body types. What's medium in one brand will not be a medium in the other. So. So you have to be the person that uncovers that, unpacks that mystery and really educates your customer about how things are going to fit their own unique body type. You with me? All right. All that aside, that is the most important thing you can know about shopping wholesale is those things have to be in place. And once you're ready to buy, there is four key ways you can start to shop wholesale for your business. All right? Number one, most important, go to market. You got to go to a market. I know you can shop online and I'm going to talk about that in just a minute. But going to market allows you to meet vendors, to see quality, to touch and feel products, to get inspired with. How are the vendors styling these products? Right? What are other people at the market wearing? How are they putting their own twist on fashion? Because if you're a style educator, you gotta be educated, right? You gotta bring that inspiration back to your boutique. Just showing them this jacket on a hanger is not gonna do any for you or for your customer. So when you're at market, you have the ability to see all kinds of brands, build relationships with them, understand styling, get inspired, right? And find what is working right now. What are you going to test out right now, but also find what you can do down the road. You're going to understand the difference between what's ready to ship and also what is seasonal. So what are you ordering in the spring that's actually for the fall or for winter for a holiday. Right. For resort? You're going to start to see these trends as they unfold ahead of time. Which again is going to lend to you being the actual style educator inside of your business. So where do I find markets? Commonly asked question. Right? I have a link for you in the comments. We put together a complete list of all the apparel and gift markets not only across the United States, but across the world from all of our partners. So you can get that. It's a free download. Huge list of all the markets. So you can find a market near you. Now there's a couple different types of markets. There's apparel markets, hence apparel. There's bridal markets, hence bridal. And there's gift markets, hence gift and decor, food, beauty, all those things are included. And a lot of times there's apparel at gift markets as well. Sometimes you'll find markets that have all three of the above wrapped up in one. There's a couple of key players in the market space. Number one is Atlanta Apparel in Atlanta. Right. And they have markets throughout the year. The second is Dallas Market center in Dallas also has markets throughout the year. The third is all in Vegas. And I'm not just gonna say one market, but several. But you probably are gonna be most familiar with WWD Magic. But also that Informa also owns Project Project, Women's Men's Pool Trade Show, Children's Club, Curve Coterie. What am I missing? FN platform which is all shoes. There is all kinds of markets wrapped into one. But also during that time you're also going to find the Off Price show and the Wind show happening in Vegas. So those are some of the biggest markets in the United States. Style Max is in Chicago, another great market to attend. And then there's loads of regional markets. But again, grab my free download in the link you're going to find the links to all of the markets and all the scheduled dates for this year around the world. Alright, way Number two to shop wholesale is through online wholesale platforms. Some of the most popular and many that we partner with at the boutique hub include fashion go, LA showroom, orange, shine, Tundra and Faire. Those are really popular platforms. They all serve a little bit different corner of the market for a little bit Higher end, there's also new order and Jore. You can check out those to shop online with your favorite brands as well. The third way to shop wholesale is through the Boutique Hub. Hence the Boutique Hub. We Partner with over 650 brands from around the world that are all vetted, that all serve boutiques and they want to see you succeed. What's really cool about this, you guys is not only do you get to meet the brand, but you get to meet the people behind the brand inside of the Boutique Hub on a daily basis. So inside of our member groups at the Boutique Hub, you get to see every single day videos and line sheets and new arrivals from all these brands as they drop. And because you are Boutique Hub member, we negotiate pricing with tons of these brands to get you guys the best deals. Not only the best deals, sometimes the newest arrivals, but also some of the closeouts that they don't post anywhere else you get access to them. First way to shop wholesale number four is by going directly to la. If you're into fast fashion and shopping in the San Pedro Martin. Now, I wouldn't recommend just buying a ticket to LA tomorrow and just trying to figure it out. There's definitely some strategy when it comes to going to LA that you should know beforehand. We also have tons of training information, tips on, more videos on how to buy in la, inside of the Hub and inside of our training library for all of our members at the Boutique Hub. But no matter what, no matter where you shop in those four locations, to stock wholesale in your boutique, you have to remember that quality matters. That is your reputation that you are putting on the line. Number two, trust matters. How you style things, how you say things fit, what you say. The quality is how you build a brand around the photo shoots that you take, right? That is all your reputation and your brand must matter. Your price goes into that. And honey, you ain't Walmart. You're a boutique. And if you want to have a lasting business, you have to have margin built into your prices. Running this business as a hobby isn't going to get you very far. Know your numbers. Third thing, it's not just about ordering something because it's cute, because you think Sarah will like it. I want you to start looking at all of your pieces like their little twenty dollar bills hanging on a hanger. And your mission is to get that dang$20 bill in your pocket. In your pocket. Because that's the only way to pay the bills. You guys, I hope you love this video. I hope it was informative. I hope that you found some new ideas on how to shop wholesale and anytime you guys have questions on how to grow your business, how to drive more traff, be a better boutique owner no matter if you're brand new or if you are expert expert level guys. We work with multi million dollar stores and help them scale to what is next and what is possible for them. Ask me a question anytime here or inside of the Boutique hub. I would love to connect you guys have a great day. Thanks for watching guys. Leave a comment below if you loved this video and make sure to subscribe to our channel if you want to connect with us anytime. It's Boutique of Business on the gram or the boutiquehub.com.