© 2017 Viktoria Kanevsky 10...You are an online boutique which means your resources, staff, time, and budgets are limited. If you have a physical location, it means your e-Commerce

© 2017 Viktoria Kanevsky www.OnlineBoutiquesMBA.com

http://www.onlineboutiquesmba.com/


Copying big guys – is a NO-NO

As much as you love Free People, Nasty Gal, Forever 21, or any other giant

retailers (who most likely inspired you to go into online retail business at the first

place), do not copy them. A big retailer equals big budgets, unlimited resources,

and experienced teams who learned all great things on their trial and errors, and

someone else money.

They are well-established online brands with proven thought-through strategies,

multi-million email lists, and massive social following. There are tons of

investment money poured in and what can be not a big deal for them, might be

fatal for your small business. The differences between them and you are that

you have no room for a mistake!

You are an online boutique which means your resources, staff, time, and budgets

are limited. If you have a physical location, it means your e-Commerce/ Online

Marketing budgets even less than you think. So, you need a SHORTCUT to

eliminate unnecessary expenses and to secure areas that big guys can neglect.

You need a proven step-by-step blueprint to win online customers who

already established their online shopping patterns and preferences with

other retailers.

Yes, some things should be copied. And things that should not! But unless

you’ve been in online e-Commerce / Online Marketing for at least a decade, you

won’t know what those things are!



Your Webstore is the face & body of your business - it must be

healthy, polished & stylish at first glance, and entertaining &

informative at further acquaintance.

Each new website visitor has 2-5 seconds to make an initial impression and to decide if

she wants to stay or to leave. It means that lots of tiny details are super important. And

other are insignificant because they were just upsold to you by service providers,

developers, and other people who made money on selling you things.

Let’s take look at the list of the most important things:

Appearance / Branding

o Logo MUST have a slogan. It should be clear in first two seconds

what your store sells / who it sells.

o Color Palette - It should be consistent through your site, blog, Social

Media, and marketing materials.

o Color Psychology should guide you what colors to choose

o No white writing on dark colors except navigation bar.

o Fonts_1 – no more than three per web page/image/text.

o Fonts_2 – please, use trendy / stylish or classical fonts, otherwise

your store will project an old-fashioned impression.

o Site search - on the top. I always suggest upper right corner

o Consistency – the whole site should remain consistent with chosen

color palette, fonts, photography, and style. It should look “Themed”.



Main Navigation Bar – should have main Shopping Categories, Lookbooks,

and Blog. Informational parts such as About Us or any other are ok to be

moved to the footer links’ section.

About Us

o Don’t pretend to be Amazon. It is ok that you are a small boutique.

Tell your personal story, even if it is a “one-woman show.”

o Your bio should have a hook – there should be a good reason why

you choose this business at the first place.

o Make this section about what you can do for your customers.

o If nobody ever heard of you, do not say that your store is “the hottest

online fashion destination,” it will make you sound like a liar.

o Put together a list of customers’ benefits. Why should people shop at

your store?

o Include your Contact Info in the About Us section as well as at other

places.

Testimonials

o The more, the better! You are not in business to be shy!

o If you have any PR coverage, use it!

o Reviews – encourage your customers to write online reviews.

Photography – your primary sales tool. The first impression is everything!

You can make it only once! Having great photography is like looking perfect

for a first date or job interview.

The good news is that you don't have to spend a fortune to hire a professional

photographer. If you are in fashion business, it means you have a good taste,

so you can easy take your photos.



o Show products the best way possible, with good lighting.

o Photos should carry positive vibes - don’t attempt to copy runway

imagery. You sell for real people with real lives and tons of problems.

They don't want to see sad, uptight or snobby faces. They want more

happiness and joy. Happy, smiling models sell more and better.

o E-commerce images should be consistent.

o Ecommerce images should be styled

o Lifestyle images should be themed – tell the story!

o Product images should be resized and optimized correctly for the web

to make your site load fast.

Footer links

o Shipping info – the USA and International Shipping. Spell the

following info as clear as possible – shipping fees; when the package

will be shipped; where you deliver from.

o Returns info should sound like a no brainer. Fast and Easy!

o Contact Us – Phone number & email address in addition to contact

form will establish more trust. Place 800 number on the upper right

corner.

Inventory / Product Selection & Amount

Shopper Persona - if you run a small boutique in 2017, you need to cater to a

particular niche. Do you know who your customer is? Do you know who you

want her to be? Do you know how to reach her? The better you know your

segment and demographics, the better sales will be.



Product Selection

o If you buy inventory, choose carefully what your customers would like.

o If you drop ship, you have more room for experiment.

o The more unique your products are, the higher gross profit margins

you can command.

o Analyze your sales constantly to identify bestsellers.

o Upsell & Cross-Sell!

New Arrivals - usually checked first by both new and returning customers.

o How often do you update New Arrivals?

o How do you present New Arrivals?

o How do you notify your customers about New Arrivals?

Pricing

o Keep your margins profitable.

o Build shipping cost, packaging, free gifts and any other related

expenses into the product price.

o Remember the rule of thumb – it is better to have fewer customers

who are willing to pay more, than lots of clients who can’t afford your

products and won’t come back.

o Don’t try to compete with Forever 21, H&M and ASOS pricing - they

buy in massive quantities. Position your product as boutique, high

quality. You are not in closeout or mass-market business.

o Constantly compare prices with competitors.



