So, your business idea has flourished. The profit margins are good, your products are in constant demand, your engagements and interaction on social media is expanding and growing every day, and your reputation is burgeoning. However, your business is solely online based at the moment, and you see a gap in the market for your business to expand into a high street store – you have done the research and your finances may be down for a small while but they will grow and become substantial profits; the location in which you want to place your store is certainly missing what you offer and the rent of the building is decently priced, and you have done research on how many employees you can hire and what you are looking for in the skillsets of potential employees.
Owning an online brand can be difficult to manage but once you have got your head around all the different aspects of it (which you have obviously managed to do), it has been pretty simple and easy for you to push your brand out there – and it has worked to a positive effect which you really were not expecting. With a brand being put out onto the streets, though, it is a completely different form of business. Face to face customer engagement is key, the personable skills you and your employee have must be to a brilliant standard, and you and your employees must possess the ability to sell, sell, sell.
When it comes to designing your store, think of absolutely every detail that you would like it to have. The flooring: wooden, carpeted, or tiled? The walls: plainly painted, wallpapered, or adorned with funky and unique artwork? The storefront: it might be a good idea to invest in a touch panel so that your store becomes immediately noticeable and eye-catching to attract throngs of customers. Are you going to use dimmer lights or have bright lights fixed to the ceiling?
All of these different aspects are crucial when it comes to bringing your brand into a store. You will need to make it as profitable as you can, while still maintaining the online side of the business. You could think about making the interior as attractive as it could possibly be, as if it is plain and has no characteristics, it is highly unlikely that the store will attract customers: therefore, you will lose profit.
With the products you are going to sell, it is important to think about putting your best selling items inside, alongside some products which do not sell that well and to attract sales you could even reduce the price of the items which sell the least so that you can still make a profit and remove extra stock from your list. It can be a risky move, going from online to street sales, but if it is planned well then your store is likely to flourish and prosper just like your original online based business managed to do so well.
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