I don't know about the rest of you, but for me I have noticed an epidemic within the social media world, Instagram boutiques. Every other post I see on Instagram is some type of advertisement for a new boutique. Somewhat interested in the product I proceed to go to the home page of the Instagram account. I become interested even more and go through the other pictures and put the profile in the back of my mind so that I can come back to it. So another day goes by and I see more and more advertisements, once again I become interested and I proceed to the profile. After doing this so many times I realize all of these boutique profiles, 9 times out of 10, have the same exact clothing. Instantly I become discourage and almost annoyed seeing the same products by at least 10 different companies advertised back to back, did originality become banned from Instagram or what? For someone who isn't as deep into fashion as I am probably wouldn't know the difference or care for that matter but for me this is a big issue. First and foremost a boutique is classified as a specialty store selling unique items for a limited period of time, and with most of these boutiques that's not the case, for the simple fact that they are all using the same vendor (ex. Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress, other common Chinese, Japanese, and UK wholesale companies/websites). I bet if you took the next picture you see posted on Instagram by one of these "boutiques" and Google searched it, you would be able to find it on eBay for cheaper, in both the product price itself and the shipping cost. Second, and probably the most important issue is this puts such a big stereotype on those boutiques who actually are the real definition of what a boutique is, and they get passed up which is very much unfortunate. And lastly, customer service is down right horrible with these boutiques, it's disgusting. As you all know I already had an experience with this issue, and the fact of the matter was if I really needed the product that I ordered from the young lady that was posted in my previous store review, I could've bought it on eBay for $16.99 plus free shipping but instead I was trying to give business to someone who looked to be legit and professional and I was highly mistaken. The point of this post is to certainly not discourage anyone from starting a boutique and doing so online because I understand that in this day and age, storefronts are not necessarily the first step in becoming a successful business. All I am saying is to do your research so that you can stand apart from these fakes, phonies, and frauds. With just a little more patience, time, and the right knowledge, this problem will be eliminated and hopefully Instagram boutiques will not be the death of fashion.
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