Some Basics Of A Sucessful Retail Store

Every budding enterpreneur has aspirations of being the Next Big Thing or at the very least making a living and putting a little away for retirement.  The following are some points to consider as you are putting together your business plan.

• Location, Location: A good location will bring visibility and traffic to you door despite being weak in some of the other fundamental of running a brick and mortar store.   A lease on a store is a major commitment of time and money.  A bad location will sink you despite having all the other basics in place. No customers! No Sales! No Business! Make sure you understand your target customer demographics and compare them with the demographics of the community that you want to open in. For example you would not want to open a surf & skateboard shop adjacent to a large active retirement community where a golf & tennis shop would attract more customers.  Look at many locations in a particular location and look at the adjacent businesses .  Are they thriving? Or is there a lot of vacancies in the shopping center. Ask the broker about traffic flow studies, parking, demographics. Parking is important in our mobile society because if there are not enough parking spaces at your center, customers will get discouraged and go elsewhere. Talk to the other merchants and listen to what they have to say about their relationship with the landlord.  Some may be frank and candid. What they tell you could avoid making a costly mistake.
• Lease Terms: Rent is a major monthly cost against sales.  Because a lease is a binding contract hire a qualified attorney to help you understand the terms of contract and negotiate on your behalf. Everything is on the table during negotiation: rent, tenant improvements, utilities, maintanence of common areas, signage, ect.. Play hardball but be willing to compromise if the location is truly a gem.
• Advertising and Marketing: Develop a budget to build an aggressive advertising/marketing campaign to get the word out that you are open for business. Work with local radio and print media to promote a grand opening campaign. Don't forget about web marketing. Who uses the local yellow pages any more?  Many people just use a web search engine such as Google.  Understand how a search engine like Google works, develop a web site and blog as an other public facet of your brick and mortar location.   A successful e - commerce site can bring cash into the business while foot traffic builds.
• Sales Clerks: As a retailer, you are only as good as the least of your employees.  Often the weakest employee is the last person to have contact with your customer and who often will leave a lasting impression of your store.  Customer will talk of their shopping experiences to their friends and neighbors. Don't underestimate the power of word of mouth goodwill by leaving a negative impression of your store. Choose your hires carefully and train them in the products you sell and the art salesmanship.
• Pricing and Merchandising: Know your competition and how are they are merchandised and priced. If you are too low, you won't generate enough gross profit to cover expenses. Too high and you will drive your customer to the competition.  As you study the competition, understand what they are selling. Is there a competative brand or niche product that could draw customers away from the competition?  Knowing customer and their need, the product, the pricing, and the competition is the essence to being a successful merchant.  This is a knowledge base that you will have to build yourself. Your distributors and vendors ( who are selling to your competition too ) will tell you what you want to hear to make the sale.  However, don't entirely discount your vendors and do take advantage of any discounts or promotions they offer if they make sense for your business. But take what they say with a grain of salt.
• Store Design: A well thought out, designed, and fixtured store creates a comfortable environment that will attact customers.   It will be much more successfull that stores that are thrown together in a hodge-podge fashion.  Even the most plain vanilla of floor-plans and white,grey, beige gondola fixtures will come to life with colorful and eye-catching point of purchase displays, shelf talkers, and banners. A good visual merchandising make-over is like a trip to the beauty salon. the end result is wow!  Often for much less money that a store re-model.

For fresh store design ideas, attractive fixtures, and retail equipment to wake up your customers and give your store some POP! Please contact Joseph Solinsky by telephone at 410.494.4598 or at joseph.solinsky@indoff.com.  I am always delighted to assist you.