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Marketing Musts for Relocating a Retail Business Contact us for reprint permission Relocating a retail business takes planning, patience, time and money. Make the wrong decision about a new location and you risk wasting money and losing customers. But retail relocation isn’t just about site selection, it’s about creating targeted marketing and valuing your customers. It can offer your business a chance to grow, expand its customer base and invigorate your staff. With the right planning, most growing pains can be avoided, and your store can retain existing customers while attracting new ones. 1. Be Prepared The most important aspect to moving your business is allowing yourself enough time to plan for the move. Most retail stores need to plan at least six months in advance - possibly as much as 12 months if your business is large or moving a long distance. Properly planning and preparing for the move isn’t just important for the logistics of the relocation. It’s vital to your marketing plan, and can be the difference between your business growing and thriving after a relocation, or withering. One effective way to prepare is by making a timeline checklist for all steps of the move. Key employees, systems, inventory and equipment need to be identified so that all facets of your business are included in the timeline. 2. Be Focused One danger with any big change such as relocation is the “too many cooks” syndrome. If there is not one specific person in charge of the relocation, miscommunications and duplicated efforts often occur. There should be one designated move coordinator, a person through whom all planning goes and who is responsible for delegating tasks. If this role is handed to someone other than the business owner, that employee should be compensated for the extra work and stress it entails. 3. Be Timely Deciding on the best time for the actual move is often not easy. Many factors go into this decision, including your busiest times. For most retail operations open seven days a week, weekends are the busiest and most profitable days, so making the actual move on a Monday or Tuesday may make the most sense. Likewise, moving during mid-summer, before the back-to-school and fall/holiday shopping seasons begin is a good strategy. Or, you might prefer to move in mid-January, during the post-Christmas lull. 4. Be Realistic You should always develop back-up plans for worst case scenarios. What if the moving trucks are delayed? What if the computer system in the new location isn’t up and running on time? What will you do if important files are misplaced? You need to make room in your timeline for potential problems - and count on having some unforeseen ones - because the single most important aspect of opening a new retail location is in actually being open and ready for business when you’ve said you will be. 5. Be Customer-Focused It’s easy to get wrapped up in the logistics of relocation, and lose sight of the reason you are moving or expanding in the first place. Your customers, right? Either to have a better location to serve them, additional space to grow or to reach new customers. Adapting your marketing plan to your relocation is a vital step - and it’s every bit as important as the logistics plan. If you plan and implement your relocation marketing strategy the right way, you can capture both your existing customers, as well as new customers in your new location. If you haven’t communicated clearly or often enough to your existing customers not only where you’re moving to, but why, they are not likely to make the move with you. And if the people who live in the area around your new location don’t hear about you, you’re losing out on new customers. Let’s take these two sets of customers one at a time, and discuss how to effectively market to each of them before and after your relocation. Before Your Move As soon as you know where your new location will be, update yellow page and other directory listings. Reprint all letterhead, brochures and marketing materials with your new address. 30 days before the move, start telling your current customers about it. Post announcement signs in visible locations in your store, such as the cash register and front window. Print flyers that your cashiers place in each bag at check-out. Send postcards to all your past customers and your mailing list. If your store provides highly personalized service or you have an elite clientele, send hand-written notes to your top customers. Be sure you communicate clearly the date of the move and any days you will be closed. It’s important to not only tell customers you’re moving, but to tell them why. Use your relocation as a publicity tool! Position this step to point out the success of your business; for example, you’ve outgrown your current location, you’re expanding, you’re moving to a more convenient location for your customers, or you’re moving in order to give your customers more of what they want. Have clear signage well in advance, as early as the landlord will allow, at your new location. This is also the time to begin collecting data for marketing to potential new customers. Research shows that people shop at stores near where they live. With zip code services like Claritas, you can amass demographic and consumer information about the people who are living around your new location. People living in the same neighborhoods tend to have similar lifestyles - a trend that is very helpful when marketing cold to a geographic area. This type of area demographic information can help you determine purchasing behavior and increase your changes of locating your best potential customers. Very specific demographic data will allow your marketing and advertising to be much more efficient and to break through the crowded marketplace to reach your target customers better. You should also collect data on existing competitors in your new location. Sales can be predicted fairly accurately by comparing the sales volume of existing stores with similar demographics. This information will also tell you who you will be competing against for the dollars of the people living in the area, and who their customers are. Use it to come up with possible new merchandise, promotions or services that would work well in your new location. After The Move Offer current customers a special incentive, such as a private “Pre Grand Opening” event or sale, a free gift with purchase, or an extra discount. Be sure that you have communicated clearly where your new location is - not just the physical address, but in an easily understandable reference point such as “in the Home Depot shopping center” or “next door to Whole Foods Market.” Mail catalogs or flyers to the targeted new customer list, gleaned from your market data. Be specific - if you’ve done your homework before the move, you should know exactly who your potential new customers are. A newspaper ad just as you’re moving and re-opening can be very effective, as well as a Free Standing Insert (FSI) in the paper. This is a popular strategy that allows you to reach your specific consumer group in a cost-effective way and with maximum impact. Host a Grand Opening party - and invite the media! Find out who the business editors or reporters are for your local newspaper and TV stations, and don’t neglect the smaller publications or free magazines. Offer yourself as a resource in your area of expertise. Focus on, and be committed to, providing something additional and better in your new store. That might be more creative displays, a larger selection of merchandise, or additional customer services. Make merchandising decisions tailored to the population around your location. |
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