Opening a retail store
It doesn’t matter what business sector you’re in; starting a new business is always difficult. Retail establishments are no exception. You must select the ideal location, perfect your product line, and have a committed team of employees who have received training and are ready to get going. There are many other things to do and keep track of, but the little things are often the most important and are what can make the difference between success and failure.
Here are a few key things to consider before opening your brand spanking new retail store.
Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash
Thoroughly check out your space
Spend some time exploring and investigating where you intend to launch your retail business before signing the contract. This serves as an indicator of foot traffic to your store, the busiest times of day, traffic issues, how the surrounding stores are doing, lighting and ease of access issues, whether your planned fixtures will fit, whether you can move around your 4-sided roll containers and so forth. Potential store owners unsurprisingly get enthusiastic about a location but fail to investigate some of the intricate points. Spending time at the location may uncover some issues that you can discuss with your landlord or compel you to continue looking.
Organize your store carefully
Your store’s layout can either mean the difference between success and failure. . If it is laid out satisfyingly and systematically, you will be able to better monitor the store to prevent shoplifting and damage, and your customers will be encouraged to spend more than they may have intended to. If you sell makeup, for example, provide plenty of mirrors and good lighting for your customers to test them out. If you are a shoe store, they need mirrors and somewhere to sit without being trodden on to try their shoes on.
Visit a competitor’s store to see how theirs is laid out to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to store layout.
Ensure excellent customer service
A successful retail store must provide excellent customer service. If a customer has a bad experience at your store, you can almost guarantee that they will tell all of their friends and family about it, and with social media being so popular these days, it will almost certainly be shared there as well.
Ensure that providing the best possible experience for your customers is at the top of your priority list. Teach your employees how to deal with problems and avoid confrontation. If you provide excellent customer service, you will quickly build a loyal customer base.
Remember that you will have bad days
There will be days when items fly off the racks, your customers are courteous and pleasant and everything goes as you would hope. Other days, there will be few customers, customers will come in with problems, the computer systems will go down and everything seems to go wrong. Hopefully, those days are very few and far between, but have a plan in place just in case.
