Business Tips

4 Tips For Opening A Physical Retail Outlet In 2020

By Christy Bella | June 4, 2020

How to open physical retail outlets in 2020?

Opening a physical retail outlet is a major commitment for any business. If you make the wrong decisions, you can end up spending a lot of money with nothing to show for it. Here are four tips for launching your retail outlet the right way.

Choose Your Location Carefully

One of the most important factors in determining the success of a physical retail outlet is its location. It doesn’t matter how spacious your shop is or how beautifully displayed all of your products are if your store is located in the middle of nowhere then you are going to struggle to generate footfall. Once the decision has been taken to open a physical retail outlet, the search for the ideal location should begin in earnest.

There are a variety of things that you need to consider when you are choosing a location. Most importantly, you need to be aware of the nuances of any place you are considering opening a new store. A cautionary tale can be found in the Borders ill-fated expansion into the UK. The brand invested heavily in the kind of industrial properties that American consumers were all too happy to drive out of their way to get to. The UK is a much smaller country and shoppers here are not used to driving for an hour or more to get to the nearest shopping center. As a result, many of Borders’ best locations, gorgeous as they were inside, were left as ghost towns in the middle of industrial desert lands.

The most important aspect of a physical retail outlet is that it is accessible to your target audience. If your customers can’t get there, they can’t give you their money.

Think About Your Layout

The physical layout that you choose for your retail outlet can have an enormous impact on the way that people shop there. For example, if you make it easy for visitors to your store to see everything at you have to offer, then they are much more likely to make a purchase than if your items are arranged haphazardly and illogically. After all, people cannot buy things that they don’t know are there.

Another important aspect of your layout to consider is your queuing system. A queue can be an opportunity to sell more products. This is why so many shops have items for sale near to the tills. A long queue is the sign of a healthy business. However, the sight of a long queue will also deter some people from queuing up to buy stuff. Instead, arrange your store so that the queues can fit comfortably without getting in the way of other shoppers.

Another important consideration for good queue management is the hardware that you use to serve as a till. Lots of businesses are moving away from the traditional shop till and are embracing tech-driven solutions. For example, you can use a mobile card machine from utpgroup.co.uk that enables your workers to process sales on the move.

Plan A Grand Opening Event

One thing that an e-commerce website will always struggle to replicate is a grand opening event. Many websites try to emulate these events by putting up special offers on launch day, but this isn’t the same as actually planning a proper celebration for your business’s opening. You don’t need to go mad and spend all of your marketing budgets on an extravagant event, even a relatively modest event can be very effective if you plan it right.

A grand opening is an excellent way of letting the locals know that your business exists. It is also a good opportunity for you to get the lay of the land and meet with your local market.

Maximize Your Footfall To Grow Quickly

During the initial stages of your startup’s lifecycle, you should be aiming to maximize footfall above all else. Once you have a steady and reliable stream of people coming to your store, you can begin to adjust your focus to converting those people into paying customers. If you don’t have a decent footfall to work with then it doesn’t matter what your conversion strategy is.

The thought of opening a physical retail outlet in the midst of Covid-19 isn’t very appealing for most people. However, Covid-19 won’t be around forever and there are many businesses that have already delayed their plans to open a new retail outlet. If you are still determined to open up shop on a UK high street, preparation will be key. Surviving on the high street isn’t easy, but if you plan your new store the right way then you stand every chance of success.