Congratulations on your company expanding to new heights!
Whether you are moving into a different address or making space for a new location, there are many potential challenges that you may encounter during a retail business move. Cost and down time are a couple of factors that may immediately be impacted during a move.
In this blog, we will cover 4 tips to planning a successful retail business move:
- Liquate Your Inventory
- Don’t Move Furniture Alone
- Eliminate Down-Time
- Prepare Your New Shop Early
Liquidate Your Inventory
Your inventory will likely be a large part of your move. Even when you’re not moving, inventory represents capital stored in product.
When you’re moving, more inventory means more bulk to move. The larger the inventory, the more you will have to pay to move it. Try to avoid this extra expense on your books.
Rather than carrying this rather redundant expenditure, thin out your inventory prior to the move. You could bundle this with a marketing event. For instance, you might have a store-wide sale that doubles as an advertisement for your new location. When you generate excitement amongst your customers with low prices and the prospect of a brand-new retail space, you can reap double the rewards.
Make sure you invite your customers to join you when you christen the new space. You should be able to generate a tidy sum of cash to help ease your transition while simultaneously settling into your new location.
Don’t Move Furniture Alone
If you have a lot of shelving and other heavy furniture to move, consider having your employees help out.
Keep in mind that they may only be restricted to carry up to a certain load. For example, most jobs require their staff to carry a maximum of 25 pounds. However, if it is not stated in their hiring contracts, then they may not be held accountable to move anything heavier. Also, you could put your employees in harms way if they are not protected or qualified to help.
Otherwise, consider hiring professional movers to take care your shelves, peg-boards, or other furniture. Not only are they experienced in moving in a safe and time-efficient manner, but they offer insurance coverage on your valuables.
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Eliminate Down-Time
When you move your retail business, try to schedule it so that you lose the least amount of sales. That is why we recommend packing up electronics and other delicate tools and equipment the day before the move.
Study your records to decide what weeks or months seem to be the least busy and try to target your move date for days in that window of time. To further eliminate much down-time, investigate ways to set up shelving and decorations in the new space prior to your moving day.
Prepare Your New Shop Early
If you can carry the lease for both spaces, use the overlapping time to continue operations and prepare your new shop.
You can begin by setting it up with shelving and counters for your cash registers. Then, when you close your existing space, you can immediately get to work moving into the new space. If everything is ready for your inventory and equipment at the new space, your move will be as smooth as silk.
Retail moves are tricky, but with the right amount of pre-planning you can make the move into a boon for your business. Start your new chapter with the help of qualified, professional movers.
Contact Priority Moving Services for a free consultation!