8 Top Tips for Success When Opening A New Retail Location

As a retail business, opening a new retail location is an exciting but hugely daunting time! Multiple locations means great things for your loyal customer base and also widens your reach to those who have yet to come onboard. However, simply landing in a new location and opening your doors certainly isn’t enough to ensure that your new store goes off with a bang! There’s a lot of legwork involved to ensure that word of mouth reaches the right ears and you generate the much-needed foot traffic to make your new store a success. In this blog, we’re taking a look at some top tips to drive word of mouth and traffic to your latest location:

Word of Mouth begins Now

While your new store is in talks and certainty during the works, you and your entire team need to be raising awareness of the upcoming new retail location. This includes spreading the word in your store(s), on social media and on your website to generate excitement.

1. In-Store

Depending on the location of your new store, it’s well worth talking about it to your existing customers. Not only are they the best advocates for your existing store, they are likely to share the news organically with their own friends and family in different areas.

Use your in-store advantage to talk to your customers and distribute flyers into shopping bags with grand opening information and linked promotions.

You can get as creative as you like depending on your sector with keepsakes such as coasters, magnets and stickers to highlight your grand opening event.

2. Social Media

Social Media is a great outlet to give your existing customer base ongoing updates of your progress. Keeping track of the progress of your new store is a great way to generate interest with ‘behind the scenes’ and ‘sneak peaks’. Social media is a great tool for promotion to incentivise existing customers to share among their networks.

Targeting sponsored social media posts by location can be an effective method of making audiences near your new store aware of your upcoming plans.

3. Email

Using email marketing to share your upcoming new retail location with subscribers needs to be relevant and target customers who live within a reasonable area of your new store. It’s best to avoid sending blanket emails to your whole subscriber list.

This is where EPoS solutions like OpSuite work wonders! With the right data, you can target your campaigns effectively with CRM, ensuring that the right emails reach the right people based on accurate customer data.

4. Grand Opening

It’s important to make a great impression with your Grand Opening and ensure you give the time necessary to plan the event. Asking various questions at the start of the planning process can help you make a good start:

• What’s the timeframe?
• What’s the theme of the event?
• Are you planning any activities?

Creating a list of important factors will help you to focus on the logistics of the event:

• Financing 
• Staff implications
• Organised activities
• Invitations
• PR
• Marketing
• Advertising
• Photograph

5. Create an Eye-Grabbing Event

This will very much depend on the type of store and your location, but it’s important that passersby and invitees should feel compelled to attend your Grand Opening.

Having multiple offerings will appeal to different guests with a combination of promos and activities should suit a wide variety of people. Hooking in your customer base will be the key to success. It’s not enough to simply throw open the doors and that people will find you.

6. Make the Most of Existing Customers

As your number one advocates, you can’t put a price on the value that existing and happy customers bring to your retail business. Reward loyalty with invite-only events specifically for your existing customers and their friends/followers.

Don’t forget to make the most of the opportunity for your guests to tag themselves at your event and mention your brand online. Pinning, posting, checking in and sharing are all valuable contributions to the buzz of your business. You can help guests along with helpful prompts such as posters, stickers, an event-specific hashtag and photo opportunities such as backdrops.

7. Involve the Press

This might not always be appropriate but for many, getting in touch with any local publications is a great idea. Send out invitations to join your Grand Opening Event or give them early access to the event to see what’s in store for your guests.

If you’re worried that you haven’t got the presence for press coverage, you can try a more unique angle such as how your new retail location will be in the communities best interest, providing job opportunities or revamping a tired-looking high street. You might have a compelling story behind how your business got started. Spinning a new angle will generate interest rather than simply a ‘new store’ in the papers.

8. Get the Basics Right Online

With various tools at your disposal for online directories such as Google and Yelp, it can be very frustrating when businesses have out of date or incorrect information about their stores. Make sure your business profiles are up to date and accurate so that customers can find you quickly and easily.

As soon as your new location is up and running, don’t assume everyone knows where it is! Get your Google Business Profile updated and contact details before your Grand Opening to avoid disgruntled shoppers. Giving as many details as possible is beneficial, such as opening hours, parking and images of your store.

Google Business Profiles offer a lot of scope for information, including showcasing your products online too so make sure there’s a wealth of information and images when customers search for you.

Conclusion

The success of your new retail location isn’t just about its physical presence; it’s about the narrative you create, the engagement you foster, and the experiences you offer. By strategically implementing these tips and leveraging tools like OpSuite, you can turn your new store opening into a resounding success. Remember, it’s not just about opening the doors; it’s about opening hearts and minds to a brand-new and exciting chapter of your business journey. Best of luck with your new endeavour!

Why Choose RMS?

RMS have worked with ambitious businesses since 2004, supplying tailored software solutions and EPoS hardware from the Shetland Islands to the Seychelles. We work with businesses in most retail verticals, contact us and discover how RMS and OpSuite are perfect partners for expanding your retail empire!