I know, I know, it’s been FOREVER since I’ve blogged. Almost three months to be exact- yikes! The good thing about the big hiatus is that I now have lots and lots of stuff to share with you. Now I usually don’t get into my advertising methods too much but I can definitely give you guys a few tips on how not to advertise. When I started my boutique I spent lots of money on online advertising, and now that I’ve learned the ins and outs of this business I spend virtually $0 on advertising. The only kind of paid advertising I would even consider dabbling in these days is ppc (pay per click) shopping search engines. And I’m sure many of you have heard of Like.com, a visual comparison search engine that is dedicated to high end products.

On paper it sounds like a winner, but my results with it were only so so. I’m really not telling you to stay away from Like.com, I would actually recommend giving it a test run and seeing if it works for your business. The actual point to this post is just venting my frustration with the lack of professionalism certain employees at this search engine have.

So here’s what went down. I advertised at Like.com for about two months last year over the Holiday season. And I quickly learned that they had a few stipulations that aren’t exactly user friendly. Such as…

So in other words, Like.com isn’t very organized and is pretty low tech. Let me just clarify that this was the way things were back at the end of last year. I believe they may have or are in the process of upgrading their nearly stone aged systems.

But despite all these interface problems, it’s not what really gets me about Like. What gets under my skin is a certain employee, we’ll just call her *Mya (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent). Everyone else at Like.com is extremely helpful and great to work with….except for Mya, who basically tried multiple times to lay a guilt trip on me for not wanting to continue with their services. So after monitoring my account and deciding that I was spending too much with too little return from them, I asked if I could cancel my campaign immediately. And here’s a snippet of the passive aggressive responses I received from her:

We are very sorry to hear that you want to pause since we crawled your site and worked hard for your site to get going

second email:

Is your main concern volume? If this is the major concern, let me talk to our optimization team to see if there is a way to increase volume for you. We have already worked hard to for you to get going by crawling your site.

They worked hard. VERY hard. And apparently Mya seems to thinks for that reason I’m indebted to them. I politely reminded her that it’s her JOB to work hard for campaign and that her clients have every right to suspend a campaign regardless.

And months later there was an issue with a payment, and I simply asked if I could use a different payment method, and here’s how she responds:

I understand you might feel frustrated to receive this again, yet we have already sent you legitimate traffic to your site and developed crawling script to serve your items on Like.com, which already cost us more than $500

Keep in mind that the invoice had already been paid at this point. So basically she makes it sound like they specifically created this script for MY needs (which I know for a fact is false because the method was already put in place when I signed up). Even if they did code it especially for me, it’s something that should have been put in to place to begin with.

To be honest, I actually wouldn’t mind trying Like.com again but apparently I’m a huge hassle to them and too much of a burden. Maybe when *Mya leaves, or at least gets a huge attitude adjustment, I’ll give them another spin.

Long time, no posts! Sorry about the silent period, I’ve been a bit distracted. I also had a handful of comments in the queu that I had no idea about and I will definitely follow up with each of you! Also, check out our black friday/cyber monday ad, posted above. Nifty, eh?

Yet Another Shipping Nightmare
Well I had another shipping NIGHTMARE the other day. I finally got the picture that I can pay for my postage online instead of standing in ridiculous lines at the post office on a daily basis (why didnt I think of this sooner?). There’s also a UPS store a couple of blocks from my house so I figured it would also make sense to drop off my packages there instead of driving several miles to the post office or a drop box.

And yes, this is the same UPS store involved in Shipping Nightmare #1.

This is also the same UPS store that never gave me a quote on business cards after contacting them numerous times.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice….you get the picture.

Yeah, I get it, what was I THINKING actually dropping off a package with these people. Well I did on a Friday and they said the package would ship out on Monday. So I check the tracking code Tuesday morning, and surprise surprise, the package hasn’t been received by the post office. So I march myself over there to try and find out what’s going on. It turns out that the manager was supposed to take the mail to the post office but ended up going out of town because of an “emergency” and took the mail with him, apparently. And this is the same guy who pushed their business card service on me but then failed to follow up once I actually wanted them made. *sigh* I can’t help but feel sorry for the poor sales girl who works for him because every time I go in there it’s like he’s working for her.

