By MARISA MELTZERWHEN
Ann Pontius was in the market for jeans recently, she turned to Totokaelo, her favorite boutique in Seattle, to help find her a pair — this despite the fact that she lives in Denver.
“Denim is always tricky,” said Ms. Pontius, 53, a retired nurse. “But they kept sending me different kinds of jeans until I found what I liked. That’s hard to do with a big store like Barneys.”Totokaelo, which recently moved from a 1,000-square-foot store to one seven times bigger, does an average of 70 percent of its sales online, according to its staff. It’s one of a number of independent boutiques across the country whose Web presences are thriving, giving them breadth and influence beyond their neighborhoods. Managing to cultivate feelings of intimacy and loyalty in an electronic venue, along with an in-the-know atmosphere, they are arguably the 21st century’s answer to London’s Biba in the 1960s, or Charivari in the ’80s.
“We launched the Web site in 2008 and the business doubled overnight,” said Jill Wenger, Totokaelo’s owner. One reason? “Personal relationships and educating clients,” she said.
“How can I distinguish myself from massive Web sites that can crush me in terms of return policies and free shipping?” Ms. Wenger asked. “What Totokaelo can provide that those companies can’t comes back to relationships and people.”
All customers who buy online from Frances May, a store in Portland, Ore., get handwritten notes on library cards and carefully wrapped packages, said the owner, Pamela Baker-Miller.
“If you spend $500 on a dress, you want it to feel special,” said Ms. Baker-Miller, who said her store does about 30 percent of its business online, often sending measurements or answering questions in detail to help close a sale (quickly issued refunds do not hurt, either).
“We’ve cultivated a great group of loyal customers,” she added. “We give thorough answers. We know what they like and what size they wear.”
Frances May has online customers who live in Portland yet reserve items for pickup or trying-on later; it also has far-flung customers who were not even aware that there is a brick and mortar store.
“Not everyone can shop in the neighborhood,” said Joe Lauer, who owns Penelope’s in Chicago, which he said does 15 to 25 percent of its business online, “but our Web site really opens up our shop to a wider audience.”
Local boutiques are facing competition not only from department stores and larger online presences such as Net-a-Porter, Shopbop or La Garçonne, but also from Web giants like Zappos and Amazon, which in May announced an aggressive foray into the world of high fashion.
And shoppers are becoming increasingly savvy at playing the contenders off one another, as Amy Mautz, owner of Conifer in San Francisco, has experienced firsthand.
“A customer whipped out her phone and asked me if I could price match a pair of Swedish Hasbeen clogs with Amazon,” said Ms. Mautz, who did not match Amazon’s price (the customer bought them from her anyway). “It makes me feel like what I need to do is become more specialized, find smaller, newer lines, and get more things that no one else has.”
Alec Stuart, an owner of Stuart & Wright in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, does not compare his store to larger competitors.
“Being such a small business, there’s only a small staff and when everyone is really invested, it translates,” he said.
Jade Lai, who owns Creatures of Comfort, which has stores in NoLIta and Los Angeles, noted that “there’s always going to be a bigger online store than us.”
“It’s not going to change what we do,” she said, which includes giving logo stickers and canvas totes with orders, and sending cards at holiday time.
In West Hollywood, Calif., Joe Cole, an owner of Tenoversix there, said his online sales are up 30 percent this year from 2011, thanks in part to “more editorial flair” and improved functionality on the site.
“Our customer is not looking for the best deal,” Mr. Cole said, but rather a curated selection of clothing.
Owners of local boutiques stress that their personalized viewpoints give them an advantage in the crowded retail field.“We like to think our editorial decisions are unique for our audience,” Mr. Cole said. “Larger stores may carry a much wider range, but we’re more focused. We find new and unexpected things you can’t carry everywhere.”
Ms. Wenger of Totokaelo added: “Nordstrom’s or Barneys is more about quantity, buying deep into lines. What I can provide is an edited point of view and something a little directional. My overhead is not as high, so I can buy pieces that aren’t for everyone.”
Lacking corporate overlords, boutiques can also be nimbler on social media, using in-house blogs to promote their clothes and accessories, as well as maintaining casual presences on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram.
“It’s how to communicate with customers in a new way, being where customers spend their time, and how to present the stores in those environments,” said Jennifer Mankins, owner of Bird, a small chain of boutiques in Brooklyn. “Pinterest is so visually driven, it’s almost like another storefront for the store. I can put all the things I’m inspired by on it. People like seeing that bigger picture. You can do that online.”
Ms. Mankins has noticed that many customers use the Web site to see what’s in the shops.
“If we have that dress and that shirt, it’s worth it for them to come in on Saturday after brunch and try them on,” she said.Some clients, like Lindsay Barton Barrett, a real estate broker, said they prefer to shop online even from boutiques that are conveniently located.
“I work a lot, unfortunately,” said Ms. Barton Barrett, 36, who lives in Cobble Hill, near an outpost of Bird. She does not have a lot of time to go to stores, she said, but “I’ll shop on the Web site while I’m on vacation because I actually have time. I placed a big order last year while I was away for the holidays, when I had time to sit in front of the computer.”
Ms. Barton Barrett said that she enjoys personal attention from Bird, like e-mails telling her when favorite lines are about to be marked down.
“It’s nice to have somebody who cares,” she said.
In Philadelphia, home to the fashion-forward boutique Joan Shepp and a Barneys Co-op, Penninah Brodie, 40, a school guidance counselor, said she nonetheless looks at Totokaelo’s site daily and does not buy “anything from anywhere else.”
“The site has so much character, more character than the big sites,” she said. “I’m really understated. Here I still have the opportunity to wear fine clothes and not have a big Louis Vuitton marker on my head.”
To reward Ms. Brodie for being such a dedicated customer, Ms. Wenger of Totokaelo gives her free shipping and personal styling tips (all clients get follow-up e-mails after purchases, asking if they need help styling their new pieces). She may even tell her to pass on an expensive leather belt from the store and buy one from the Salvation Army.
“She helps people build a wardrobe, as opposed to buy clothes,” Ms. Brodie said.Ms. Mankins of Bird said: “The Internet is not killing me, it’s helping me. I’m putting my energy there online; that’s where there’s the most potential to grow with no boundaries.”
