London is an exceptional city. While no two districts are the same, it is a perfect location to grow your business. The availability of retail space in London presents a myriad of opportunities for businesses. You can easily rent the space to set up pop up stores that will accelerate your sales.
If you operate an ecommerce retail store, you may have toyed with the idea of establishing a permanent store in a brick and mortar location. However, you may also not be ready to invest resources in opening the store because you are not sure it will pay off. No need to worry as you could consider setting up a temporary store in retail space in Savile Row or King’s road and compete with some of the leading brands in the UK’s capital.
There’s so much you can do with retail rental space that will complement your ecommerce store and help you make the crucial decision about whether to launch a permanent business location or not. London’s retail space is quite affordable and you can use it as a proving ground for your products, the location or even your marketing efforts in low stakes.
Here are 5 benefits of setting up a temporary store in a retail space in London:
· Access benefits of a physical store without the commitment. This is a major advantage that retail rental space presents before you open a permanent location. It allows you to gauge if investing in a permanent store would be a good idea. When you set up a temporary store, you get the rare opportunity to compare your online and in-person sales. You will also be able to tell if the people in the new location attach value to your products and are capable of supporting your business once you set up shop.
· Complement your online efforts. When you set up a temporary store in a retail space, you have to boost your marketing communications. When people come to your temporary store, they are likely to recommend your brand to their circle of friends and family. The word of mouth will go a long way in creating a buzz around your brand and spreading brand news to those who may not have heard about your product thus, complementing your online efforts. Moreover, you can also out your business cards or encourage shoppers to access more discounts using a discount code when they shop online thus driving up sales.
· Tap into the shopping season. You could set up a temporary store in London just to take advantage of the busy shopping seasons. It is a common misconception that everyone shops online for everything. You will be surprised to know that most people prefer in-store shopping during the holiday season. This is because of the many sales and discounts that different brands offer. You can set up a temporary presence in retail space just to supercharge your holiday sales by taking advantage of the season.
· Sell of unsold inventory. It is common for businesses to end up with dead stock from unsold inventory. This usually affects your business’ bottom line and could eventually see a mountain of unsold items piling up in the warehouse. You could instead take up retail space to offload the unsold stock even as you introduce a new product to the market. When kept for too long unsold inventory often loses that eventually results in losses. Instead, you can sell it at a discount instead of bearing a loss.
· Boost email marketing efforts. Email marketing is one of the best digital marketing channels with an unmatched ROI. You can take advantage of your presence at the retail space to ask customers coming to your store to sign up to take part in a raffle and win a prize. This is a sure way of growing your email list as browsers will sign up after which you can use the platform to continue engaging them with product news.
The cost of setting up a permanent store location is high thus, you don’t want to take the risk before testing the waters. However, you can experiment with shops to rent London, before going all out to invest heavily in a store. This will give you perspective on what you can expect once the store is up and running or if you should shun the idea altogether.