For many years ApparelLink has provided services for the wholesale apparel
industry only. Our sites have been primarily "business-to-business" sites.
They connect manufacturers with resources and retailers with manufacturers.
Now that the consumer is comfortable with shopping online (Christmas
2004 approximately 56 BILLION dollars in online sales) we offer Virtual
Boutiques to connect consumers with retailers (and direct sales manufacturers).
ApparelLink Virtual Boutique Frequently Asked Questions:
What is an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique?
In what ways is an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique similar to a “real” boutique?
How would an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique help my existing
business?
Isn’t an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique just a web site?
That sounds technical. What do I have to know?
Do I need special equipment?
This all sounds very expensive! How much will it cost?
My brother-in-law offered to build my site for free. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of his offer?
The price seems fair but do you offer any discounts or incentives?
Are there any other charges?
What if I want to add special features that are not included in the original ApparelLink Virtual Boutique?
Is an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique an eCommerce site?
Can I sell wholesale from my ApparelLink Virtual Boutique?
In a mall I have to commit to a long lease. How long a
period do I have to commit to for my Virtual Boutique?
If I don’t “own the building” what do I own?
I already have a static web site. Will my investment go to waste?
What does it take to get started?
OK, I have an empty, decorated ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. What do I do now?
What is an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique?
Briefly, an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique is an application on the Web that functions exactly as your “brick & mortar” Fashion Boutique would. It is an independent web presence for your company under your own domain name. It contains all the functionality necessary to support the sales of your products through an easy to build catalog and shopping cart.
In what ways is an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique similar to a “real” boutique?
In your retail boutique you regularly change displays, add new merchandise, promote merchandise based on seasons or holidays or events, run sales and take markdowns. It is critical that these activities are done in a timely manner.
Through easy-to-use forms your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique allows you to maintain the content of your site instantly and without the intervention of any technical personnel.
The first step in renting a selling space in the physical world is to select a location that is populated with similar businesses. You locate in a specialized area to benefit from traffic generated by businesses similar to your own.
An ApparelLink Virtual Boutique becomes part of the ApparelLink network and gets to share established traffic from interested visitors immediately.
When you rent a selling space in a mall it is just an empty space waiting for you to decorate to your individual taste.
We “decorate” your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique to reflect your business’ identity.
How would an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique help my existing business?
An ApparelLink Virtual Boutique presents a professional online presence for your company, no matter its actual size. The consumer has come to recognize the benefits of shopping online. An ApparelLink Virtual Boutique provides you the tools to reach them online with a web presence that instills consumer confidence.
For a fashion designer or manufacturer it provides an alternative outlet for surplus inventory. Jobbers pay only pennies on the dollar for "closeouts" while selling to consumers allows you to not only recoup your costs but to actually make a profit. It also allows you to reach consumers that are outside your established market sphere. Your professional appearance will generate interest from retailers.
As a fashion retailer it allows you to extend your rack space indefinitely. It will allow you to move inventory beyound the traffic at your "brick & mortar" location.
Isn’t an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique just a web site?
No! An ApparelLink Virtual Boutique is an application that consists of a comprehensive set of forms that allow you to enter information (text and images) into a database. That information is then used to populate a set of dynamically rendered web pages. Those pages serve up the latest information about your store immediately as you provide it. The Virtual Boutique contains virtual catalogs and a dynamic shopping cart as well as event schedules and other important information about your business.
That sounds technical. What do I have to know?
It is not technical. By providing easy to use forms we eliminate any need for programming or webmaster skills. You do have to know how to access the web and to use a web browser. We provide instructions and a demo to assist in your use of your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. If you had a webmaster to program the content of each web page you would still have to provide that content. You might have to fill out forms that the webmaster would work from to program each web page. With your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique, once you complete the form and click a submit button the programming is done automatically.
Any computer that you are using to access the web will be able to open and use the administration console forms. All of the processing is done on our servers. You do create the images that you will be uploading to your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. If you are now taking pictures of your products you would use them. If you are using drawings or sketches then an inexpensive scanner would allow you to make them web-ready. A dial-up internet connection is adequate but a fast connection (cable or DSL) would be more efficient.
This all sounds very expensive! How much will it cost?
An ApparelLink Virtual Boutique would be very expensive if you were to build it from scratch but just as locating in a mall, you do not have to own the building in order to rent a boutique. We provide all of the technology for your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique for a low monthly rent. Currently an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique can be had for as little as $180.00 per month.
