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Name of the e-store: Boutikids.ch

Country: Switzerland

Date of launch: September 16, 2011

Name of the founder: Inga Aellen & Daniela Raia. Inga is mother of 4 year old twins — Jan and Sven. She worked in marketing & communication, sales and brand management for luxury brands. “The last 11 years I worked for the watch industry. Even before I was pregnant I knew that when the time came to have kids, I would like to venture out on my own in order to be more flexible with my time and have more time for my kids. The idea of bringing colorful, funky and original brands to Switzerland was born when my boys were born and I could not find these type of clothes easily accessible on the Swiss market. When the project was quite well off the ground, I asked Daniela”. Daniela is mother of 4 year old Hugo. She worked in administration and co-runs a headhunting agency. 

Categories covered: Kids clothes 0-12 years, toys, small pieces of furniture (like shelves), decoration articles, shoes, accessories

Brands carried: Katvig, Norlie, Cayole, Kalimba, Sebra, Little Duckling. Next month we will introduce Smafolk and then 3 other new brands from Scandinavia during the launch of Spring/Summer “012 collections.

 

How far do you ship? We will ship any where in the world. We’re now working on offering our foreign customers preferential rates for shipping.

In what is Boutikids different from what’s already existing ? The main point of difference are the brands we carry in Switzerland —mainly Nordic brands that are not well know if Switzerland (Katvig, Mini Rodini, Sebra, Norlie). We want kids to look like kids and not mini adults. We would like to offer the Swiss customers a little more than pink, blue, navy blue or grey clothes for their kids. We promote independent, small brands like Cayole or Kalimba. On top of this our benchmark for the site are large online concept stores and this is the direction that we would like to develop in. We offer a wide selection of products, gift wrapping and easy returns as we know how frustrating it is not to be able to return a product.  

What products or brands have been particularly successful so far ? Kalimba plush toys, Mini Rodini Lanchaster Coat, Katvig Cottonwear, especially the hats and scarfs.

Can you tell us something about the Swiss market ? 
Some facts : the volume of online shopping in Siwtzerland increased from 4,24 billion CHF in 2006 to 5,87 billion in 2008. Despite the economical crisis, online sales reached  6 billion in 2009”. Swiss parents spend on an average 800-1000CHF per month on their first child.
Our analysis : The Swiss are a traditional nation, however they do see a lack of original products in the mid priced segment. They appreciate quality and are very environmentally conscious. Online shopping is still not as big as in
other European countries but growing. There are only a few online shops for kids offering original, design oriented and unique products. Most of these sites have a very limited assortment of products.
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Thank you Inga and Daniela for taking time to give us insight about boutikids and about your the online business in your country 

 

Left, Daniela and Hugo – Right, Inga, Jan and Sven

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exclude Katvig little duckling mini rodini Norlie Sebra Toys