Make the Most Money from your Retail Store

With the apparent end of the recession upon us, and the continuing increase in Internet usage, consumers are becoming more educated and more cautious as to how and where they spend their money.

Shouldn’t you and your retail business do the same thing?

Here, I outline some of the most important elements of a retail space to keep in mind when structuring your business, in order to maximize your profits:

1. Space Management
2. Data
3. Marketing
4. Location, Location, Location

1.    Space Management
Think about how your clients move around and use your retail space. Do they want to explore? Try things out? How about on? Can you meet how your clients want to behave, while influencing them to buy your merchandise and your profitable impulse goods?  It is also important to utilize lighting, signage, mobile applications, and digital signage to showcase what you want to sell, as well as educate your customers, as an alternative or to a complement to the Internet.  Bottom-line: store flow is important. That is how people move through your space, try your goods, and how they line up to pay.

2.    Data
Know thy customer.  More precisely, know what they buy, why, and how often.  Knowing this information will help to determine what inventory to purchase, when to purchase, and how much to purchase.  There are many ways to do this but having a good Point of Sale (PoS) platform, Retail Management System (RMS) or Business Intelligence (BI) software can assist in collecting and crunching the data related to your client. This way, you can use more of the space you have for customers and less for inventory.

3.    Marketing
Filling your retail space is dependent on your marketing strategy. It is important not to forget about your biggest marketing asset – your storefront window. Your store’s window may be large enough to display signs about promotions on products, or may be big enough to showcase the products themselves. Either way, you have already secured the space, and you need to use every inch of it to its full potential.

4.    Location Location Location
Even today, this old adage still holds true.  Your retail location needs to be where your customers are.  Why have a luxury retail store in a low-income neighborhood?  Why store large amounts of inventory in a retail showroom? As well, it is important to understand the public transit system and the parking situation to ensure that your customers can have easy access to your business. Make sure to strongly vet the area in which you are looking to place your retail business for the best possible location.

Having a retail business is an extremely challenging task that relies heavily on your bottom line. In order to reach your profit goals, it is important to utilize the retail space you have chosen to its full potential. This will enable you to make the most money you can for each square foot, or square metre you call your own.