The collaboration with FreePeopleWholesale can be an intelligent decision for boutiques and small shops. They can be easier to sell since the high-quality and trend-forward nature of the products created by the brand is already popular with the customers. However, like anything wholesale-related, there are some pitfalls you must avoid that will damage your profit and cause your store to grow like a grandfather clock.
Ordering Without Knowing Your Market
Making the purchase decisions that rely on personal preference over customer demand is one of the greatest mistakes that new retailers can make. You may be on a trend bandwagon, but that does not mean your customers are nearby.
Check your sales record; seek opinions of the customers and investigate the current trends in your locality before making any purchase. This will assist in your selection of products at FreePeopleWholesale that are likely to move quite quickly.
When you are new and you do not yet have any sales data, start small. See what works and piece-wise move up to more amounts once you notice what works.
Ignoring Minimum Order Requirements
Financial Planning Before Placing Orders
FreePeopleWholesale usually charges minimum order quantities(MOQs), so accessing bulk pricing is beneficial. Failure to address these needs and possibly to put in place arrangements to meet them can result in cash flow difficulties. Leave enough in the budget so that you can get the full order, shipping, and other import costs are optional.
Ensure the size of your order matches the space you have in the store as well as your budget. Making unnecessary purchases may use up the money you require for other business expenses.
Understanding Return and Exchange Policies
The other neglect is the failure to check on the brand before ordering regarding the policy of returns and exchanges. The purchases accomplished at wholesale may involve more stringent regulations compared to those at the retail level, and sales may be final in most instances.
Read through the policy that way you know what to do in case of an item arriving broken or not as advertised. This mitigates surprises and saves your bottom line.
Not Updating Your Store’s Branding
Free People has a very distinguishable style – bohemian, casual, a little eclectic. Your store might not match that aesthetic: depending on how your store is branded, the products might just not fit in.
Ensure your store layout, displays, and marketing are congruent with the Free People brand image before you do that. Minor modifications such as putting in natural textures, a warm light, and coherent signage can bring the products into the limelight and attract your customers.
Failing to Market New Arrivals
An even more typical oversight is having good products in stock, yet not marketing them. You must be able to inform the customers what is new, even with a well-known brand.
Emphasize new Free People arrivals in social media, email marketing, and in-store signage. Demonstrate how the items could be styled, or what accessories to match them with, or what the seasonal trends incorporating them might look like.
Conclusion
Wholesaling with FreePeopleWholesale may prove to be a profitable step towards your boutique success – and this is possible only with a developed strategic approach to it. By avoiding some of the more common errors, such as overlooking your market, failure to take note of minimum order requirements, misalignments of your store’s brand, and not marketing your products adequately, you will be able to get the maximum out of your investment.
By careful thinking about how you are going to achieve this, having a clear budget and a marketing plan, you will transform those stylish, high quality Free People items into a solid way of making money and keeping the customers coming back.
