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Baby Steps to Becoming a Chain Store
January 30, 2007
After a couple of generations of family spending several decades running a number of stores, you decide to branch out. Before you jump here are some suggestions to be aware of before growing one location into a chain.
1. Know what you want. Before anything else, small business owners must be clear about their motivations for opening multi-stores. You may want to grow because you want more money, but that should not be the sole reason. Rather than just financial impulses, look for motivations such as the desire to share you product and/or services with a wider scope of people. Maybe you feel limited by your geographic location. Consider the opening of a store on the internet before opening up shop in another location and once again being limited to the people that reside in that area.
2. Identify the right place to grow. If you’re drawing numerous customers from outside your normal market area, consider building another store in that area. Pull up a list of your customers zip codes and consider the closer market. 5-10 miles away might be a place where a lot of people who resemble you clientele live and shop. I chose where my husband and I currently live because I wanted to be 2 miles from places I would be going to often and by places that had products that I wouldn’t have to drive more than 15 minutes to. For example, a nearby grocery store, restaurants, target, clothing, drug store, etc.
3. Take your time. Rather than straining yourself financially all at once, take baby steps. Train a manger that you can trust to handle the new store. Once he or she is trained, take some time off to get comfortable with handing over some control. Build an e-commerce site if it suits your business. Then target your marketing to the new location you are considering opening. This might help to spread the word about the products and services you offer. Your internet site might take off and you might realize another store just means more overhead. Another option is opening a temporary or seasonal store in a mall kiosk or a smaller plaza. This might give another location a low-cost try.
4. Dot your I’s and cross your T’s. Despite being a second or third generation owner, don’t forget to run some simple demographics. What is the median household income in the area you’re considering? The median age? Median home price? Disposable income? Population? Companies that compliment your store? Competing stores? If you can’t do it on your own visit or contact the US Census Bureau.
Posted by Shanu Singh Guliani on January 30, 2007 | Comments (0)
