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Opening and maintaining retail space can be expensive, especially if you pick the wrong location. Whether you have 10,000 customers coming in per month or only 100, you’re still responsible for paying rent, utilities and employees to work in the store. These costs only go up as you add more locations. If you’re looking to increase your bottom line without the overhead of a brick and mortar retail space, consider using an e-commerce + warehouse model instead.
Indeed, such an option has yielded great success for retailers that don’t necessarily need to interact with their clientele face to face. Those operating in relatively new markets such as vaping retailers can simply show off their array of goods online, and then simply post any orders as they come in via the digital sphere.
Can I Be Successful Without Retail Space?
E-commerce sales are growing. e-Marketer and Prologis Research estimate total global online sales could double to $4 trillion by 2020, which would then account for nearly 15 percent of total sales and this figure will almost certainly grow as the world becomes increasingly digitised and inter-connected.
Choosing a Warehouse Location
Just jumping online isn’t going to be enough. According to Baynard’s E-Commerce Checkout Usability study, 16% of online shoppers abandon their carts because delivery was too slow. Keep this statistic in mind when choosing where to house your merchandise, especially if you’re signing a multiyear lease. Instead of choosing a remote location, it’s more advantageous to be located near a population center where you can offer options like two-day or even next-day shipping to your customers. Another possibility is on-demand warehousing, where you only rent the amount of space you need at the time. You can rent more as your product volume grows.
Opening a brick and mortar store is not the only way to get your products in the hands of customers. With an easy-to-navigate e-commerce site and a well-located warehouse, you’ll be able to decrease overhead and meet customer demand.
