How Much Does it Cost to Start an Online Boutique?

How much does it cost to start an online boutique? 💸

This is one of the questions I get the most, but there isn’t just one answer. How much you want to put into your online boutique when you are just starting out completely depends on you! The most important question you have to answer is how many items do you want to offer right away? By far the biggest cost to you will be product. If you want to have a small collection with a few curated pieces, your start-up cost will be significantly lower than someone who wants to start with a 100+ piece shop. Aside from product, there are quite a few other costs you will incur. Keep reading to learn what else you will be spending your money on.

Set up supplies galore

Obviously there are a few necessary things you’ll need to invest in. A business license, and a resellers permit (or whatever your state requires! You can look it up on your state’s department of revenue website) are necessities. So are shipping supplies, like polymailers, boxes, and some type of printer for your shipping labels. You’ll also want storage for the clothing you’re selling. You can purchase plastic tubs, clothing racks, etc. The good thing is most of these items are a one-time purchase, so you won’t have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new label printer every month. You will need to keep in mind that your shipping supplies will run out, and you will have to replace them. I suggest going for more affordable shipping supplies when you start out, rather than paying double for something fancy.

Invest in your website!

You’ll also need to invest in your website. This is an EXTREMELY important aspect of owning an online boutique. Your website needs to look professional. Customers will judge you and your boutique as soon as they click on your homepage. They should assume you are an expert at online retail. If your website looks like something a beginner created, I can guarantee you are losing sales. Spend that extra money on a beautiful homepage and theme, it will be worth it in the long run!

Location, location, location

A great thing about an online boutique is that you can start it in your own home, which means no extra rent for a warehouse or brick & mortar location. This allows you to put more of your startup money into other parts of your business. If you eventually decide to open up a brick & mortar store, or you have grown to the point that you need to move into a warehouse (That’s the goal, right!), that will be another cost to add into your expenses. 

Pro tip: you can write off the space you use for your business as a home office in your taxes! 

The moneymaker: product!

Then of course, you have the clothing (or whatever product you will be selling!). Buying clothing for your boutique is easily the most expensive investment, and also the most important. If you want to go all out, you can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars, or more. However, if you’re just starting out, there is no harm in keeping your collection small!

Looking back, I wish I had kept my first collections a lot smaller than I had (That dang shopping addiction came back to haunt me). Less items require less storage, and you can really focus on marketing those specific items to your customers. 

Don’t forget about marketing!

There are hundreds, probably thousands of other shops just likes yours out there on the internet. What sets you apart? How will you reach your target audience? Of course you can advertise your boutique on your personal social media pages to your friends and family, but there are so many potential customers out there! Make sure you set aside a good amount of money for advertising! I would suggest starting out with $10 a day on a Facebook or Instagram ad. Budget for at least $500 a month for advertising when you are starting out. No one will know you exist if they don’t ever get to see your content!

My personal suggestion

When starting out, I would suggest setting aside $5,000 for all of your non-clothing related costs, and $5,000 for clothing. You may not need all $5,000 for your non clothing costs, but it’s better to be prepared for whatever expenses come your way. As far as clothing goes, $5,000 is perfect to give you a good size collection, without being overwhelming to you or your customers. I would roughly expect $5,000 to get you around 25-40 packs of items (you’ll be purchasing items in packs, usually 6 items per pack, but that’s a blog post for another day), depending on how much each piece costs!

I hope this helps you start up your online boutique, please let me know if you have any other questions! 

You can check out my boutique here, and don’t forget to follow my instagram!