Business

The Final Steps of Opening a Retail Store

The Final Steps of Opening a Retail Store
The Final Steps of Opening a Retail Store

You completed the necessary legwork of opening your retail store, including developing your idea, creating a business plan, and covering your legal bases—so what’s next?

While the initial steps are essential, the final stages play a crucial role in determining your launch or grand opening’s success. You want the start to be as smooth as possible to ensure your new store gains traction quickly and stays sustainable down the road.

Purchase the Necessary Insurance Policies

As an entrepreneur, you understand the concept of risk. In business, there are risks in everything you do or engage in; the good thing is that some risks can be insured to ensure recovery. To protect your blossoming retail business, you’ll want to consider these key small business insurance policies.

  • Workers’ Compensation Insurance– Over 2 million nonfatal workplace injuries occur every year in U.S. businesses. These cases can be quite costly when injured employees file claims. As such, purchasing workers’ comp insurance helps cover medical bills and lost wages to avoid expensive claims.
  • Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance– What is CGL insurance? Commercial general liability insurance is a policy that protects your store against third-party claims of personal bodily injury, property damage, or advertising injury. For example, if a customer slips in your store and sustains an injury, CGL can cover their medical expenses.
  • Commercial Property Insurance– You can also cover your building with this policy to ensure seamless repair and maintenance, especially when you don’t have dispensable money to spend on such projects.
  • Business Interruption Insurance– Fires, natural disasters, or other issues can easily halt your store’s success. In this case, you can rely on business interruption insurance to cover the loss of income during this time.
  • Product Liability Insurance– In some cases, customers can claim the products you sell, make, or distribute injured them or caused property damage. Product liability insurance protects your store from such claims.

Build Your Staff

Your new store’s success also depends on the team you put together to advance your goals, and building a successful team comes down to your leadership skills.

Be sure to identify the key roles you should recruit for while paying attention to each position’s value. Each member needs to bring something to the table, so it’s vital to assess individual skills and experiences. Be sure to communicate with your team to build transparency and set team and individual goals to improve company focus. You can try in-store demo companies for more.

Perfect the Customer Experience

Today, customer service is a differentiating factor. Poor customer experiences will drive customers away, while a customer-centric approach is likely to make your store far more profitable than your competitors. As such, strive to deliver excellent experiences, offer timely responses, provide solutions to problems, and be accessible to customers on different channels.

Launch Your Marketing Campaigns

Marketing your new retail store is an essential step because it allows you to showcase your products to potential customers. Today, there are different marketing mediums or techniques you can use. For the best results, a marketing mix makes the most sense.

You can use social media, video, paid ads, and SEO marketing to advertise your new retail store and build a buzz. When it comes to SEO marketing, partnering with experts who specialize in SEO services for startups, can be a game-changer. Their tailored strategies will not only improve your online visibility but also ensure that your retail store stands out amidst the digital noise, ultimately driving more foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar location. Your marketing message should be objective and targeted to a specific audience. On-premise promotion and partnerships with local influencers are also a great way to capture local customers’ interest.

Plan a Memorable Launch Event

You can use your launch event to make the most impact—it’s a matter of being creative. It can be a “meet and greet,” donation, charity, or workshop event.

Timing is also important—it’s best to launch your store around holidays and shopping seasons. Some stores even offer giveaways for experiences, such as dinners, museums, gyms, and yoga classes.

If possible, you can also invite local public figures to attend the launch event. Your goal is to ensure your business gets the most attention possible, and the event should be memorable to attendees.

A Grand Opening for Even Greater Growth

Regardless of what you’re selling, these steps are essential to your new store’s launch and success. Plan accordingly and get help where necessary to ensure a seamless launch and growth for your business. But just as importantly—don’t forget to enjoy. As you complete these finishing touches, make sure you celebrate your success.

About the author

Steven Ly

Steven Ly is the Startup Program and Events Manager at TheNextHint Inc. She recruits rockstar startups for all TC events including Disrupt, meetups, Sessions, and more both domestically and internationally. Previously, she helped produce Dreamforce with Salesforce and Next '17 with Google. Prior to that, she was on the advertising teams at both Facebook and AdRoll, helping support advertisers in North America and helped grow those brands globally. Outside of work, Priya enjoys Flywheel, tacos, the 49ers, and adventuring around the globe.

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