Table of content:
- Introduction
- Find the Market
- Location
- Evaluate competition
- Build vendor relationships
- Have a grand opening
Introduction:
All top brands take their own time to open a new retail store.
This means that they choose the right location, right market, and the best possible place to expand their business.
Every business owner understands that this is a crucial step to take and this decision can make the business take a ride up the profit hill or make it fall into a loss pit!
If you are a small business owner planning to expand your business by starting a retail store branch, then this article is for you.
Here are the top 5 factors to consider while opening a new branch of a retail store.
- Find the Market
- Location
- Evaluate competition
- Build vendor relationships
- Have a grand opening
Find the Market
The geographical location of a business represents the market.
The market size can be big or small depending on the amount of trade impact it generates on the area.
If you are opening a retail store outside the city, studying the population around that particular area is very essential for the understanding of your store’s trade potential.
If that area serves as a hub for your potential buyers or customers, then it is a best choice to open the store at the particular location of the city.
You need to assess the overall business environment, demographics, and your competition.
Ask yourself, are there enough stores for my audience to purchase? Is the demand in the market growing? Will this market help me bring more attention to my brand? Are the existing businesses in this location making good profit?
Once you research and find the answers to these questions, you’ll have all the answers to weigh in and decide.
Location
Once you have figured out the right geography kill area for your business, the next step is to find the perfect location.
Though the population of the area, trade potential, and market sizing have been essential parameters in research, the location of the store narrows it down to a great start for your business operations in the future.
If the location of the businesses phone rate, it is like hitting the arrow at the mark with a bull’s-eye.
Locations are the spots around a community that adds more value to the lives of the people living there.
A good retail store at a perfect location can add more value and make life easier for the people living in the particular community and hence it becomes a part of their lifestyle.
Evaluate competition
Competitor analysis is a very key ingredient for those starting any business.
This gives an in-depth understanding of what potential your business has in a particular geographic location.
If you are the first person in your business to step into our land, then the market is a blue ocean. All the marketing moves you make will bring in good eyeballs around your business as there is no one else with the same messaging targeting the audience.
If you are entering into a market where your competitors have established a presence, the game is going to be totally different – You have to face the competition on a day to day basis!
Research and find what is working well for your competition.
Whatever the other businesses do, just try making it more better by giving greater value to your audience. This formula never fails.
Build vendor relationships
Relationships are key to growing a retail business.
Be it a customer who has a good purchase, or someone who just visits your retail store to know what’s new in their locality a good customer experience comes only when you build good relationships with people.
Vendors in a particular location know more about the people in the area as they have been doing their business before you.
They have many contacts in the area and can help you with growing your business by providing the necessary contacts as well.
Being in good relationships with the vendor is absolutely essential for your business to have a never ending stock of goods, get special orders for your clients, and also get additional vendors once your business grows.
Have a grand opening
Opening a new retail store is not just a grand gesture to show the people around a location that a new store has come up.
It is also a strategic move in the business game which has a bigger impact.
When a new place opens up in a place, the first success as a business owner is to create a buzz in the locality.
Restaurants are the best example on how to create a buzz when it comes to opening a new branch.
They create huge banners, attention grabbing headlines, and also drive and emotion with their posters.
Food is something that everybody can relate with and people get curious to try different recipes.
They offer a recipe from their menu for free. It can be for a day, a couple of days, or even a week. Doing this does not harm the business owner and it is the best tactic to get the people talking more about the new restaurant that has been open in their locality.
Word of mouth is one of the most difficult things to achieve after a marketing campaign. But a newly opened restaurant aims at creating the buzz with word of mouth marketing and they succeed many times.
How they take their business and scale up by giving greater customer experience, defines the upcoming journey of their business.
Conclusion:
The above mentioned pointers are necessary for any retail store expanding their business by opening a new branch.
Whatever the type of business it is, if good customer service at an affordable price becomes the USP of a store, there’s no stopping for the cash flow.
There can also be other factors based on the type of retail business you are into.
Have we missed any good pointers? Please mention them in the comments!