Retail Business Expansion Tips for Opening a Second Location

Has your retail store been experiencing significant growth to the point where you are planning to open a second location? Retail business expansion is an exciting experience but also one that requires a certain level of caution.

Expanding to a new location will extend your real-world presence and enable you to attract new customers. However, you will face new challenges such as approaching a different local market and promoting synergy between your two stores.

In this article, we provide some helpful tips to start your store expansion off on the right foot.

Retail Business Expansion: Store Synergy

Arguably the most important aspect of opening multiple locations is promoting synergy between them. This means adopting standard processes and technologies across all your retail businesses.

Depending on the nature of your business, this can be more or less complicated. If your business also has an online presence (and it absolutely should), you should be carefully thinking about an omnichannel solution to business standardization.

Start by considering a Point-of-Sale solution like Veras CheckOut that will provide visibility into inventory and customer transactions across your stores. An optimal POS system will include a built-in inventory management system so you can easily keep track of your back office and increase your efficiency.

Make Your New Location Work Without You

Ideally, when you open a new location you want it to be able to operate independently without requiring your daily presence. This means delegating responsibility to a manager with proper retail training for your specific line of business and the technologies used within it.

Once you’ve implemented a standardized system for your two locations, you can decide whether you want to promote a trusted employee to manager or hire someone with experience. It’s also important to periodically assess your new manager’s performance to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Establish Good Communication

While you want your new location to be able to function on its own, you also need to establish effective lines of communication. In the beginning of your business expansion, you will want to visit your second location at least once a week.

Moreover, you need to make yourself available via email or phone. Don’t hesitate to hold regular meetings to give and receive feedback and ensure that everything is moving in the right direction.

Final Thoughts

When expanding your business by opening a second location, store synergy, operational independence and good communication are all keys to success. Be sure to keep track of your progress so you can make smart adjustments as you move along.

If you have any questions about retail business expansion or want to inquire about our retail consulting services, don’t hesitate to contact us today.