Taking the steps to move from online to a store

If you are an entrepreneur working online and are now ready to move to a retail store, it’s an exciting proposition, however, putting a plan into place can be quite overwhelming. You’ll need to think about factors that will impact your long-term profitability and marketability.

There are many things to think about when moving from online to a retail-based store, let’s have a look at some of them below:

Location Is Key

One of the first things you need to think about is to get the right location. A huge amount of research needs to be put into this. Finding an ideal business location is going to make you much more sustainable, and put you ahead of your competitors especially if they can’t steal your spot pr copy your retail design. The most challenging part of this is to decide on a location that is ideal and going to work for you. You need to think about the type of products you are going to sell if you’re expecting high footfall and how you’re going to display your goods. With a niche store or product, you might want to choose a smaller, more enclosed mall or strip where you can reach the right target market. You also need to consider what sort of price you can expect to pay in the more sought after locations, and are the extra costs worth the location? Will it make you more successful in the long-run?

Your Target Market

Your best location is probably going to be the one that is nearest to your target market. You’ll need to asses the market place before you even think about signing any contracts. If you have a niche product then you are likely to rely on the trends and marketplace even more. If you don’t have the numbers to match your target market, your business model isn’t going to work. If you’re planning on investing in a larger store that offers cheaper products, you will need to ensure you have the pull to your customers from a much broader geographic to ensure you hit your targets.

Your Competitors

You need to think about your competitors when thinking about how effective a retail move would be for you. The ideal scenario would be where you are able to provide a product or service that is going to fill a gap on the market and you won’t have any direct competitors, however, this is very rarely the case. Been close to competitors isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it’s obviously something that you need to consider when choosing premises and choosing to move to a retail store.

It’s a good idea to complete a SWOT analysis that will identify your weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, and threats. Once you have done this you can decide on the distance, the different methods and the opportunities that your competitors give you.

Have you opened a retail store? What considerations did you make? Please do share your comments below.