Florence: Hello, and welcome to the Peralane wholesale podcast. I'm Florence. Today: how much stock do you actually need to open a boutique? And Oliver has brought... a spreadsheet.
Oliver: I have. Sixty styles. Colour-coded. Um, I'm quite proud of it, actually.
Kaan: Sixty. Hmm. Can I see the budget column?
Oliver: The budget column says... no.
Kaan: Then the budget is right. For a first online launch, most boutiques do well with ten to twenty-five styles. Two to four pieces of each.
Florence: Wait, that few? Why does fewer work better?
Kaan: Online, your customer sees one product at a time, not a full rail. You know, one piece of sixty styles gives you sixty guesses... and no data.
Oliver: Sixty guesses. Great. That's my spreadsheet's new name.
Florence: Okay, so Oliver buys from Türkiye. What's different there?
Oliver: Yeah, I can't even pick sizes one by one, can I? It's all in-
Kaan: -in packs, yes. And that's the part most guides miss. One pack is usually one piece in each size. Our burgundy knitted bodysuit, for example: sizes thirty-six to forty-two, one of each. So you don't plan sizes. You plan styles... times packs.
Oliver: Oh. Oh, that's actually simpler.
Kaan: Much simpler. Fifteen styles, one pack each, at about forty-five dollars a pack... that's around six hundred and seventy-five dollars.
Florence: And if you want more of the middle sizes?
Kaan: Then you give a second pack to the four styles you believe in most. Not to all of them. Just the heroes.
Oliver: Okay, but which sizes? The kids packs come in, like, different ages.
Kaan: Choose the size range before you choose the print. A three-to-six-years pack is wasted if your mums shop for eight-year-olds.
Florence: Mm-hm. I've seen that shop. Lovely prints, wrong ages.
Oliver: Erm... that might have been me. My first test order? All three-to-six. My customers' kids were nine.
Florence: Oh no.
Kaan: Everyone does it once. Read the sizes on the product page first. Every time.
Florence: Let's make it real. Oliver has fifteen hundred dollars for stock. How does he spend it?
Kaan: About six seventy-five on fifteen styles. About one eighty on second packs. A few packs of baby bodysuits, they sell to everyone. And then- he keeps around a third. Untouched.
Oliver: Untouched? That's like... five hundred dollars doing NOTHING.
Kaan: It's the most useful money you have. Because your best style sells out in two weeks, and then you want to buy it again.
Florence: So when does he spend it?
Kaan: After about thirty days on sale. Most of a pack gone at full price? Buy it again. About half? Better photos, style it in an outfit, look again at day forty-five.
Oliver: And if almost nothing sold?
Kaan: Don't buy it again. Bundle it, mark it down, move on. Keep the money for the winners.
Florence: Oliver. The spreadsheet. Final answer?
Oliver: Fifteen styles. Right ages. And a new column called... untouched.
Florence: Perfect. The full plan, with the fifteen-hundred-dollar budget table, is on the Peralane blog. Thanks for listening, and good luck with your first drop.
How much inventory to start a boutique? Less than most new owners think: about 10 to 25 styles with 2 to 4 units each for a first online launch, and 30 to 40% of the stock budget held back to reorder what sells. When you buy wholesale from Türkiye, plan that first drop in packs, not single pieces: one pack is usually one size series of one style, so the real question is how many styles you take and which ones get a second pack.
Key takeaways
- Start with 10-25 styles. Fewer, deeper styles give you clearer sales data than many one-offs.
- Hold back 30-40% of the budget. Reorder cash is part of the plan, not what is left over.
- Wholesale packs fix your size spread: one pack is one of each size. Get more of the middle sizes by giving a second pack to the styles you believe in most.
- Choose the size series that fits your customer (3-6 years or 7-10 years, 36-42 or 38-44) before you choose the print.
- Read sell-through per style after 30 days on sale, then spend the reserve.
