Sales take off as fashion boutiques head to cyberspace.A BOUTIQUE Boutique A small investment firm specializing in offering specific, but limited services to a select number of individuals. Notes: These investment firms are the alternatives to large financial supermarkets. They provide a highly personalized environment for investing. is the kind of place where kid love treatment, often by the proprietor proprietor n. the owner of anything, but particularly the owner of a business operated by that individual. PROPRIETOR. The owner. (q.v.) herself, drives sales. Now, even this market niche is being transformed by the Web. Celebrities like Jessica JESSICA Java-Enable Single-System-Image Computing Architecture Simpson Simp·son , Sir James Young 1811-1870. British obstetrician and a founder of gynecology. He is also known for introducing the use of chloroform as an anesthetic. and Angelina Jolie first spread the word about Intuition intuition, in philosophy, way of knowing directly; immediate apprehension. The Greeks understood intuition to be the grasp of universal principles by the intelligence (nous), as distinguished from the fleeting impressions of the senses. , which sells voguish jeans, some priced at more than $300. Recent growth has been online, driven by shoppers who might live many miles--even a couple of time zones--from the Pico Boulevard Pico Boulevard is a major Los Angeles street that runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica to Central Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. It is named after Pío Pico, the last Mexican governor of California. store. "I am really flattered by the amount of attention my Web site is getting right now," said Jaye Hersh, president of Intuition. Online sales have risen 300 percent so far this year from the like period a year ago--and now make up 60 percent of total sales volume. Sales at the Web site for Lisa Kline, a clothing boutique with four local locations, have had double-digit monthly growth. The store revamped its Web site a little over a year ago to handle more product lines. "You can see us featured on E! (Entertainment Television) and that gave us a tremendous amount of national exposure," said spokeswoman Amy Gobin. "People went to the Web site--girls and guys out in the Midwest that don't have boutiques like this." True Religion Apparel Inc., the Los Angeles-based manufacturer whose jeans have been worn by Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz, will start selling online on May 1. Charles Lesser, True Religion's chief financial officer, believes that the site will generate several hundred thousand dollars fin monthly jeans sales. The jeans are priced from $172 to more than $300. The intention is to find those customers who wake up in Kansas who say, 'I went on a business trip, and I heard about True Religion,'" he said. Mintel International Group Ltd. estimates that the online apparel market, which grew to $6.1 billion in 2004 from $3.4 billion in 2002, will grow 9 to 12 percent per year until 2009, while the clothing catalogs business will decrease 2 percent to 4 percent annually. Staff reporter Rachel Brown Rachel Brown (born July 2 1980) is an English footballer, currently playing as goalkeeper for Everton Ladies and England Women. After a long spell out with injury, Brown returned to the England team against Sweden in the last group game of Women’s Euro 2005. can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 224, or by email at rbrown@labusinessjournal.com. |
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