When looking to create a startup that blossoms into a wonderful empire, you need to ensure that you have every base covered. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in; you need to fill a lot of gaps time and again. When you pen down an initial plan after gathering the right ideas, you personally don’t want to leave any stone unturned. This kind of meticulous thinking and working needs to be applied if you are looking forward to opening up a retail outlet in order to sell your goods.
Every single retail store starts out with pen and paper. These days, the majority of store owners are starting out with online stores considering that it is a quicker and cheaper method of shifting products to needy consumers. However, it is also true that 90 percent of the e-commerce startups fail within a year, don’t believe me? Here’s the report. And in my opinion, the skyrocketing number of e-stores amid COVID-19 might be a good fit at present, but not in the post-COVID world due to the market saturation.
You can’t deny the impact of physical stores as it offers the ability to the people to enter and experience the products for themselves. But in order to make this a real success, store owners will need to ensure that they have everything in their arsenal to deal with whatever demands are put in front of them. You must be thinking, what kinds of demands are there and what are retail outlets expected to possess in this day and age? Well, as time moves on, we’ll find new inventions and strategies. Right now, however, we have an array of different fundamentals, strategies, cues, and technologies that can enhance things for both the businesses and the customers.
Tips for retail stores
Here are some tips for anybody wanting to open a retail outlet and turning the same into a success story.
1. A leader with the required knowledge
We’ll start with a more personal point. This needs to be apparent as an incompetent or shy business owner will not be able to take risks or commit fully to a particular decision. If you know how to manage a retail store, then you’re more likely to make it a success and enroute to make amends whenever anything goes wrong. Before you commit to something like this, it’s wise to study up on the world of retail and business. It’s also smart to get a little experience in this field, as theoretical knowledge will only get you a little far. When you have the brainpower and the past experiences, that’s when you’ll have gathered the confidence to push forward with this kind of thing.
2. A right location
If you don’t have the right location, then it’s going to make the entire situation a lot more difficult to deal with. You won’t always have a torrid time and you’ll not be able to make your retail store work, but being situated in the right place will always keep your confidence intact – boosting chances of cashflow.
When you think about the location, you need to take a few factors into account. You need to first think about how desirable your chosen place actually is. People don’t want to visit or won’t take you seriously if you’re located in a rundown or irrelevant environment. You also need to think about the logistics of getting there – will people be able to easily drive to your store in order to pick up the goods? Typically, shopping centres and high streets tend to be the best locations as they’re obviously associated with buying and selling – it puts people into the right frame of mind to visit.
You finally should consider how you and your staff members will be able to commute there. If you’re all going to struggle each day to arrive and start the working day, then it’s not going to work out at all.
3. A beautiful exterior
When people first walk up to your store, they need to be wowed by it all. They need to find your store attractive and be comfortable while they enter. You don’t have to make it the most fashionable place right away, but a few basics should do the trick. Make sure you have a pretty colour scheme that suits your brand, you’ll look more professional this way. Also, make sure to keep everything neat and tidy around the perimeter. Making the exterior attractive can be quite difficult if you’re bunched together with other stores, but there will always be something you can do to stand out.
4. An excellent floor plan
The way you organise your store matters a lot. You might think the layout just needs to be relatively clean and tidy so that people can navigate around the area, but there are a lot more moving parts to this kind of thing. You need to make sure you’re putting different products in different areas – we’ll move onto the psychological side of things at a later point, but it’s a strategic little game. You also need to make sure you’re doing things like placing impulsive items near the exit and not overwhelming the visitors with products as soon as they enter the store. People need a little space when they enter a new spot.
5. Security
Stores with no security are very, very naive. You cannot rely on people to remain honest and loyal to you in the world of business as there is always a chance to struck by some people who can exploit your store. If you have a large enough store, then you might want to hire security guards to patrol the area. Not only will they stop people from causing problems, but they’ll be able to deter even more people from thinking about doing so in the future. CCTV cameras and a multitude of safes will also help you out as you look to keep everything in order and prevent shoplifting.
6. Staff members that know all they need to know
Hiring staff is always tricky, especially when you’re just starting out. At the end of the day, you just want to bring in good, hard-working people that could join your business with devotion and provide good service. As time moves on and you look to increase your reputation, you’ll need to ensure that each staff member knows about what they’re selling. You’ll need them to know what they’re talking about and you’ll want them to speak with passion with regard to the field. If you can find these individuals straight away, then you will have struck gold!
7. Psychological cues and suggestions
People need to feel comfortable when they’re in your store. They also need to have a little push in the right direction. You’re not looking to brainwash or manipulate these consumers, but you want to plant ideas in their head without actually telling them and sounding pushy or showy. Your store should welcome them in and help them make the right purchase decision – ensuring a mutual benefit. Lots of stores will play certain kinds of music or have the temperature at a particular setting. They might even have particular colours in particular areas to make people feel good about a particular inventory. There are lots of ways we can convince people to do things without speaking; it’s up to you to choose the method that suits the niche of your store.
8. Modern, fast-paced technology
If you look and feel archaic, then you’re not going to be as attractive as your competitors, and that’s just how it works nowadays. Even if you don’t feel the need for employing modern technology, it’s still wise to invest anyway. People will be impressed with what they see all around them, and they’ll be more inclined to pursue it. Things like security measures at the entrance, latest POS machines, digital inventory tablets, and self-checkouts are a staple in today’s retail world.
9. Digitally available
While in times when people primarily think of making purchases online, opening up a physical retail store sounds traditional and costly, but in order to have the best of both worlds, ensure that your store and inventory is available digitally for people to discover it while they are spending time online. People these days perform online research about places they are about to visit.
To sum up…
While COVID-19 has taught us to stay home and order products online, yet brick and mortar stores aren’t outdated. As we are slowly and steadily reaching back to normalcy, bets are on the opening of new physical stores and brands, and an ever-growing competition among newly established e-commerce stores and the dominance of the e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Grofers, and more alike.