Ecommerce Product Description Info should

o Vary from manufacturer description.

o Include all imaginable measurements (yes, you probably have a Size

chart, but still each item can have a small difference in size).

o Be keywords’ rich for Search Engine Optimization.

o If your website is new and does not have good Google rankings, keep

your product descriptions up to 100 words.

Online Marketing Checklist – To- Do to Acquire and Retain Good

Customers.

Acquisition Marketing Channels – to bring NEW customers to your store.

o Search Engine Optimization – get your website to show on the first

pages of search results when people type particular word, for example

when someone types “buy red dress,” she will see your site in results.

On-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO

Social Media Signals

Local SEO (if you have a physical storefront)

o Search Engine Marketing - purchasing ads which appear on the result

pages of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For example,

when someone types “buy a red dress,” she will see your ad, click on

it and goes to your web store.



o Influencer Marketing – when you hire influencers (bloggers,

Instagrammers, YouTubers to promote your store to their following).

o Affiliate Marketing – when someone refers customers to your store

and receives the commission from you for that.

o Social Media (will be discussed separately) - when you find customers

through many different Social Platforms.

o Display Advertising is advertising on various websites. Unless you

have tons of extra money, you should avoid this marketing channel.

o Comparison Shopping Engine Marketing – displaying your

merchandise into shopping search engines, for example, Google

Shopping, Yahoo Shopping, etc.

Retention – to make YOUR EXISTING customers come back again & again,

and buy more & more.

o Email Marketing – communicating with your customers via emails.

o Retargeting is a form of marketing when you show ads to people who

already visited your site.

o Ambassador Program – creating authentic endorsements from

customers and fans.



Third Party Marketplaces Marketing – to complement your website

sales.

You won’t be able to use marketplaces for customer acquisition, but it will increase your

sale dollar amount, help get rid of extra inventory, and give your store an additional

exposure (if you brand your packaging correctly).

Amazon

Ebay

Poshmark – an app

Mercary – an app

Fancy – if you have unique products or lifestyle pictures.

Social Media - you don’t have to be on each and every channel, but

you should be at

Instagram, the most visual platform.

Pinterest, powerful search engine as well as a social network. You can easily

showcase your products if you use keyword based descriptions.



YouTube, largest video platform, search engine and powerful tool for SEO

Facebook Group, super-efficient way to communicate with your customers.

The Blog

A Blog is your brands/store’s informational outlet, Search Engine Optimization tool and a

potential source of additional income. Don’t underestimate its power.

What can A Blog do can do for your company?

Be a branding element and a marketing material.

Provide your customers with informational & SEO content (text, video,

graphics, infographics).

Serve a source of organic and social web traffic.

Make extra money for the company.

Bring a passive income.



No Returns Packaging / Shipping & Immediate Customer

Support

Invest in cute packaging - tissue paper, stickers’ with your logo, dust bags,

jewelry bags, in-package décor (hearts, jewels, flowers) etc. If your customer

says “Wow! It’s super cute”, your mission is half accomplished. Majority of

your customers are women.

Free Gifts – with ANY purchase. Quality, great, useful, stylish gifts that you

won’t mind to have yourself!

It does not matter if you sold clearance item or the most expensive full priced

one! Generosity pays. Unless something is completely wrong with the

product itself, a customer will not return the package.

Handwritten stylish customized thank you notes – adds a personal touch and

makes your store to stand out! Your care about your clients and it will counts!

Immediate, superior customer service - it means do not wait 24 hours as said

on your website customer service section. You own a small business; it

means you receive all notifications of your phone. Make sure that your team

or you personally get back to customer ASAP. Follow up, make sure she is

happy because happy customers are core of your business



Tracking / Reporting / Measuring / Metrics

There are a short list of Site Metrics you really need to know to increase your sales.

Average Order Size

Conversion Rate

Best Selling Products

Customer Lifetime Value

Return Rate

There are lots of info on the internet suggesting to watch multiple daily metrics. It is a good idea

if you have a time or extra resources, But if you are a small business owner who is wearing

multiple hats, top three metrics are all you need.

You have to have Google Analytics installed to your site and your blog in order to analyze and

plan your inventory and marketing strategies and tactics.

Mobile – is your site mobile friendly? Check it and if not, contact your developer ASAP! It is

critical to have your store mobile friendly. Your primary goal is to make a life of your

customers easier!

Check now using this link https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly


https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly


I call it “Magic” Aspect.

I’ve seen lots of stores with budgets, resources, educated teams who miserably failed. I’ve also

seen people without special education and resources who grew their stores from scratch into

significant brands/retailers. Those winners had several things in common – passion for

what they do, courage, positive attitude, persistence, confidence and absence of fears.

To Wrap It Up HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS OUTLINE-OF-FUN!

This is meant to be super quick information (a review for some of you and new stuff for others)

and a reference point.

If anything doesn’t make sense or is confusing in any way…don’t worry!

I’ll be back soon with more great stuff to answer any questions and make it all so-very-easy

understandable and crystal clear!

Best Regards,

Viktoria

For more information join my

Instagram: @onlineboutiquesmba

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktoriakanevsky

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OnlineBoutiquesMBA


https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktoriakanevsky

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© 2017 Viktoria Kanevsky 10...You are an online boutique which means your resources, staff, time, and budgets are limited. If you have a physical location, it means your e-Commerce