Is it me, or have one boutiques become the trend du jour this past year? Check out any reputable online boutique review site on any given day, and you'll be assailed by listings for what must be dozens of newly opened boutiques, each clamouring for attention. They all appear to have a standard M.O. now: catchy names, breathtakingly professional-looking website layouts, artfully captured and edited product images, and the promise of competitively low prices...all the better to lure potential customers with, my dear.
*But with the niche seeemingly close to oversaturation, I wonder: when will the bubble burst? Is the advent of the online boutique destined for longevity, or will it too someday join the pile of discarded flavours-of-the-moment?
**
So many online boutiques, so little time!
Image courtesy of Keylex Internet Solutions
**
One of the major problems of the online boutique market is repetition. With too few local stockists supplying an essentially limited collection of goods to a vast number of local online boutiques, shoppers inevitably find themselves looking at identical products being sold by different boutiques at varying prices.
One of the major problems of the online boutique market is repetition. With too few local stockists supplying an essentially limited collection of goods to a vast number of local online boutiques, shoppers inevitably find themselves looking at identical products being sold by different boutiques at varying prices.
*
Yes, there are a handful of boutiques that do offer handmade, thoroughly original, and absolutely one-of-a-kind products. And there are another handful whose products, though not homemade, still manage to offer their clientele a unique shopping experience by sourcing quirky, can't-just-buy-them-off-the-rack products. But there are scores more that don't. The creativity, which the Malaysian online boutique scene needs to sustain itself, is severely lacking.
Yes, there are a handful of boutiques that do offer handmade, thoroughly original, and absolutely one-of-a-kind products. And there are another handful whose products, though not homemade, still manage to offer their clientele a unique shopping experience by sourcing quirky, can't-just-buy-them-off-the-rack products. But there are scores more that don't. The creativity, which the Malaysian online boutique scene needs to sustain itself, is severely lacking.
*
“Too much of the same thing,” complained Ms A, an avid online shopper I interviewed in the course of doing research for this post. “All the online boutiques I go to are starting to look identical. So maybe they'll have one or two things that their competitors don't stock, but that's about it really.”
“Too much of the same thing,” complained Ms A, an avid online shopper I interviewed in the course of doing research for this post. “All the online boutiques I go to are starting to look identical. So maybe they'll have one or two things that their competitors don't stock, but that's about it really.”
*
That brings me to my next point: sustainability. A profile study of the average female Malaysian online boutique owner shows that she is either: (a) a student looking to make some extra income; or (b) someone with a full-time job seeking a creative outlet. What both tend to have in common is limited time and resources to juggle the interconnected tasks of sourcing stockists outside of the established pool (i.e. Jalan Kenanga) and tirelessly working on revising their business plan to stay ahead of their competitors. And while most online boutiques were conceived from the desire to make money on the side, some sellers find it increasingly difficult to gain a foothold in the market and stay there when time and money are an all-too-pervasive issue.
That brings me to my next point: sustainability. A profile study of the average female Malaysian online boutique owner shows that she is either: (a) a student looking to make some extra income; or (b) someone with a full-time job seeking a creative outlet. What both tend to have in common is limited time and resources to juggle the interconnected tasks of sourcing stockists outside of the established pool (i.e. Jalan Kenanga) and tirelessly working on revising their business plan to stay ahead of their competitors. And while most online boutiques were conceived from the desire to make money on the side, some sellers find it increasingly difficult to gain a foothold in the market and stay there when time and money are an all-too-pervasive issue.
*
“It got a bit too much in the end,” said Ms B, a one-time online boutique owner who has since discontinued her business. “I've got a day job, so I don't have much free time. While it was convenient for me to get my supply from the same stockists everyone else was using, I realised the only thing I could do to attract and retain customers was to lower my prices. But once I started doing that, I wound up not making much profit at all. Long story short: the returns I was getting from my business just wasn't worth the time and effort I put into it.”
“It got a bit too much in the end,” said Ms B, a one-time online boutique owner who has since discontinued her business. “I've got a day job, so I don't have much free time. While it was convenient for me to get my supply from the same stockists everyone else was using, I realised the only thing I could do to attract and retain customers was to lower my prices. But once I started doing that, I wound up not making much profit at all. Long story short: the returns I was getting from my business just wasn't worth the time and effort I put into it.”
*
Another problem – which many cutting edge online boutiques will most likely be able relate to – is the alarming propensity for plagiarism. For every truly online boutique there is out there, there are at least half a dozen more that shamelessly rip off their site designs and layouts, and in some cases, even their copy. Imitation may be the best form of flattery, but outright infringement sure as heck isn't. Still, the fact that this is happening with alarming regularity should come as no surprise, given the borderless and relatively unsupervised nature of the World Wide Web.
*
*Another problem – which many cutting edge online boutiques will most likely be able relate to – is the alarming propensity for plagiarism. For every truly online boutique there is out there, there are at least half a dozen more that shamelessly rip off their site designs and layouts, and in some cases, even their copy. Imitation may be the best form of flattery, but outright infringement sure as heck isn't. Still, the fact that this is happening with alarming regularity should come as no surprise, given the borderless and relatively unsupervised nature of the World Wide Web.
*
What you don't know (about what your competitors are up to) could kill you!
Image courtesy of Buzzle.com
*
*
Take Ms C, for instance. A full-time online boutique owner, she was outraged to discover her webpage layouts and copy reproduced verbatim on two rival boutique sites. After firing off warning emails to the culprits, all she has to show for it are sheepish apologies and two sites that look remarkably similar to hers still in operation. As furious as she is, she acknowledges there isn't much she can do about it, since she's not certain that Malaysian intellectual property laws would apply to online boutiques. “Even if it did,” she confessed, “it's not like I have the money to initiate legal action.”
*
Take Ms C, for instance. A full-time online boutique owner, she was outraged to discover her webpage layouts and copy reproduced verbatim on two rival boutique sites. After firing off warning emails to the culprits, all she has to show for it are sheepish apologies and two sites that look remarkably similar to hers still in operation. As furious as she is, she acknowledges there isn't much she can do about it, since she's not certain that Malaysian intellectual property laws would apply to online boutiques. “Even if it did,” she confessed, “it's not like I have the money to initiate legal action.”
*
With all these issues showing an upward trend in frequency, it's no surprise that physical shops are fighting back. More and more of them have begun to supplement their physical presence with online shops. Competitive pricing is at an all-time high, with physical shops offering ever-lower prices to bring back once-loyal customers. Online boutiques, whose value proposition once lay in being able to offer a convenient shopping alternative at much lower prices, now find themselves facing off with an opponent who is slowly but surely clawing their way back to the top of the retailing chain.
*With all these issues showing an upward trend in frequency, it's no surprise that physical shops are fighting back. More and more of them have begun to supplement their physical presence with online shops. Competitive pricing is at an all-time high, with physical shops offering ever-lower prices to bring back once-loyal customers. Online boutiques, whose value proposition once lay in being able to offer a convenient shopping alternative at much lower prices, now find themselves facing off with an opponent who is slowly but surely clawing their way back to the top of the retailing chain.
*
Online boutiques vs. physical shops: who's coming out on top?Image courtesy of The Signal Caller
*
*
*
So what lies ahead for the Malaysian online boutique market? Will it be able to hold its own against its physical counterparts, as it once did not too long ago? Or will it be undermined by the very same factors that once made it a force to be reckoned with in the retail industry? Only time will tell.
*
No comments:
Post a Comment