A very important step in business is setting up shop. As a business start-ups, we always tend to look for the most inexpensive ways to do this. What are the pointers to be kept in mind while choosing premises for your office, retail store and warehouse?
The advent of Internet shops have wiped off the borders amidst retail stores, office space and warehouse. Ideally, an entrepreneur can run a small scale internet based business from home. But when the business gets little bigger, the entrepreneur has to shift to other premises to accommodate staff members and storage areas.
Vending machines:
If you are a small startup with budget issues to set up shop, consider the idea of vending machines. Automatic merchandising or vending machine retailing is a proven business concept for more than a century. This is wonderful for snacks with a long shelf life, stationery, and such small products. But put in a lot of thought and place the vending machine in the right spot so as to attract a lot of customers and minimal vandalism and theft. Vending machines are great in the sense that they mean low startup cost, low working capital and low overhead. This is a pure cash business; you collect money when you replenish supplies.
Retail stores:
When you are pressed to look for a store in a city, consider these factors:
Demographics of the local population- you should make sure you have your store in a place that has potential customers. What’s the point in setting up a stationery shop where the average resident is illiterate? Consider the purchasing power of the population around the store and see if that fits in with your pricing strategy.
Competition: would you lose your market share to competition if you enter the area? If you have better goods and better prices, you might want to set up shop in an area where there are other players. You will get a share of their market when the buyers see you there.
Accessibility to your store: If your business depends on random walk-ins, you’d be prudent to set it up in a place that has a lot of pedestrians.
Parking: If you rent a shop premise, rent parking as well. You will be driving out customers otherwise. No one wants to shop at a store that offers no parking.
Stick to your budget: Retail space is expensive. So, have a pre formed budget. And look for places that fall within your range.
Office:
Before renting space for your startup workplace, see if you can club this with your retail space. That would work out wonderfully in terms of cost and commute between the two places. If you should rent an office place, consider serviced office places. These are like serviced apartments where you get office infrastructure, space, computers, cleaning services, communication lines and other such services for rent. This is sometimes better than trying to do it on your own.
Warehouse:
A warehouse has to be located in a place that is easily accessed when you have to ship your products to stores/customers. At the same time, it has to meet budget constraints. Warehouses are typically found in the outskirts of the city. If you want to, you can team up with a logistics partner who you can outsource warehousing to.
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