In the end the packages got mailed and all as well. I’ve also found another shipping station just a couple of blocks further away.

In the Press
Check out these two new interviews I did recently:

Interview with Stylistic @ Clutch Magazine
Interview with Style Bazaar Blog

I hope everyone had a fab easter!  I’ve got a big post with photos and a bunch of other stuff coming up at the beginning of next week, but I really wanted to update you guys with this first….

So far I’ve been shipped five orders from my five different labels. I didn’t have any kind of problem with any of them…except the last.  I was sort of disappointed with this label to begin with because there was one key piece on their line sheet that I wanted, but I was told that it didn’t even go in to production while I was in the showroom.  So about a week ago one of the sales assistants calls me and tells me that they don’t have color I wanted in a dress I ordered.  And let me just tell you, this dress is one of my FAVORITES out of everything I ordered for Summer, and I specifically wanted it in that color.  But no, it’s been “discontinued”.

Sigh.

So I go ahead and order it in a black print (boring!).  A couple of days later the same girl calls me once again and then I find out that they “ran out” of that color in a size Large.  But why? Isn’t this why we place orders a head of time?  I’m sure, being a small (or should I say microscopic?)  store priority was given to other buyers.  So now I have small and medium in one color, and large in all black.  Interesting.

Well to be honest, I tried on the black print and I absolutely LOVE it.  Seriously, it’s gorgeous. You know what they say, “you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need“. 

*the description of this particular item as been slightly tweaked to protect the innocent.

Who likes the new layout? I do! It’s simple, but the colors are cute.

I just thought I’d check in with you guys and let you know how things are going with the boutique. Not too much is happening right now.  Buying is closing for the Spring collections of most lines so I need to hurry up and high tail it back to LA!  Having a budget really is no fun, but it is smart.  Right now I’m making my final decisions on the last couple of lines to buy. I have my eye on four but I think I can only afford two.  Bummer.

Oh and I’m  step closer to  getting to MAGIC in Las Vegas coming up in February!  But it all comes down to …….the budget.  Once again. Sigh.

“The hardest part is getting the lines you want. Sales reps are really snobby; some didn’t even answer my emails at all!”

That’s what another poster on TheFashionSpot.com told me, in a nutshell. She too is launching an online boutique, and she answered a whole lot of questions for me.

Actually, let me back things up here. For anyone who’s wondering how you get clothes for your store, here’s a basic overview:

• All sales are handled through the designer’s showroom (unless they’re indie). Most designers are present in a showroom in LA (in the garment district downtown) AND in NY, although some are located in San Francisco, Atlanta, etc, as well.
• This wholesale business directory is the best, and quickest, way I’ve found to find who represents what designer.
• In LA there are four main buildings where showrooms are located: The California Market Center, Cooper Design Space, Gerry Building and the New Mart. You can also find the showroom websites and contact information here.
• Trade shows are a good way to see lines you like and find new ones. The biggest is Magic in Las Vegas, probably followed by Intermezzo and Coterie in NY, and several others in LA.
• If you want to see the lines ahead of time, contact the showrooms and ask for a line sheet. A line sheet shows all the designs for the up coming season along with whole sale prices, color ways, prints, fabric information, etc. Or at least, it should.

Planning My Merchandise

So the last step I mentioned is where I am now. I started contacting showrooms three or four weeks ago. Were they snobby? No, not really. Did they answer my emails? Yes, the first batch that I contacted did, however the second batch hasn’t. And I mean they REALLY haven’t….as in about 95% of them.  I understand that they’re busy but sometimes I have to ask my self, do these people actually WANT business?

I’m not that worried though because I contacted the lines I’m most interested in first.

But for me, not getting all the line sheets is frustrating because I like to plan in advance. I want to know what I’m going to buy when I go in.  I want to see my own stores line sheet (if that’s even what it’s called) and make sure that the pieces from different brands compliment each other.  And sometimes I really need to sleep on a piece before making a final decision, I mean, a girl can change her mind!  This all makes sense right?  Le sigh.

I just emailed a really hip up and coming designer; she’s a FIDM alum too.  Wish me luck.