Episode 25
Boutique retailers: think outside the box with your stock
If you're a boutique retailer limiting yourself to fashion, you're leaving money on the table.
Hi, I’m Clare Bailey, founder of Retail Champion.
In this episode of Retail Reckoning, I’m joined by Steph Briggs.
She's a former boutique owner turned e-commerce expert—to reveal how carefully curated homewares and fragrances can elevate basket size and boost profits without diluting your brand.
Discover:
• Why homewares remove the friction that fashion creates (no size, no fit issues)
• The "good, better, best" pricing strategy for impulse buys to premium treats
• How scent creates powerful brand memory (Steph's customers could smell her shop from 100 yards away!)
• Real case study: How stocking gin brought new customers through the door
• The secret to translating in-store magic to online sales
• Visual merchandising techniques that help customers imagine products in their homes
Whether you run a fashion boutique, homeware shop, or gift store, this episode delivers honest, commercial insights on extending your range strategically—not randomly. Learn how to test small, scale deliberately, and create a cohesive brand experience that makes your business stronger, more profitable, and more memorable.
Take a listen and let’s get your Retail Reckoning together.
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Transcript
If you're a boutique retailer and you think you need to limit yourself to fashion,
Speaker:you need to think again, because carefully curated homewares and
Speaker:fragrances can really elevate your basket size and
Speaker:boost your profits. Today
Speaker:it's all about independent fashion boutique owners, and
Speaker:they're out there and they're thinking, how do I grow my business without losing who
Speaker:I am? And this is something linked to a column I recently wrote for
Speaker:Boutique Magazine, and it's why boutiques need to actually think
Speaker:beyond fashion. And of course, boutiques aren't just fashion clothing,
Speaker:their fashion homewares, but they tend to be a higher price
Speaker:point, something a little bit more luxury. It's in the name, isn't it?
Speaker:Boutique. It stands for something that feels just a bit more sexy
Speaker:than going down to Poundland. But the response has been
Speaker:really interesting, and a lot of owners are saying, I am
Speaker:struggling with working out how I can generate more
Speaker:revenue, higher basket size, and higher margins.
Speaker:The column was all about getting that message out there, but today's episode is
Speaker:about making it practical and showing how it really works on the ground.
Speaker:So to help with that, I've invited Steph back. You'll probably
Speaker:remember her from earlier episodes, our e-commerce and search engine
Speaker:guru. But before that, Steph owned and ran a beautiful boutique
Speaker:homewares and gift shop and was both in-store and online.
Speaker:So she's lived it. She's handled the cash flow, margin, suppliers, the
Speaker:breakages, the postage costs, and the real reality of
Speaker:independent retail in-store and online. So today we're going to look at
Speaker:how Steph can give some advice to other boutique owners in that
Speaker:sort of thoughtful, joined-up customer experience that makes people come
Speaker:back again and again. So we're going to unpack what works,
Speaker:what doesn't, how homewares, gifting, and fashion
Speaker:are accessories to growing your business rather than
Speaker:distracting from it. No fluff, honest and commercial
Speaker:insights. Welcome back, Steph.
Speaker:Hi, Clare. Thanks for inviting me back again. So your boutique isn't
Speaker:just a clothes shop, let's say. It's a world, a mood, a point of view,
Speaker:a place where customers come to feel special. And
Speaker:they like to feel special because boutique says it's about
Speaker:quality, taste, and curation. So
Speaker:why would we limit that world to just fashion?
Speaker:Well, exactly. People get very nervous thinking that if they move
Speaker:into homewares and they're moving away from fashion, and then they're no longer
Speaker:a fashion boutique, they're moving more into a lifestyle shop.
Speaker:But homewares, once they match the aesthetic, the customer, and the
Speaker:price point, it really feels cohesive. And it's, it's like an extension,
Speaker:if you like, of that part of the story rather than an add-on.
