Breadth vs Depth? How much should I buy? {New Boutique Owner MUST READ}
Mar 06, 2020
You’re just starting your boutique business. You’ve been searching on FashionGo and in Facebook Groups to see what you want to buy for your first round of wholesale shopping. But suddenly you’re struck with: How much should I buy? Should I order a bunch of different items (breadth)? Do I order a lot of just a few items (depth)?
Good question! After opening my own boutique and now consulting with hundreds of boutiques, I can confidently say that breadth is almost always the answer. Why? Well, you don’t know what your customers are going to buy when you’re just starting out. If you buy lots of units of just a few items (depth), then the chances are very high that you’ll get stuck with a ton of inventory that just doesn’t move. Your cash flow will become non-existent and you’ll be forced to use credit or sell what you have leftover at a very small profit just to *hope* to get through it.
Deciding to go for breadth, by buying a variety of styles, you open yourself up to test the waters with your new customers and see what they love (or don’t!) Keep within 3-5 categories of items as you start out, like tops, bottoms, dresses and jewelry. Then you’ll have variety and be able to put together outfits for your customers. That gives them a styled look, and you a higher average sale out the gate. Your goal is to sell through as many of the items as you can, so you have cash to go back and purchase new inventory. It’s so much easier to do this when you have smaller quantities of an array of items!
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