Starting a small business with multiple sales channels maximizes your chances of success
In those tender first years after starting your small business, every sale matters. It is unfortunate that many entrepreneurs attribute a small initial budget to a single point of sale. In the past, this may have been true. Few entrepreneurs had enough capital to open even a single store. Two or three stores in different neighborhoods was well beyond most budding entrepreneurs. Today, there is no end to the different sales avenues available to imaginative retailers starting out, despite limited budgets.
Channel One: Start a Small Retail Business with a Mall Kiosk
Don’t let the high cost of starting a physical store stop you from making sales to real customers. A good-looking kiosk can be bought for less than a decent used car costs. Utility and maintenance costs are also cheap. Mobility is an added advantage. If a location goes off the rails, you can always pick it up and move on.
Internet options may be less expensive to start, but they also take much longer to get noticed. Depending on your experience, they also take a lot longer to build. A well-located kiosk can be up and running and generating revenue by the time you walk it in the door.
Channel Two: Start a Small Retail Business with an Ecommerce Site
Once you have your kiosk in place, you’ll find yourself with a lot of free time between customers. You could spend this time talking to your neighbors or reading the newspaper. You could also boost your future sales potential by opening an online store.
Ecommerce sites can be built quickly, but it takes time to set up. Once you’ve ironed out all the bugs, it may still take a while before many customers start to notice your small retail business. There’s no reason you can’t run an ecommerce site from a laptop at your kiosk.
If you just started an eCommerce site, you would have to wait months for your site to get noticed or paid for expensive ads. Instead of sitting in your basement, candidly reviewing your server log, you could be positioned at your kiosk with the opportunity to talk face to face about your products and hopefully sell some of them.
Not only can you continue to earn money while you start your ecommerce site, but you also have the opportunity to promote it at virtually no additional cost. Stamp your small business website address on your kiosk, shopping bags, and receipts. Be sure to mention the site to everyone who walks by your kiosk. Even offer the ability to browse, or beta test, your ecommerce site from your laptop.
Channel Three: Start a Small Retail Business Selling Products on E-bay
E-bay and PayPal take a big chunk of your profit margin, but E-bay still has some redeeming qualities. Almost any product you place on your website will be noticed. Also, once you have completed several successful transactions, your seller profile will indicate that you can be trusted. It takes a long time to build trust in your ecommerce site. Just like your kiosk, you can advertise your ecommerce site for free.
Unlike your online store and kiosk, your products can be sold on eBay with virtually no upfront cost. Additionally, there are many savvy buyers on the Internet who transact online exclusively through auctions. By opening this third channel, your potential customer base skyrockets!