For a first online drop, 10-25 styles at 2-4 units each is enough, which usually means roughly $800 to $3,000 in product. That range comes from Grow Your Boutique's opening-inventory guide, which also puts a $2,500 start at 15-20 styles with 3-4 units each.
Why so few? Online, a customer sees one product at a time, not a full rack. What you need is enough styles to look like a shop with a point of view, and enough units of each to tell a winner from a fluke. Thirty styles at one unit each gives you thirty guesses and no data.
If you are still deciding what to sell and where, start with our starter plan for selling kids clothes from home, then come back to size the order.
When you buy wholesale from Türkiye, you usually buy a size series, not single sizes. Most of the guides you will find assume you pick units size by size. With packs, you pick styles and the number of packs.
Two real examples from our catalogue:
| Product | Pack | What is in the pack | Price per piece | One pack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls' sweatshirt and leggings set, plum | 4 sets | Ages 3-6, one set per age | $7.39 | $29.56 |
| Burgundy knitted bodysuit | 4 pieces | Sizes 36, 38, 40, 42, one of each | $14.56 | $58.24 |
| Unisex long-sleeved bodysuit, camper van | 3 pieces | Ages 2-4 | $1.81 | $5.43 |
This changes three things:
The size series decides who can buy, so choose it first. A 3-6 years pack is wasted on a shop whose customers mostly shop for 8-year-olds.
When you can buy sizes one by one, a common starting curve for women's clothing puts the weight on the middle: roughly S 1 : M 2 : L 2 : XL 1, according to this size-ratio guide. With packs you cannot shape each order like that, so shape the whole drop instead:
Here is how a $1,500 product budget can be split for a mixed kids and women's online boutique. Prices use the pack costs above as a guide; shipping and duties come on top.
| Part of the drop | What you buy | Approx. cost | Pieces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core range | 15 styles, 1 pack each (kids sets and women's knitwear, about $45 a pack) | $675 | about 65 |
| Hero depth | A second pack for your 4 strongest styles | $180 | about 16 |
| Basics | 10 packs of kids bodysuits or basics | $55-$120 | 30-40 |
| Reorder reserve | Held back, spent after the first read | $525-$590 (35-40%) | 0 for now |
The reserve follows the same guide's advice to hold back 30-40% of the inventory budget to restock what sells first. The most common first-drop mistake is spending all of it on day one, so the best-selling style runs out with nothing left to reorder it.
Sell-through tells you which packs to buy again: units sold divided by units received, times 100. Measure it per style over the same window, such as the first 30 days a style is live, as this sell-through guide recommends.
A simple reading for a first drop:
Check each size within a style too. As this plus-size buying guide notes, a size above about 90% sell-through was probably underbought, and one below about 50% was overbought. For a fuller reorder method, see our kids boutique reorder playbook and the guide to reading your sales data before you reorder.
For an online launch, plan roughly 50 to 150 pieces: 10 to 25 styles at 2 to 4 units each, or one to two wholesale packs per style. A physical shop needs more to fill its rails. Start smaller online, keep 30-40% of the budget back, and reorder what sells within the first month.
Many online boutiques launch with $800 to $3,000 in product. With wholesale packs, multiply styles by packs by pack price: 15 styles at one pack each, at about $45 a pack, is around $675 before shipping. Add a few second packs for your strongest styles and keep a reorder reserve.
A size series is a pack with one piece in each size of a range, such as 36, 38, 40 and 42, or ages 3, 4, 5 and 6. You buy the whole pack, not single sizes, and the price per piece is quoted alongside the pack price. It gives every style a full size run from the first order.
Look at sell-through per style after about 30 days on sale. If most of a pack sold at full price, reorder it using the money you held back. If about half sold, give it better photos or put it in an outfit and check again at day 45. If little sold, do not reorder it.
Planning your first drop? Browse the kids and women's wholesale ranges: every product page shows the pack size and the price per piece before you register.
