Through good fortune or necessity, you’ve decided that you need to move your retail business. Likely, you’ve moved your residence before. Though that alone can be quite the headache, moving a commercial business can be even more of a pain. It comes with its risks of losing customers and interruptions that can delay the move even further. You know all too well that interruptions can cost you more money. To make the move of your retail space to a new location easier and smoother, you may want to consider some of these tips.
1. Inform Your Customers
If your retail business is moving, then you need to take the time to make sure your customers know where to find you next. By this time, you should hopefully have a few loyal customers that will follow you no matter where you go. All you need to do is make sure they know where. You can easily do this by hanging up a few signs at the front of the store, having your employees tell them when they check out, and including pamphlets into their purchases. If you have a mailing list, it doesn’t hurt to send them the new information through that program, too. In this way, you can cover all of your bases and make sure that your customers make the move with you.
Otherwise, you’ll open your doors, and while you may receive new traffic, the traffic that you received at your old place might not reach you. Understandably, some customers might not like that you’re moving. You can amend this by making them a part of the process. Take pictures of the move and utilize social media to keep everyone updated on the process. You can involve your customers and make them feel as though they’re moving with you. When it comes time to open your doors again, they won’t think much about having to go to a new location because they’ve seen it all already.
2. Handle Profiles And Online Status
This detail is quite minor, but it’s important. You need to take the time to change the address on your website and other platforms to the updated address. You don’t want to be sending your customers to the wrong location. Your website can also be a great place to advertise your move as well as when the store is reopened. Since many businesses include their address into their email name, you should do something similar except with the new address. This reinforces your location and makes it easier for customers to know exactly where you are.
3. Utilize The Weekend
While your employees may gripe about having to come in for the weekend, they’d likely be even more displeased having to add on additional hours after working all day. Use the weekend to move. It’s a lot easier to coordinate efforts on the weekend and call in extra help if needed. Not only that but if you manage to get everything all set up by Sunday evening, your store will be back in business come Monday.
4. Inventory
One last quick tip to help your move is to make an inventory for everything. In this way, you can ensure nothing was stolen or lost.