Speaker:And I think that obviously is the key, isn't it? It's knowing your customers,
Speaker:knowing what they love and why they come to you.
Speaker:And so you know that they already appreciate that
Speaker:aesthetic, that experience, and the taste And
Speaker:for example, extending into a fragrance line
Speaker:to supplement, whether it be a room fragrance or a personal one,
Speaker:or homewares, it's, if done right, it should feel natural and they
Speaker:can trust that that product that you're curating
Speaker:for them translates into commercial growth.
Speaker:If we wanted to really put that under the microscope and
Speaker:look at the commercial case for homewares in traditional fashion
Speaker:and boutique retailing. What would you say was the
Speaker:reality around that? So the reality is that
Speaker:fashion is a really personal experience. So your fit, size, and
Speaker:style is very obviously personal. So buying for someone else
Speaker:can be really tricky, but homewares removes that friction.
Speaker:£120 dress might make the customer really
Speaker:hesitate, but if you're adding on a candle or a jewellery dish,
Speaker:or a blanket, something else, suddenly that feels quite easy. And
Speaker:actually they're almost not buying that for themselves. They're buying that for their
Speaker:home. And therefore it's an easy add-on. Average
Speaker:order value can lift without adding extra customers.
Speaker:Gifting is really huge. Candles, trays,
Speaker:throws, they're all quite thoughtful gifts and
Speaker:still personal, but they're also low risk in the fact that you haven't got to
Speaker:worry about fit, size, and style. And they just make nice things
Speaker:that can make people feel really special. So people leave
Speaker:happy because they've either found a gift that they can give that they're proud of,
Speaker:or something that fits in their home in their own style, doing
Speaker:the whole, I'm buying this for me. It's buying it for their home, so it's
Speaker:slightly different. It's almost like buying a gift for the house, isn't
Speaker:it really? And I think it's really important from a brand perspective
Speaker:as well, because something like, you know, the lovely scented
Speaker:candles or the reed diffusers, I was given one as
Speaker:a gift and then the next gift the lady bought me was a refill
Speaker:for it. And it sits there, pride of place on my
Speaker:mantelpiece. And it also means that when I open the door to the
Speaker:living room, it smells beautiful, but it
Speaker:also smells like the shop that she got it from. So it actually
Speaker:might help me and others who use such devices
Speaker:keep front of mind and make me remember the shop more
Speaker:than any sort of social media ad or pinned post on
Speaker:Instagram ever could. Scent, I always say, is the
Speaker:sixth element when you're in retail. For my
Speaker:store, when I had it, I had my own line of diffusers and
Speaker:scented candles, but also come Christmas, we used to supply
Speaker:lots of orange and cinnamon decorations. And
Speaker:people always used to comment when they, they said literally, they, as soon as they
Speaker:got out of the car park, which was kind of 100 yards from, from the
Speaker:door, They always said, oh, we could smell the shop. It's amazing.
Speaker:Draws us in. Now, obviously that was quite a strong scent, but
Speaker:yeah, it's, it's bringing that scent memory back is a really
Speaker:powerful thing. And particularly if you can have your brand label on it as well,
Speaker:it's a double win really. And when you come to extending
Speaker:the range and making sure that there's products there that perhaps
Speaker:add that incremental value to the customer, you have to get
Speaker:your pricing right and you have to be able to mirror the
Speaker:core range. So obviously, you know,
Speaker:we use things like good, better, best, where you might— the
Speaker:good might be impulse buys at a modest price
Speaker:point that's easy for gifting. Better might be a little bit
Speaker:more considered purchase, somebody a little closer. Best
Speaker:might be more of a treat yourself, something that makes a statement,
Speaker:makes you feel really good about yourself, or it might be for someone extremely special.
