Locations – Do you care enough?

There is finally some good news for retail businesses – some of the country’s largest and most influential landlords have decided to cut costs for retailers according to the British Property Federation.

The members of the British Property Federation created a ten-point-plan which they hope will bring down costs for retailers in Britain who are struggling to stay afloat throughout the recession.

A successful trial period managed to introduce savings of between ten and twenty per cent for retailers.  The initiative is set to examine things such as security, waste management, energy use and operating hours, for example.

But before you can think about saving money, think first about the location of your business.  It is great to think that landlords are finally out there thinking about your wellbeing but you have to take the first step by making sure that your business is in the right place.

•    Target Audience – do you know your target audience?  Spend some time and a little bit of money and understand exactly who you are aiming your business at.  Can you find your target audience in your area?  When do they shop?  What do they want?

•    How accessible is the area? – You should find out how people get to the area.  Is there a regular bus service through the area?  Is there parking for cars?  Will this affect your business?

•    How do people use the location? – It is important to understand how people tend to use the area.  If the area is a pedestrian area then you will have a lot of traffic walking past your window.  If the area is all roads then it’ll be hard for people to window shop.

•    Competition – what is the competition like in the area?  Don’t be put off by a little competition as you probably won’t be able to find a place with a lack of competition.  However you want to be able to know how much there is in the area – if it is full of services offering the same thing you are then it’ll be pretty pointless setting up shop.

•    Do your research – talk to people in the area and find out information from businesses in the same market that you are looking to venture into.  You’ll get a great insight into the location and the habits of the people in them from business owners that have been there for years.

•    Decide whether you will be best positioned inside a shopping centre or on the high street – you might think that shopping centres will be a better decision as they have a constant stream of people walking through but if you dig a little deeper you could find that after costs you could probably be losing money.

What do you think?

What do you look out for when picking a location for your business?  Did you put enough time and effort in when it mattered or are you suffering because you didn’t give the decision enough of a priority?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

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