I was having lunch with a friend, who's a fashion and marketing major, when we came about the topic of boutique stores versus mainstream department stores. What piqued this topic was an earlier conversation about clothing lines like Nine West, for example. She and I have both noticed how empty their stores are. Now, their success is not in harms way, but their standalone boutique stores are in some form of crisis. Why is this? Well, simply put, the company has their brand saturated in to many large fashion corporations like Macy's. Macy's is a great engine for a boutique line of clothing trying to get their foot into the door, and offer their brand outside of their boutique storefront for a long term. But, to do this, and operate your boutique shop would be asinine;retail homicide.
Why is this? Well, in my opinion, you should only retail all of your boutique items in a department store if you are trying to sell your brand and profit without actually opening a storefront to save money for start-up costs, or if your brand is now suffering horribly in sales. Reason being is that, in offering your whole line, or even half, to department stores wouldn't do great job in sales for your boutique shop in the long run, or at first glance. Your items would be target for mark-downs, and sale, after sale. Think of it this way, if you went into one of Nine West's boutique shops and saw a pair of their shoes that you really adored, and they were priced at $225.00, yet you saw the exact same pair at Macy's for only $99.25, which would you purchase? My point exactly!
If you own a boutique shop, and have been thinking of entering your brand into the department stores, then I say fine! Just do your due-dilligence of course, and be safe about it, I would recommend not entering more than two (or maybe three for the brave) of your designs and labels to them, just to get your name out there, and to get people knowing about your brand.
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