Speaker:So I think it's really important to remember that when extending the range
Speaker:in boutique retailing, things should also
Speaker:still be accessible because if somebody is spending a couple of hundred pounds on
Speaker:an outfit, let's say, they might not have the budget to go much
Speaker:above £30 on an incremental addition to the basket at the
Speaker:import point of sale, but they might go that
Speaker:far. And I think the accessibility. Is really important
Speaker:whilst also protecting the margin? Absolutely. So
Speaker:like you said, it's the good, better, best. So your good, you want your till
Speaker:point pickups. So your lip balms, your candles, the
Speaker:soaps, the tiny little things that are sort of £10 to £25,
Speaker:£30 that people don't mind spending that
Speaker:as an impulse. Sort of moving up to your better range, you want
Speaker:something that's sort of more your diffusers, your larger candles.
Speaker:Throws, that sort of thing, which are probably your gifting
Speaker:section. And then on top of that, obviously your premium best
Speaker:section is a real kind of indulgent treat
Speaker:yourself. That should feel extra special. So your statement cushions,
Speaker:your premium fragrances, all those sort of extra special parts.
Speaker:And would you say that that's really important as the add-on
Speaker:for a boutique customer? Because obviously you don't shop boutique.
Speaker:Unless you are expecting to spend a little more and get something a little more
Speaker:luxurious. Do you think these are really important add-ons that actually
Speaker:it's a fail if boutique retailers of any category are
Speaker:missing out on? I think you are leaving money on the table
Speaker:if you're not adding this in, because people already know, like, and trust
Speaker:you. And it's again, adding
Speaker:value almost to your customer base, you know, it's an extra
Speaker:styling tip that extends beyond that outfit. You
Speaker:know, come summer you might do sort of tablescaping and, and that sort of thing,
Speaker:you know, with the candles, with the outdoor cushions, that sort of
Speaker:vibe. So you already know the colours of the season, the trends that are
Speaker:happening, where you're at in the look that you're creating.
Speaker:So again, you can extend that slightly by making those
Speaker:stylish add-ons for your home as well as your
Speaker:yourself. There's an operational reality check here,
Speaker:isn't there? Because homewares aren't going to be
Speaker:easy money. Nothing is these days. Stock ties up cash, it takes
Speaker:space, and there's other considerations.
Speaker:Glass breaks, so you've got packaging costs,
Speaker:returns if things get damaged. And in every part of retail,
Speaker:suppliers often can let you down, and you have to turn the stock. I
Speaker:mean, you don't want just cushions knocking around, gathering dust, or
Speaker:throws over sofas. And also it's about
Speaker:making sure that you're not just decorating
Speaker:the store for the sake of it looking glamorous. It's dead
Speaker:cash if that stock isn't moving. Alignment is everything.
Speaker:So you've really got to have a curated, carefully
Speaker:put together range. And as you've mentioned, particularly if you're
Speaker:bricks and clicks, Posting out a jumper or a
Speaker:coat is one thing, but posting out a glass
Speaker:candle is a completely different ballgame, and you are going to have that
Speaker:extra packaging and possibly extra courier costs as well. So that's something
Speaker:to really consider. Also, obviously, returns— your returns will be
Speaker:much less with homewares than they are with fashion.
Speaker:Statistically, you know, it's about 20% less, I
Speaker:think, but your minimum order quantities will still stand
Speaker:with your suppliers. So again, it's stockroom space
Speaker:is key as well, because again, cushions,
Speaker:candles, glassware, etc., takes up a lot more space than
Speaker:clothing. It does need to be a really carefully considered project.
Speaker:It's not just a, we'll give it a go and see how it works out.
Speaker:It's interesting you pick on returns there. Only this week
Speaker:I hosted a panel at the Delivery Conference all about returns
Speaker:as part of the customer experience.. And we talked about returns
Speaker:where there's been a problem. So I've sent out a glass candle and it's coming
Speaker:back because it's got smashed in the post versus the way that fashion
Speaker:works. One of the panelists was from a major UK
Speaker:fashion brand, and she commented that people often buy
Speaker:2 or 3 different sizes in 2 or 3 different colors with the intention
Speaker:of making significant returns. And they have to build that into the
Speaker:cost. And of course, returns cost a lot of money. But returns
Speaker:where it's damages causes attrition, whereas
Speaker:returns where it's, I just ordered all this stuff so I could try it on
Speaker:at home in my own natural lighting with all the garments I've got in my
Speaker:wardrobe, is just the expectation.
