Couture a la Cart, UGA students' mobile boutique, pivots completely online
October 27, 2020
By Anna Thomas
October 27, 2020
By Anna Thomas
Couture a la Cart, a mobile boutique created by University of Georgia students, has reopened from Oct. 9 through Nov. 2 with its new e-commerce website to replace the typical golf cart the business usually sells from.
The business is part of a semester-long project for the retail entrepreneurship class in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors. Each semester, a new class of students take over business operations, and they have a six-week planning period to reach out to new vendors and design a logo they’d like to use, said Julia Jack, senior fashion merchandising major and general manager of Couture a la Cart.
Jack said the class last semester was only able to get through the planning phase before COVID-19 was announced a pandemic over spring break. However, Jack and her team were able to use some of the vendors and planning from the spring class in order to hit the ground running this fall.
“That’s kind of the way that we worked with them and built on their work in order to honor them,” Jack said.
Although they’ve built on some of the planning from the spring class, the fall team has brought on some additional vendors in order to feature products the spring team may not have thought of, like masks.
Couture a la Cart had a blog in the past, but it wasn’t able to sell anything so they had to start fresh this semester, Jack said.
Since the business is operated through a class, the University of Georgia Bursar’s Office set up a general website through TouchNet. Bridget Helms, senior fashion merchandising major and director of e-commerce at Couture a la Carte, was given access to the backend of the site to create the aesthetics of the site and shopping categories, and upload each item in inventory.
Helms said she was given access to the site only a week before the site’s launch date, which was difficult because she had to individually upload 175 items within the week.
There have also been additional challenges with working completely online. Helms said since the business sells mostly handmade items, it can be hard for people to purchase things like jackets or other clothing without seeing them in person. The shop also doesn’t have a return policy because of the pandemic and since it’s such a small business, Helms said.
Jack said it’s been challenging to create the same presence they had with the physical location in the past since they now are exclusively digital. However, it’s been great to see her team rise to the occasion, she said.
Although there has been a learning curve with the new website, Jack said the reach the website has outside of the Athens-area has been beneficial. Recently the store had an order from Valdosta and Jack was happy to see that the business’s locally sourced merchandise resonated with people outside of the area.
Jack said she likes that most of the business’s vendors are local because the students are able to gain real-life experience through the business while also drawing attention to those brands.
“Honestly, that’s like one of the things I’m most proud of about this class, and this business really, is just our ability to help those small businesses that may have been struggling through this time,” Jack said.
The business is part of a semester-long project for the retail entrepreneurship class in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors. Each semester, a new class of students take over business operations, and they have a six-week planning period to reach out to new vendors and design a logo they’d like to use, said Julia Jack, senior fashion merchandising major and general manager of Couture a la Cart.
Jack said the class last semester was only able to get through the planning phase before COVID-19 was announced a pandemic over spring break. However, Jack and her team were able to use some of the vendors and planning from the spring class in order to hit the ground running this fall.
“That’s kind of the way that we worked with them and built on their work in order to honor them,” Jack said.
Although they’ve built on some of the planning from the spring class, the fall team has brought on some additional vendors in order to feature products the spring team may not have thought of, like masks.
Couture a la Cart had a blog in the past, but it wasn’t able to sell anything so they had to start fresh this semester, Jack said.
Since the business is operated through a class, the University of Georgia Bursar’s Office set up a general website through TouchNet. Bridget Helms, senior fashion merchandising major and director of e-commerce at Couture a la Carte, was given access to the backend of the site to create the aesthetics of the site and shopping categories, and upload each item in inventory.
Helms said she was given access to the site only a week before the site’s launch date, which was difficult because she had to individually upload 175 items within the week.
There have also been additional challenges with working completely online. Helms said since the business sells mostly handmade items, it can be hard for people to purchase things like jackets or other clothing without seeing them in person. The shop also doesn’t have a return policy because of the pandemic and since it’s such a small business, Helms said.
Jack said it’s been challenging to create the same presence they had with the physical location in the past since they now are exclusively digital. However, it’s been great to see her team rise to the occasion, she said.
Although there has been a learning curve with the new website, Jack said the reach the website has outside of the Athens-area has been beneficial. Recently the store had an order from Valdosta and Jack was happy to see that the business’s locally sourced merchandise resonated with people outside of the area.
Jack said she likes that most of the business’s vendors are local because the students are able to gain real-life experience through the business while also drawing attention to those brands.
“Honestly, that’s like one of the things I’m most proud of about this class, and this business really, is just our ability to help those small businesses that may have been struggling through this time,” Jack said.
