The development of online commerce has taken the world by storm, and increasing numbers of first-time business owners are opting to take their startup online rather than braving the traditional brick and mortar store. There are plenty of reasons to do this. Online retail, after all, comes with fewer responsibilities and a smaller initial financial outlay. You don’t have to consider commercial property, you have fewer overheads, and you don’t have to employ as many staff to man a physical store. However, there are still a number of benefits that come hand in hand with running a tangible store that can help you bring in a whole lot more profit than you would by operating solely online. You get to offer better customer service, communicate with buyers on a face-to-face basis, and your consumers can survey your products in person, meaning that you are less likely to experience returns and requests for exchanges. In fact, if you’re confident in your brand and believe that it’s bound for success, a brick and mortar store could prove to be the better option for you! So, here are a few different things that every brick and mortar store should have in order to experience success!
A POS
A “POS” is a “point of sale”. This is essentially the designated part of a store where customers exchange cash for the goods that you are offering them. Now, generally speaking, it’s best to have a fixed point of sale as this is what customers are used to. It should be set up with a till and a point of sale system that allows you to scan goods or type in product numbers and costs to process the sale. While this is an essential, you may like to consider additional extras such as mobile POS systems, which generally take tablet form and can be taken to the customer. For both of these options, make sure that you are using a reliable merchant service provider, as delays and problems with the technology can cause customers to become frustrated and leave, resulting in missed sale opportunities.
An Effective Window Display
Designing a window display is by no means a new concept. For years, merchandisers have been employed to set up attractive displays to lure people into all sorts of commercial properties. But for some reason, window displays still tend to be the speciality of larger companies and chains. It’s time that smaller businesses started using them to their advantage too! Not only will a window display give passersby an idea of what kind of store you run, but it will give them an insight into the quality of the wares you’re providing. For this reason, you should always keep your best stock in the window. Technically speaking, an effective window display is the first point of contact between a brick and mortar business and customers, so keep yours exciting and fresh!
These are just a couple of aspects of your physical store that you should really focus on establishing. There are plenty more to consider, but these are good starting points to progress from!