Speaker:So I suppose in that case, it's something that people really need to
Speaker:bake into their profits and consider the cost of
Speaker:returns for the different types of items that they're selling. But
Speaker:then you've got the other argument about something you touched
Speaker:on, brands versus white labeling as well.
Speaker:So are people more inclined to buy brands
Speaker:or are white labeled products actually
Speaker:better from a profit alignment point of view? I
Speaker:think it depends on where you're at in your brand journey. If you have a
Speaker:strong brand and you're very well known. Even if it's
Speaker:just within your local area, as opposed to nationally, I think white
Speaker:labelling makes complete sense. You've got your advertising, your brand
Speaker:name sat in their home, looking at them from the
Speaker:candle or the room fragrance, etc.
Speaker:And it also makes it a unique product. So therefore,
Speaker:your margin is much better than buying in, but obviously your
Speaker:initial outlay is obviously also much bigger. You can't really do a
Speaker:trial run. It has to be something, again, that you are really
Speaker:aligned with, you're really committed to, and you are willing to make that investment.
Speaker:Yes, it's a balancing act, isn't it? Because the suppliers of own brand expect
Speaker:you to make fairly significant minimum order quantities, whereas the
Speaker:brands might be willing to be a bit more flexible, even sale or
Speaker:return. I mean, we touched on
Speaker:it earlier, and one of the things that I've been thinking about is in the
Speaker:physical retail particularly, but also it does
Speaker:translate to a point online because merchandising—
Speaker:I mean, merchandising e-commerce is the category flows,
Speaker:the navigation and so on, but merchandising in store is about that
Speaker:massively visual engagement and often less is more,
Speaker:but also the use of scent and customer experience. You talked about
Speaker:the scent and the aroma, and when you walk into a really good boutique,
Speaker:You feel a bit like a celebrity and you can
Speaker:just look around. And if it's the, if you are their right customer,
Speaker:then it feels like you're at home because the lighting, the
Speaker:layout and everything is quite
Speaker:emotionally engaging. Whereas I'm not gonna lie, I'm far
Speaker:too old to be shopping in H&M. The lighting is too brash and the music's
Speaker:too loud, but some places with subtlety and soft
Speaker:furnishings and so on, I feel very at home. And I think that's really
Speaker:important, isn't it? To understand the customer, the demographic, and tap
Speaker:into them emotionally. Absolutely. When you can
Speaker:talk to the customer about the scent that's in the shop
Speaker:and say, you know, oh, actually this is one of our own range, you've
Speaker:turned the whole ambience and feel of the shop into a product,
Speaker:and you've cracked that magical experiential
Speaker:retail that we're always banging on about these days. So yeah,
Speaker:it reminds me actually, when many years ago in the
Speaker:'90s, one of my first retail jobs, I don't think
Speaker:I've ever told you this, Clare, was in a very high-end
Speaker:men's boutique, fashion boutique. And
Speaker:we used to, back in the day, again, I'm
Speaker:talking '90s here, so bear with me. We used to retail
Speaker:Armani jeans, which were quite rare in those days.
Speaker:Yeah, so we used to sell these Armani jeans in
Speaker:Peterborough for over £100 a pair.
Speaker:But our boutique, our boutique, I was the Saturday girl.
