The Future of the Small Independent Retailer

The Future of the Small Independent Retailer


It is a very difficult time for bricks and mortar stores with more and more closing their doors or downsizing every day.

At the same time large retailers are understandably investing more time and money in their online presences.

So we end up with:

  1. large retailers with huge buying power and online marketing budgets
  2. small retailers like you with physical shops together the overheads that come with them
  3. an increasing amount of businesses running online-only stores often from their own homes


Making the most of what you have

Its important that you identify the advantages you have over your competition and make the most of them, while maximising profits from your business as it currently is.

Large Retailers

It is very difficult to compete directly with the budgets of larger retailers, the best you can normally hope for is to find a niche that they are not targeting and try to use your small size to your advantage.
Being small you can adapt and make small changes to your operation very quickly. You can also offer a much more personal service.

Other Small Retailers

To get the edge over similar sized retailers to yourself you need to maximise profit and reduce wastage wherever possible, while increasing your customer base beyond your local geographical area.

If you don't currently sell online you really should consider doing so if at all possible. You have the stock there to sell but maybe the foot fall past your shop is not what it once was. Having an online sales channel will increase sales directly online as well as help bring people into your physical store.

To maximise the profit gained from your physical shop a capable EPoS system is now a must-have. A good point of sale system will help you reduced wastage by giving you full control over your stock levels. It can also offer powerful features like gift card processing, voucher processing, loyalty schemes and multi-buy promotions that can increase your profits by gaining new and repeat business.

Small Online Only Retailers

One advantage you have over small, often home based, online retailers is that you have an existing bricks and mortar presence with the validity that comes with that. People are very suspicious of faceless websites so make the most of your status as a traditional real world retailer.

Another advantage you have over some is that your shop is a ready made warehouse from which to fulfil your online orders. Imagine the hassle you'd have if you were trying to fulfil orders from your home or had to start looking for (and paying for) a suitable storage unit somewhere. With the addition of an EPoS that integrates with your online store, having both a store and a website is no longer double the workload.




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