Once you have successfully established your online presence, you might now want to expand your business by setting up an offline store or a brick and mortar store – as it is known. However, opening a multichannel offline store could be quiet a demanding task. You need resources enough to start and establish your offline presence with in-depth knowledge for the same which was not a mandatory factor in the case of online stores. If you are planning to expand your online business offline, you must need to consider a few important factors that are explained in detail in this article.
Everything you need to consider before starting your offline business
Here are the factors you must keep in mind before stepping out into the real world to sell your products:
The location
The first and foremost important factor is the location of your store. The location of your offline store can greatly determine the rate of success you achieve in your sales. Customers shall not search for your store like they do when searching online. Only the right location can help you bring the right customers to your store. The right location may depend on the type of products you sell and the type of customers you are selling your products to. If you are selling impulsive or inexpensive products, a store in an indoor or outdoor shopping center can work the best for you.
In case you are selling expensive products, even if the products are valuable if your store is located in a mall, chances are people won’t turn up to you. In such a case, you must consider taking an individual shop that can be easily accessible and is located in the interdependent neighborhood. Lastly, you must consider the overall location of your offline store to determine whether you’ll be able to successfully establish your offline store there. If you are selling impulsive products, you must consider buying your shop with a similar store to grab the attention of the public. Know whether the people living in the chosen area are looking for the products you are selling. The location of your store can make or break your business. Due to this reason, you must spend your time and resources in finding the right location for your store.
The staff
Next, you need to list down the employees who will be working for you in the offline store and what will be their work timing. You’ll need to determine the number of people you’ll need, the person who’ll be responsible for managing your offline store, the person who’ll be responsible for managing your online store, your role(s) in the management of both the online as well as the offline store.
If you are starting with a small business, you might need only one or two people to manage your offline store with predefined working hours. However, if you are planning to expand your online store into a full-blown offline store, you need to determine the roles of every person who’ll be working for the same. Make sure that you do not take up the complete responsibility of both your stores that can adversely affect the sales and expansion of both the stores equally as well as affect your working ability.
The products to be sold
When you are planning to expand your business, there is no benefit in selling the same products online as well as offline creating a duplicate of your product inventory. Moreover, selling the same products bring along a few disadvantages such as:
- Lack of space to store the products of two stores
- Low stock due to the doubled inventory
- Increased lead time for certain products that worked well online but shall not be the same offline
- Low demand for easily available products online
Due to such reasons, you must make sure to determine the products that you’ll be selling in your new offline store. You might not be able to expand your business with stacked up products that are not in demand in your offline store. We suggest you invest your money in the right products. You can consider selling those products from your online stores that get the maximum hits or that bring you the highest revenue. Referring your customers with additional products you have in store that might be useful for them is a way by which you can market your customers for increased customer-base and business revenue. Moreover, you can seek feedback from the customers to know what more products would like to see in your store and start selling those products that interest them.
Ways to manage inventory of both the stores
When talking about the products to be sold in your offline and online store, you must think about how you can manage both your inventories in sync. No seller would want to keep selling tons of products offline that are already being sold online. You must keep both the inventories updated without any manual alterations. There are many online tools available by which you can manage your inventories, products, and more with ease.
The payment method you’ll accept
Lastly, you need to determine the mode of payment you’ll accept in your offline store. You’ll need a POS (Point of Sale) which can be purchased or rented in order to accept card payment as well as a cash payment. For accepting credit card payments, you’ll need a merchant account that allows you to receive payments. You need to pay charges for accepting debit and credit card payments from your customers which can vary from card to card and from processor to processor. Also, you’ll need to pay taxes for the new source of income – your offline store.
These were the most important factors you need to consider before setting up your offline store. Some other factors to consider are:
Offline marketing: You need to determine the ways by which you plan to market your offline store to your potential customers. Using the same source of marketing your online store would not help you to market your offline store. You must look for targeted online advertising, pay-per-click, among many others.
Search Engine Optimization: You might be well-aware of this term when it comes to an online store. Similarly, your offline store must be visible to customers who are looking for products you are selling offline. You need to optimize your offline store marketing like online store marketing.
Offline and online store linking: Your customers must know that you have an online as well as an offline store. You must plan the way by which you can link your offline store to your online store. You can consider adding your business card or add a page to your online store that is dedicated to your offline store.
Contact information: You need to provide your customers with your contact details in case of an offline store. It will help customers contact your store in case they wish to ask a query. Clearly mention the mode of communication by which customers can connect with you and consider not avoiding the option to provide the contact details.
Ways to optimize the online to offline marketing
Shoppers now expect the same level of excitement from the offline stores as available in online stores. However, it is studied that more than 90% of the stores are not focusing on the same. In order to enhance the customer experience, here are the ways by which you can optimize your marketing:
- Entertain online purchases offline. For instance, if a person is ordering a product from your online store, encourage them to collect it from your offline store if they live in the location of your store.
- Use technologies the right way by which customers can check online products physically from your offline store.
- Provide personalized experience to your customers with the right products at the right time.
- Encourage mobile advertising by connecting to your customers via text messages and push notifications.
- Align your online and offline sales to advertise your brand to more customers.
- Change your marketing campaign based on the changing demands of the customers, increasing competition, company’s skills, and changing customer base.
- Develop offline SEO as mentioned before for better reach to your offline customers.
Despite the force towards digitalization, you must know that your customers are still humans who are willing to purchase products from brick and mortar stores. People do care about getting connected to the stores they purchase from and equally love enjoyable experiences. You need to look for ways in which your online store and offline store complement each other. Using data insights, applications, and Builderfly, you can enhance your customers’ experience with personalization and communication. Taking a customer-centric approach for your offline store can help you build stronger and a loyal customer base.
Now, you are completely equipped with everything you need to take your online business offline and expand your business to the next level. You can take your time and choose your pace for establishing your offline store by considering all the factors above, without a hurry.
