Wholesaler or Boutique

I wanted to start a boutique which I knew could be managed well by my wife.

But when I told her the idea of a boutique, she told me that instead of starting a boutique we should at least put up a small wholesaler.

Is it the right idea that we start up a small wholesale of ugx.25m (=USD6,906 $)?

Is it in order for a person who is new in such a business to locate it in the already grown-up city???

To me, I never wanted to locate our new business in the already grown up cities:

• high taxes
• high rent in the city
• when you are new in the location, customers respond to you as expected hence leading to losing interest in such a business

NB: In order to control some of the above challenges, I wanted to locate our business in the new growing cities, hence targeting escape from high taxes, high rental fees, etc

I was of the view that I should locate this wholesale business in upcoming municipalities while targeting high population that is growing at high rate from nearby institutions and the entire population at large.

NB: Am working now and I wanted this business to be controlled by my wife as I continue working on my full-time job of which I save ugx.1.5m per month.

thank you for your time.

Answer

The skills, knowledge and expertise required to run a wholesaler and a boutique are quite different.

The wholesaler has to be able to source product, possibly direct from the source of manufacture, and maybe import it into your country. They then offer it for sale to retailers, who will not be concerned about the décor of the wholesaler, or personal service. They will be hard headed businesspeople looking for products they can sell, value for money, and continuity of supply.

Does your wife have any experience of this kind of work?

The retailer has to create an ambience. A boutique infers something small, exclusive and personal.

I have written a long series of articles on this on the site, and suggest you revisit all of them.
Retail and Retailing Lessons

Within the series is this page; –
What is involved in being a wholesale or import distributor?

You would need more capital to open a wholesaler than a retailer, I should think. You should complete a business plan for each, then you will be able to clarify your ideas. I have offered advice and samples and templates on this here;-
Developing a Business Plan

There is no reason, as far as I know, why someone new to the business should not open in the established cities, as opposed to developing ones. Competition may be fiercer, although not necessarily.

You need to do a lot of research about specific cities, competitors etc. This is covered here; –Market Research

This is part of a series you should read
Starting a Business Lessons

I would advise you to tread cautiously. Running a business of your own is not easy, as we have discussed in this series.
Small Business Lessons

I hope this has helped. I really feel you need to do a lot more research on both ideas and produce detailed plans which you can evaluate. Please be careful.