Speaker:The boutique used to burn
Speaker:sandalwood incense. We also had a
Speaker:random parrot that used to live behind the till. We had two parrots. That were
Speaker:identical, and they used to take it in turns each day to do a different
Speaker:shift. But that's a different story. But this
Speaker:sandalwood incense, people
Speaker:used to love it. And again, by the till, we
Speaker:used to sell pretty much anyone that came in
Speaker:went out with some sandalwood incense. And that was a men's
Speaker:boutique in the '90s. Well, it's funny actually, you've triggered some memories
Speaker:for me, not least that I was the person that couldn't walk past
Speaker:The Body Shop back in the day because of the aroma. And I'm talking
Speaker:late '80s now, you know, when a gang of girls go out shopping for the
Speaker:day. And then it was later in my daughter's era,
Speaker:it's probably Lush because the smell. And that reminds me of what you
Speaker:said when they could smell your shop with the cinnamon and orange. And it is
Speaker:something that sort of turns the head. It's that thing that they say, you know,
Speaker:when you can smell fresh apples and cut grass and things that people get
Speaker:emotionally attached to that. There's also the thing with boutiques, isn't there,
Speaker:about zoning. So you have to create
Speaker:the feeling that I can imagine this in my home.
Speaker:So whether it be tables full of beautifully presented
Speaker:gifts or lifestyle corners or
Speaker:seasonal edits, if those visual cues help
Speaker:customers understand the story, I guess they're more likely to buy and
Speaker:particularly. In maybe independent
Speaker:furniture as well, where you only maybe buy a sofa
Speaker:once every 8 to 10 years or whatever, or when you move house,
Speaker:but you might buy cushion covers, throws, and
Speaker:accents seasonally to sort of update the look and feel of
Speaker:your home. So they're all very valuable, aren't they?
Speaker:Absolutely. It's about creating that lifestyle and
Speaker:that vision, no different to If you're dressing a
Speaker:mannequin, you accessorise. It's exactly the same with your
Speaker:homewares. It's creating that story that people can really understand
Speaker:and translate into their own home. So they might
Speaker:not buy the entire look, but they might pick 2 or 3
Speaker:things out of it that they absolutely love and will take
Speaker:those. Yeah, I do find that's really helpful because my
Speaker:imagination goes as far as an Excel spreadsheet. I can't
Speaker:style myself for love of money. I need somebody to say to me, using the
Speaker:mannequins, or people who bought this might like to buy that. I
Speaker:need somebody to direct me to put an outfit together,
Speaker:which is very sad but true. That
Speaker:then takes me to that sort of whole hybrid of online and in-store,
Speaker:because in-store somebody might be able to do personal shopping
Speaker:for you or help you style or help you select things that go together.
Speaker:Online, obviously you have the ability
Speaker:to put together cross-sells, bundles, seasonal
Speaker:things, gift suggestions, and it complements
Speaker:fashion perfectly for particular events like Christmas, Mother's Day,
Speaker:or whatever it might be, a seasonal refresh. But for
Speaker:me, I find it difficult
Speaker:to shop online unless it's for basics that I just,
Speaker:I just know that leggings are leggings, for example. Whereas if I want to buy
Speaker:something to wear to speak at a conference, that's much more
Speaker:stressful. I'd rather go into a shop and have somebody talk to me and
Speaker:give me some suggestions. So how do you, and
Speaker:especially talking from the point of view of, uh, you know, the retail champion e-commerce
Speaker:guru and all-round generalist greater
Speaker:SEO person, how do you translate what
Speaker:you can do in store to online sufficiently successfully
Speaker:to deal with someone like me who's quite a nervous shopper, to be honest?
