These days, the costs of setting up an online business are so low that anyone is able to become an entrepreneur. However, there is a limit to how much success you can gain with just an online store. Eventually, if your business idea really does take off and you find that you have enough cash in your account to expand, you might want to think about taking your company from online into the reality. And you can do this by opening your very first bricks and mortar store!
Sure, the alternative to opening a real store is simply expanding your online product or service selection. But you will find that doing that can only take you so far, and you won’t attract many new customers by doing so. But if you do open a bricks and mortars store, then you have the opportunity to tap into a whole new customer base. So, as you can see, going from online to bricks and mortar can really be worth it.
However, this shift to a proper shop can be quite tricky, especially if you have no experience of setting up your very own store. Wondering how to do this successfully? Well, it doesn’t have to be so difficult - here are some very useful tips and pointers that can help you make your new brick and mortar store a huge success!
Think About Your Budget
First and foremost, you will need to have a good idea of just how much money you can afford to spend on this expansion. It’s a good idea to sit down and figure out how much cash you’ve got, and then allocate smaller budgets to various expenses you will incur. For instance, you might want to spend a few thousand dollars on your marketing for your new store as well as any specialist equipment that you need installing. Once you do work out your budget, you shouldn’t go over it; it’s very important that you try and rigidly stick to it. That way, you don’t have to worry about potentially going into the red and getting into some debt. You might want to allocate a couple of thousand bucks to go into an emergency fund. You will then have some cash to fall back on if you have any unexpected expenses or costs throughout the expansion.
Find The Optimum Location
Next, it is crucial that you find the best possible location for your new store. This will largely depend on your budget as well. Ideally, you want a central location in a town or city where lots of people will walk past. You will then get quite a bit of passing trade, and people who have never heard of your business before might even stop in to take a look at your products. However, there is one big problem with these great locations - they are often extremely expensive as they are so popular with businesses! Even if you can afford a prime piece of real estate in the center of a city, you will have to act very quickly to get it as there will be lots of businesses trying to get it for themselves. Don’t panic if you can only find an affordable spot for your bricks and mortar store away from the center of a town or city. It might even be a fixer-upper type of retail space, so you might need to do some renovation or rejuvenation to improve curb appeal.
You will just need to put more effort into your marketing campaigns so that more people find out about your new location! Plus, it’s also worth finding a spot that is close to local public transport links if you can’t find anywhere in the center. Lots of people who don’t drive will be able to get to your store then.
Consider Overhead
One of the most costly aspects of setting up a brick and mortar store is all the overheads that come with it. This is one reason why so many people simply open up an online store these days - there is no need to pay for any electricity, energy, or anything else that a physical store requires! Thankfully, though, there are various ways you can try and keep your regular bills and overheads down to a minimum. Lots of people are now switching their lighting systems to take LED lights, for example. You will find that High Bay LED lighting uses a lot less electricity compared to regular light bulbs. As a result, the LED bulbs last longer and can help to reduce your monthly electricity bills. When you are looking for a gas or oil supplier for your store’s heating, it’s worth shopping around for a supplier to see who can offer you the best deal. Don’t be afraid to always look into a new energy supplier, even once you have signed up to one. These companies are constantly changing their pricing frameworks, and it can often pay to switch after a year or so.
Review Your Recruitment Process
Once you open a brand new physical store, you will need some employees to work in it. To keep costs down, you might want to spend a few days working in it yourself. However, as the majority of entrepreneurs are very busy people, you may not have the time to do this. So, it’s time to review your employee recruitment process. If you currently have staff that looks after your online store, you will already have a process in place, and can simply adjust and tweak it so that it is suitable for hiring people for the shop floor.
Of course, it’s important to point out that these employees will need a completely different set of knowledge and skills to those who work on your online store. Have you never employed anyone? Well, you will certainly need to do so now that you have a store that needs to be manned seven days a week. If you don’t have time to spend going through the whole recruitment process with applicants, you might want to outsource this to a recruitment agency.
