Eight proven tips for retail business growth

Whether you are a new retailer or ready to take the next step, having a retail business growth strategy is essential in making your business a success.

Owning a business is a dream that most people share but only a few ever realize. Some of them pour their heart and soul into making that dream a success.

However, despite the efforts, some businesses are not around for a long haul. It is not always the fault of the product they are selling. Sometimes, a business just cannot compete with the huge amount of competition. 

It doesn’t matter what product you are selling, having a successful retail business takes more than just setting up a storefront. Offering quality products is vital, but on its own, it is not enough. It is vital to develop a retail business growth strategy to build your business and grow your business over time.

Whether you want to increase sales, expand into different markets, add more locations, or all three or more, you can easily achieve this goal by following a few tips.

Eight tips to help your retail business grow

It is a fact that almost 50% of the businesses do not make it past five years. If you want to go past that point, make sure to follow these essential tips.

Some of these will instantly boost your sale, while others require a long-term commitment before you even expect to see the results. However, all of these will help your new or existing business gain a foothold in the market. 

1) Expand to other locations

Opening new stores is one of the best marketing ideas for your business growth. Setting up shops in other locations will enable you to reach new customers, and it will help you increase your brand presence.

If you are planning on opening new shops, your multi-store operation’s success will depend on two things; standardized components of your business and your local strategy. You need to make sure that you balance both of these factors to run your retail business successfully. 

However, expanding your business location doesn’t mean you have to make exact copies of your existing store. A new location means there is going to be a new customer base. Adding locations to your retail business is a surefire way to expand your business. Make sure you are doing it right. 

2) Expand to other sales channels

The retail business owners are blessed to have more sales channels to sell their products than ever before. It is one of the best retail business growth strategies that can help you uplift your brand’s value.

Expanding your business to a sales channel is better, safer, and less costly than extending it to an entirely new location.

Online marketplaces

The first sales channel to grow your business is an e-commerce store. Opening an entirely new store may seem like a daunting task; getting a business online business store off the ground is easier than ever. E-commerce platforms make this simple for the most tech-illiterate. You need to make sure that your online platforms integrate with your point of sale. 

Mobile

People these days are looking for easy ways to shop. More and more customers are shopping on the go. Expanding your business to the mobile realm allows you to grow your retail business. If you already have an online store, it will not be hard for you to go mobile. Almost every e-commerce platform is offering mobile capabilities. You can deal with your customers with ease.  

Social

Social media has emerged as the fastest-growing sales channel. If you have a large following and brand presence on social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram, it will become easier for your retail business growth. 

3) Grow your product and service offerings

Expanding what you already sell is a great way to grow your business. You can add new items or services to your catalog to grow your retail business. The best way to go about this is to think of any related services or products that you can sell.

See if the shoppers are requesting anything in particular. Make sure to check if your customers really need anything that you are not selling yet. Think of ways to help your customers make the most out of what you are selling. Take opportunities like Black Friday, Cyber Monday to increase sales with optimistic deals.

4) Expand to other markets

One of the best ways to grow your retail business is by diversifying the services and products more by venturing into new markets. However, venturing into a new market comes with risks. Before you dive into the whole new customer base, make sure to do proper research, and test your ideas. It will also help your retail business if there is already demand in the market.

One of the best examples who successfully pulled this off is Birchbox. They started by sending boxes with beauty products for female customers, and soon expanded by tapping into the male market. 

5) Pop up in other places

Pop-ups are a fun way to create brand awareness and get the shoppers excited about the store. They are also easy and affordable to get started.

A retail business can save up to 80% by opening a pop-up store. These stores allow you to test whether it will be worth it to set up a permanent store. You can also try new products to see how they sell. However, you should not consider it an actual retail business growth. It is just a first step to take towards a longer retail growth. 

5) Team up with other businesses

One of the best ways to grow your retail business is to team up with a company in the targeted market. The most significant advantage of this business growth strategy is that the business you team up with already has the resources required to win the market that you are targeting.

However, not every business can afford to acquire other businesses. If it makes sense for your company, team up with a third party who can help make your business expansion goals a reality. 

6) Improve your shopping experience

Customers are having endless choices when it comes to shopping. It is almost impossible for you to stand out in the crowd. For successful business growth, make sure to create a great shopping experience. For that, make sure you provide a uniform training program to help your customers get an excellent service. 

Moreover, you can focus on first impressions and make sure that your customers get amazing service from the moment they enter your retail store. You can also offer samples to your customers. It will help them build more trust in your brand. 

7) Use automation

Everyday tasks can now be automated with affordable services. It will help you spare some time to focus on other important things and help you grow your business. Here is how you can automate your retail business task:

You can use apps to line up social media posts so that you do not have to worry about it every day. 
Use an automatic loyalty program to make sure that your customers are using the system. 
Email marketing is the best way to grow your retail business. You can simply manage databases and email lists by apps to send promotional emails. 

8) Add your business to a directory

Adding tour business to a directory is a cost effective way of getting you in front of the right customers. Take a look to find the most popular directories in your industry or area. Where are customers searching for retailers like you?

QRG101 is a USA business listing directory site you can add your business to.