Speaker:Again, it's creating that story and that lookbook, if you like. If
Speaker:it's a homewares upsell that
Speaker:you're looking for, again, it's maybe picking on a colour or a
Speaker:theme or a season and doing that as an
Speaker:add-on. Like you say, it might be a bundle, it might be a gift
Speaker:edit. And again, it's creating or making sure
Speaker:that that is taken across your website, so it's not just a
Speaker:at the checkout, it's as part of your blogs. If it's,
Speaker:if you're talking about outfits, your social media, it's adding it
Speaker:in to a look, whether that's on a, on a
Speaker:photograph or a reel. It's about
Speaker:making sure it's a complete picture as
Speaker:opposed to an afterthought. And I would say start small,
Speaker:test, test, and test again. Speak to your customers as well, particularly if you've
Speaker:got a a boutique store, that you have those repeat
Speaker:customers coming back time and time again, they are going to tell you what they
Speaker:want if you just ask and then listen. Their feedback is
Speaker:invaluable, as I'm sure you know, for buying
Speaker:next season's stock. It's no different with the homewares. Again,
Speaker:finding out what they know, like, and trust, the other brands that they
Speaker:aspire to, and go from there. And then scale really
Speaker:deliberately and really plan it out as a
Speaker:extension of your brand, not an add-on.
Speaker:You talked about outfitting. Now that's something that came up in the
Speaker:podcast I did with Francis about Pinterest and how
Speaker:people can create pinboards of
Speaker:all sorts of different bits and pieces from boutiques and
Speaker:build whole outfits and then shop them in one place through
Speaker:the integration that they've got through to tools like Shopify and so on.
Speaker:So it's really interesting how all of these small and independent
Speaker:retailers can knowingly or unknowingly collaborate with
Speaker:each other to also create outfitting and to
Speaker:recommend one another. And I think perhaps, and
Speaker:our colleague Kim would attest as well, that the future
Speaker:for small independent businesses across high streets is that ability to
Speaker:collaborate and recommend one another and to help each other
Speaker:sell. But certainly the impact of visual search
Speaker:has become very interesting in terms of
Speaker:driving traffic to e-commerce. And have you seen much of that with people you
Speaker:work with? Well, you triggered a memory for me then. When I had my
Speaker:homeware store, strangely, one of the things we stocked was
Speaker:gin. And that was the fact that we had a
Speaker:local gin maker and she was
Speaker:starting out and I helped her design her store,
Speaker:and we were chatting about her store. It was only
Speaker:open as a bookable event space. It wasn't a
Speaker:shop as such, and she was looking for a retail outlet in town. So I
Speaker:said, well, I'll stock your gin. I like gin. So,
Speaker:yeah, after a little while of paperwork for
Speaker:licensing, et cetera, we started to stock her gin. And
Speaker:the amount of people that came in the shop and said, and bearing in mind,
Speaker:I had been going at this point my shop had been there, I think, for
Speaker:about 6 or 7 years. The amount of people that came in to buy gin
Speaker:that said, I've always driven past here, I've never been in.
Speaker:But they made the special effort for the gin and they started coming back again
Speaker:for other stuff. It was a very unusual
Speaker:collaboration, but it worked really well for bringing that extra footfall in.
Speaker:So I mean, in wrapping up, I guess everybody's already got
Speaker:customers and footfall, and loyal customers, and as long as they collaborate
Speaker:and have a strong brand, then things like in a fashion boutique,
Speaker:for example, homewares and fragrance aren't a distraction. And in a
Speaker:gifting and homeware boutique, gin isn't a distraction.
Speaker:They're clearly a growth lever. So done deliberately,
Speaker:they make your business stronger, more profitable, and more memorable.
Speaker:Absolutely. It's what boutique retail is all about, isn't it? It's
Speaker:about creating those experiences. That your customers love, and
Speaker:they're really unique, so they absolutely remember them, and that's what
Speaker:keeps them coming back. So I think the resounding message is
Speaker:test in small batches, protect your positioning, make sure
Speaker:everything is aligned to the brand, not to ever forget that
Speaker:being deliberate in your strategy beats random
Speaker:throw it at the wall and see what sticks every time.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining me again Steph Briggs,
Speaker:one of the Retail Champion team's e-commerce and
Speaker:SEO gurus, but with a background of running a successful independent
Speaker:retail boutique business. This has been Claire Bailey, the
Speaker:Retail Champion, and you've been listening to
Speaker:Retail Reckoning.
Speaker:Now Reckoning owns the floor.
