What to do before launching your Online Boutique?

When you running your store, you are competing with everyone else for a piece of the market.

A clothing store is not only competing with other clothing stores online but also offline. Same goes of stores in other niches.

So, what makes you stand out from the girl next door?

Why should someone buy from YOU vs. Amazon or other brands in the market?

The brands that are MORE established, that came before you & have a huge audience? Why should someone shop from YOU instead of checking out the usual website she goes to every time she wants to buy something?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, nor will your tribe/customer!

Even though there are a lot of ways to STAND OUT from the girl next door, today I wanted to focus on one of my favorites which is - Personalized products.

Personalized products or swag are customized merchandise that are UNIQUE to your store & your brand.

Unlike products you purchase via wholesalers or traditional dropshippers, custom merchandise allow you to sell unique pieces that are not available with other brands in the market thereby giving you an opportunity to stand out from your competitors.

While swag store is similar to a dropshipping store, it’s essential to know the following pointers before you launch.

What to do before launching your store?

• Identify whether Swag Store is the right option for you or not?

  As mentioned above, custom merchandise not only help you create a UNIQUE & exclusive collection in your store, but it also helps you STAND OUT from your competitors selling in the same niche! But is it your cup of tea??! Find out in the blog here.

• Make sure your design meets the supplier guidelines.

  All products have different guidelines when it comes to their print files. A coffee mug would have a different template & size than a t-shirt or even a bottle. Before you launch your store & have products on sale, it's very important to ensure that those guidelines are met. 

Some websites have an option that tells you the print quality while others don't! So be sure to check the guidelines before you create the design or have it done by someone else.

Side note - If you getting the design made by someone else, ask them if they know or have worked for such boutiques. You don't want to spend money to find out that they had no idea what size to adhere to or guidelines to follow.

• Find mock-ups to replace the plane jane product pictures from your supplier (see image below).

Supplier mock ups are generally products with white background. Even though that is good, your brain only focuses on the product with zero distractions it's also unappealing. Having lifestyle mock-ups help you showcase your products in real life scenarios so your customers know how it looks & feels to own that product. It's extremely useful when you dealing with clothing because it showcases to your tribe how they can use & style that product.

• Order samples

This goes beyond saying.. ORDER SAMPLES before you put them on sale. As I shared my experience last week where my supplier FUCKED up my t-shirt.. had I stopped searching after I found the first option & launched my boutique, it would have been a disaster. So order samples. I'm not saying you need to order a sample for each & every design you make.. . butttt you need to check out the t-shirt quality & print for the complicated designs to ensure they are of high quality.

• Have your policies set up

Just like any other boutique, you've got to have your policies set up for your swag store. The only difference is - your policies this time are going to be similar to your supplier's policies. If a product says 3-5 days to ship out, that's exactlyyy what you need to say on your website too to ensure there's no confusion.

• Do a test order

Before you launch your store, do a test order to ensure the process is running smoothly. Glitches happen but you want to make sure you have checked & then checked again before you launch.

If you ready to launch your swag store, download the checklist below.

PS - If you are serious about launching your custom merch boutique, save your spot on the Swag Store Masterclass. It's going to epic. I'm going to walk you through the entire process of starting your swag store from - identifying the products, creating designs even if you don't see yourself as a graphic designer we are going to discuss how you can create amazing designs, software you can use for FREE, setting up your store, launching your boutique & marketing the hell out of it!

So by the time we are done with the workshop, you'll be able to set up & LAUNCH with zero effort. 

PS - It's a limited time offer so don't forget to save your spot!