Who wants to be rich? Me, me! For anyone starting out in business, making a success of it and building real wealth is the goal everybody wants to reach. But making a success of a retail business usually begins with finding the “golden location”, the site that suits trade. The closer you are to where people are, the easier it is for customers to find you — and the prospect of joining the newly wealthy is not far out of reach.
But what makes a location good? What kind of site actually sells? Here are eight techniques for choosing where to open your shop. Follow them and your business will flourish.
How to find a location that fills your shop with customers all year round
Choosing where to open your shop is one of the decisive factors in whether the business succeeds, because the right site makes it far easier for your shop to reach the people you are aiming at, and it improves your chances of selling. Here is how to go about choosing one.
1. Go out and survey your customers in person
The first thing to weigh when choosing a suitable site is a proper understanding of the people you are aiming at, by studying the demographics: sex, age, occupation, income, lifestyle and so on. That information helps you choose a location with the best possible chance of reaching your target customers.
2. How your customers move around
Beyond the target customers themselves, a good site is one that is easy to reach, has enough parking, and sits in surroundings that suit the people you want. You should also go and survey the site yourself, so you can see the whole picture: the area around the shop, the surroundings, how people travel there, and how convenient it all is in practice.
3. Survey the competition
One of the important parts of choosing a site is surveying the competition in that area. Plenty of competitors may mean fiercer competition, but it is equally an opportunity to draw those customers to you. So develop products and services that are better than your rivals', and give customers a reason to choose your shop.
If, on the other hand, the site you have chosen has few competitors, what you should do is impress customers with your service from the very first visit, because that is what lodges you in their memory. When they next think about buying something, yours is the shop they think of first, and the business grows. Better still, yours will be the only shop selling that product or service in the neighbourhood.
4. Easy to get to
How people travel is another significant factor in attracting customers. They should be able to reach you easily, whether by car, by motorcycle or on public transport. A shop near a residential community or a tourist spot, for instance, will see more custom than one further out. Having enough parking is worth considering when choosing a site too, because it makes life easier for customers and gives you more chances to sell.
5. Compare the rents
Finding a good site is not only about the space itself; you also have to consider whether the rent suits your budget, because a high rent adds to your costs and can eat into the profits of the business.
6. Consider the other costs
Beyond rent, consider the other costs: water, electricity, fitting out the shop, equipment and utilities. That lets you judge whether you can carry those costs, and helps you plan your finances properly, so the business runs smoothly over the long term.
7. Safety
Safety is one of the things customers care about, so choose a site in an area that is safe, not too isolated, and free of crime or trouble, so customers feel comfortable and secure when they come to buy from you.
8. Where the area is heading
Finally, consider how the site or neighbourhood you have chosen will develop and grow along with the city: whether the city is expanding that way, whether the local economy is growing, whether transport links are improving. It gives you confidence that once the shop is open it will have room to grow in the years ahead.
Choosing the right site improves your chances of success, but running the shop systematically alongside good service matters just as much in keeping the business moving smoothly forward. Consider a POS system for the shop floor from Qashier, which helps you run the shop end to end and efficiently, and handles everything a retail business needs. If you would like to know more, contact us on LINE Official: @qashier.th or call 02-544-0267