Brick and mortar retail chain stores with no or limited online offerings had defied online sales trends before the pandemic. However, over the last couple of months, sales dried up.
Some analysts believe that these retail stores risk obsolescence if online purchasing behavior becomes permanent.
photo: Olga Vidisheva, founder and CEO, Shoptiques by BRIDGET BADORE
As stay-at-home mandates are lifted, boutique owners with brick and mortar retail stores recognize that to stay in business; they need to integrate real-life and online experiences. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, consumers spent $602 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2019, up 14.9% from the prior year. eMarketer found that not only have e-commerce sales grown since stay-at-home restrictions took effect, but April’s average daily sales are 39% higher than March’s. Boutiques without e-commerce need to get online quickly or risk shuttering their doors forever.
For small businesses, building their e-commerce site is price prohibitive. Instead, they turn to turnkey solutions. Lori Harris, the owner of Mary Jane’s, a women’s boutique located in Park City, Utah, is using Shoptiques. “What’s great about them is that they focus on small boutiques and what these boutiques have to offer,” Harris said in the Park Record. “So when a person comes to our website and searches for shopping, they will see our products, but they can jump off to see other small boutiques around the world.
Olga Vidisheva, an immigrant from Kyrgyzstan, raised in Russia, moved to the United States at 17 to go to college. She started Shoptiques in 2012. For her, fashion was always a way to express her individuality. When she worked in the corporate world for Goldman Sachs, she traveled the world. Vidisheva would buy fashion and accessories that were a reflection of her sense of style.
When she attended Harvard Business School (HBS), Vidisheva became fascinated by the internet and e-commerce. Small businesses were being left out. They didn’t have the money and expertise to build a platform and market their stores online. She spent a summer interning at Chanel, where she was consistently complimented not on her name-brand designer pieces, but rather on her eye-catching boutique finds. Was there a way to marry these two passions?