A professionally designed static web site can cost thousands of dollars and require expensive webmaster services to keep current. Your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique requires no development costs and is self maintained by you thus eliminating expensive webmaster costs.
In just the first year your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique will save you at least two thousand dollars compared to the cost of a professionally designed and maintained basic static web site while offering a great deal more functionality.
My brother-in-law offered to build my site for free. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of his offer?
You are an apparel industry professional. Your business requires a professional web presence. Unlike your dynamic ApparelLink Virtual Boutique, a static web site will require frequent reprogramming in order to keep your content up-to-date. Unless your brother-in-law is always available and extremely skilled, your fashion web site content will go stale very quickly.
The price seems fair but do you offer any discounts or incentives?
Yes! For now, FBI (Fashion Business Incorporated) members qualify for a 25% discount bringing the cost down to $180.00 per month. An FBI Business membership currently costs $150.00 so your net savings would be $570.00 per year. New renters get the first month free in order to get used to using their ApparelLink Virtual Boutique and for a limited time we will not charge a set up fee. Membership in other professional industry organizations may qualify for the discount as well.
No. There are web sites that will charge a percentage of your sales. We do not! You costs include online marketing as well as setup and hosting.
What if I want to add special features that are not included in the original ApparelLink Virtual Boutique?
The general design of your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique is customized to your exclusive “look & feel” but if you want additional custom features we can build them for you. We can build Flash™ front ends, include streaming video and audio. Costs would be determined on an item by item basis.
Is an ApparelLink Virtual Boutique an eCommerce site?
Yes, but... The ApparelLink is a front end for any payment processor you choose. If you have an existing merchant account we can link the ordering system to it. We recommend PayPal because they only charge a transaction fee and none of the other fees that most other processors charge. By having the credit card processing done at an established financial institution the customer can be confident that their transactions will be secure. They know that the merchant never gets to see their credit card information.
Can I sell wholesale from my ApparelLink Virtual Boutique?
Your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique is designed with the same purpose as a professional retail fashion boutique. The boutique contains a "Wholesale" page for you to use to provide wholesale information and/or links to your "Corporate" site or Virtual Showroom.
There is no formal wholesale ordering system built into the boutique. Check out our ApparelLink Virtual Showroom to see the difference in functionality.
In a mart I have to commit to a long lease. How long a period do I have to commit to for my Virtual Boutique?
We are absorbing the set up costs so we require an initial three month commitment. For that you get the first four months of operation (we include a “learning curve” month). After that you can rent your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique on a quarterly (3 month) basis.
If I don’t “own the building” what do I own?
Here again the “real world” analogy applies. Your samples (images) and promotional material (text) that you have populated your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique with belong to you. Any forms, page design/layouts, processes or anything else that we provide are the copyright-protected property of Saddle Stitch Group/ApparelLink and may not be used outside of your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique.
You also own your domain name; “www.yourcompany.com”. It is necessary to point it to our server in order for your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique to be found but if you decide to no longer rent from us you can point it anywhere else that you create a web presence.
I already have a static web site. Will my investment go to waste?
No. If you have an established online “look & feel” that you are happy with, many of the design elements may be put to use in your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. If you are currently showing images of your line they can be used in your virtual catalog. Any descriptive text can be cut and pasted into the appropriate pages.
What does it take to get started?
You need a domain name (www.yourcompany.com) pointing to our server. If you already have a static web site we can help with the domain name transfer.
You should have a sense of how you want your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique to look, i.e. color and text elements, logo graphic, all the decorating components of your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. Once you provide all those components along with a three month payment we will get you set up in three to five business days.
OK, I have an empty, decorated ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. What do I do now?
You will need digital images of your line. They are easy to create. The help file includes instructions on how to create web-ready images but if you prefer we can recommend reasonably priced freelance web graphics specialists who can help you prepare them.
Even though you have paid for three months we provide an additional month to help you past the learning curve. We provide a demo site with pop-up hints on each page that explain its functionality and a set of step by step instructions. Once you spend some time on the demo site and follow the instructions you will be on your way to making full use of your ApparelLink Virtual Boutique. If for some reason you have difficulty with any part of your set up we also provide two hours of telephone support during the first month and unlimited email support.
For additional questions:
818 353 1876