Use Localized SEO
As you already have an online store, you will no doubt have been carrying out various SEO practices to ensure that your website and store appear right at the top of Google searches. This is one of the best ways to get your retail store noticed on the web.
You might think that SEO is redundant for your bricks and mortar store. However, this really isn’t the case. In actual fact, focusing on localized SEO services can really help give your physical store’s custom a bit of a boost. For instance, adding your business’s location to Google Maps will ensure that people find out about your physical store whenever they are researching the local area. This will also help your company pop up whenever anyone is carrying out a Google search of your neighborhood.
Get Social Media Excited About Your Opening
Are you planning on having a big launch event for your very first day in your physical store? To make sure that this day goes off with a bang, it’s a good idea to create a buzz about it and your store products on social media. Lots of people will then know about your big event and will attend. The more excited people are about the event, the more likely they will be to turn up.
There are various ways you can use social media platforms to attract attention. For example, you might want to organize a social media competition. This will encourage people to like and share your Facebook page or Twitter post, and eventually, you should be able to build up a large number of followers.
Vary Your Marketing Campaigns And Strategies
Now that you need to market both an online store and a physical shop, you need to ensure that your marketing strategies reflect these two different entities. One way you can succeed in this is by using various different campaigns and strategies. For example, you might want to use an extensive online marketing campaign for your online store while you stick to traditional marketing methods for your new shop. However, if you do keep the two campaigns distinct in this way, it is important that they have some unifying feature. One idea is to keep the branding the same throughout all of your campaigns.
Work On Improving Customer Service
One of the main problems that most companies find when they open a physical store is slightly under par customer service. This normally only occurs for the first few months while the business gets used to its new surroundings and the new staff gets used to the usual daily tasks and responsibilities. However, if you find that your customer service hardly improves, it’s important that you put in extra effort to work on this. Otherwise, word of mouth will spread that your new store isn’t quite up to scratch, and this could damage your reputation.
Conclusion
Get Social Media Excited About Your Opening
Are you planning on having a big launch event for your very first day in your physical store? To make sure that this day goes off with a bang, it’s a good idea to create a buzz about it and your store products on social media. Lots of people will then know about your big event and will attend. The more excited people are about the event, the more likely they will be to turn up.
There are various ways you can use social media platforms to attract attention. For example, you might want to organize a social media competition. This will encourage people to like and share your Facebook page or Twitter post, and eventually, you should be able to build up a large number of followers.
Vary Your Marketing Campaigns And Strategies
Now that you need to market both an online store and a physical shop, you need to ensure that your marketing strategies reflect these two different entities. One way you can succeed in this is by using various different campaigns and strategies. For example, you might want to use an extensive online marketing campaign for your online store while you stick to traditional marketing methods for your new shop. However, if you do keep the two campaigns distinct in this way, it is important that they have some unifying feature. One idea is to keep the branding the same throughout all of your campaigns.
Work On Improving Customer Service
One of the main problems that most companies find when they open a physical store is slightly under par customer service. This normally only occurs for the first few months while the business gets used to its new surroundings and the new staff gets used to the usual daily tasks and responsibilities. However, if you find that your customer service hardly improves, it’s important that you put in extra effort to work on this. Otherwise, word of mouth will spread that your new store isn’t quite up to scratch, and this could damage your reputation.
Conclusion
Opening a new brick and mortar store can be a great way to start an exciting new chapter with your retail business or ecommerce shop. If you follow all of these pointers, you should find that the opening goes exactly as planned!
I hope you enjoyed this article about taking your online business from just a digital ecommerce shop to a physical brick and mortar store.
Interested in more articles about retail and ecommerce marketing?
Read My Blog Posts:
- Tips To Improve Your E-Commerce Store
- Don't Overspend On The Small Expenses!
More Bootstrap Business Blog Below
I hope you enjoyed this article about taking your online business from just a digital ecommerce shop to a physical brick and mortar store.
Interested in more articles about retail and ecommerce marketing?
Read My Blog Posts:
- Tips To Improve Your E-Commerce Store
- Don't Overspend On The Small Expenses!
More Bootstrap Business Blog Below
