Some say that growing a business is harder than starting a new one. In a retail business, growing may mean expanding to new stores or inviting new customers by venturing into new market segments.
Before you grow your retail business, some things need to be considered. Indeed, it is important to ensure that the business is steady enough to expand. Furthermore, evaluating your current system may also help you to see whether you are ready for a business expansion. To lead you to the conclusion, let us check a few things below.
As mentioned before, your retail business should have the capacity of expanding. Expanding means that you are ready to kick start a new business, even when you already have the resources now.
It may take around 1 – 2 years before your new store becomes steady and get all the systems working. Until then, you need to nurture it just like when you start a brand new store. Here are some of the things that you need to check when making the decision:
First thing first, there are many transactions going in retail management. The most important thing is assuring that the business has a positive cash flow. This way, you don’t have to worry about your pilot store when you are expanding to a new one.
To see whether your retail business has been steady or not, evaluate the income and profit for the past two years. Sure, a surge of income may happen in certain seasons, but make sure that the profit you are getting is not seasonal.
Business goes where the demands are. There are many indications that the demands are stronger than a single store can handle. To know this, good customer relations and service need to be applied.
In the end, each store should run smoothly even without your supervision. Thus, it is important to see that the current store has smooth operations because you would be busy handling the new branch.
To reach a smooth operation, systems and procedures need to be put in a routine. It means all employees should have a detailed job description and responsibility—and know-how and when to do it. Before the operation runs smoothly, tight and understanding supervision is also the key.
Delegating the right job to the right person can bring a successful result. Make sure that you don’t give overlapping instruction between each function in the retail management so that the employees can work efficiently.
Besides cash flow and profit, your supply chain should also be steady. This is to ensure that your customers get their demanded products. Though being out of stock for certain products might be normal, the last thing you want is for your customer to walk out of the store not buying the things they are looking for.
Visual merchandising is a strong game-changer in the retail store operation. Create a floor flow that is comfortable for the customers, as well as giving ease in finding things between the aisles. It also attracts customers and emphasizes promotion.
Baca juga: 8 Strategies and Tips of Visual Merchandising in Retail Store
Indeed, it needs the experience to have an eye that can see the potential of an employee. One thing for sure, the right man in the right position can even be an asset for your retail business.
Once you are ready to launch a new store, you will need technology that can help you with retail management. A tool which capable of:
As an answer to that, Nimbly is the right assistance you need in managing multi-stores. Nimbly enables your retail business to monitor, manage, and evaluate its operations. With pre-made and customizable checklist templates, you can manage all the works that need to be done.
Tasks can be made for each division and report to one manager who can use Nimbly's issue tracker feature to evaluate the jobs. All data collected would then be displayed in dashboard analytics that gives you real-time insight into the workflow. With Nimbly's assistance, managing branches of retail stores would be even easier and more efficient.
So, are you ready to expand? Check out other Nimbly features that can assist your business growth.
Nimbly is a mobile solution that digitizes operations, improves efficiency, and generates cost savings by providing companies' management with data-driven insights from field operations remotely and in real-time.
Indonesian 
English 
