How To Start A Store - The Top 3 Mistakes To Avoid
As you start your store's business operations
, look out for these common mistakes which lead to unnecessary costs or forgo potential sales.Under or Overstaffing
If you don't hire enough staff to handle the average volume of customers without causing unacceptable wait times, upon launch you will scramble to hire more staff. By increasing your staff capacity, you can make up for the lost sales of customers who balk (choose to walk away rather than shop with you due to the appearance or reality of a long wait) and renege (get in line, think better of it, and leave). However, damage is done to your store's reputation that is difficult to undo if the store becomes known for long waits. Alternately, overstaffing causes the waste of paying wages for extra staff.
To avoid either case, check and double-check your estimates and projections and compare with the staffing levels other stores began with. Consider slightly understaffing from your pre-launch projections and using yourself or another manager to pick up the slack if needed until better projections can be created from experience.
Forgetting Controls
Controls on the key processes of your store, such as sales and inventory, allow you, as the owner or manager, to step back a bit from close supervision and rely on the system. Controls insure that employees and customers don't take advantage of the business and that there isn't room for mistakes during sales transactions. A common control at grocery check-outs, for example is for the clerk to require a key from the manager on duty to override an order in progress, delete a scanned item, or to process a return.
Relying Only on Foot Traffic
Being in a high foot traffic area, like a mall, shopping center, or popular street, can seem to be an incredible bonus for your business, but it is a mistake to depend only on these passersby. For one thing, a location with high foot traffic will likely have that benefit build into its higher rent by a savvy landlord. This means that sales must be higher than in a less trafficked location. Also, most stores that are successful in the long-run must begin to draw in customers beyond those who happen by it. You must have a marketing plan that includes promotion and the building of a brand for your store. Without building a customer base that considers your store a destination, you will be dependent on the volume of customers who happen upon your store. This volume is effected by many variables of your control (nearby transportation, weather, seasons, changes in other stores, etc.)
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