Open Shop or Develop Online

[Scant]

Hi,
I currently run a reasonably succesful online business but have been thinking of now opening a shop to compliment it. I know most businesses start the other way round.
Does anyone have a view as to whether it's a good move bearing in mind the extensive costs of running a shop or should I direct more money into website development?
Any success stories in doing this?

Cheers

[wood1e]

Depends on how much money you have. What sort of deal you can get on premises, what footfall that will generate...then obviously local competition etc etc

Compare that to cost of developing further online marketing strategies/SEO/SEO and what footfall that will generate

Oh and along with footfall for both ideas what is the conversion rate. As it is profit that you want at the end of the day.

One other thing about a shop...you (tired feet) or someone (overhead) would have to man it whilst open...

Upgrading/expanding your website would be less stressful on your feet

[fantasycouriers]

Shops come with a lot of overheads, yes, the rent, rates & wages, but also, the price of elecy is rocketing, water rates are astronomical, even if you only have a toilet & a cold tap. Business insurance needs to be upped to include premises cover. You'll also needs a load of shop fittings, tills & equipment and lights, carpets, wall coverings. You'll also be responsible for shared maintenance of the building, and run the risk of vandalism, and theft, from employees and customers. You'll need an alarm, and a maintenance contract, you'll need to spend several hundred pounds on fire extinguishers and get these examined and certified every year.

You'll need an additional advertising budget, because people don't go to offline shops because they see a website, the go to real shops because of word of mouth, and newspaper/radio/tv advertising.

You may also need transport for delivering, to buy a permit for parking at your premises.

Never underestimate the costs of having a shop.

But the big question is where are your online customers - are they mostly local, or a few customers from lots of different locations all over the country.

[Scant]

Thanks guys for your comments. Yes there is a lot to think about. Less stressful to stick "as is" but probably missing those customers who want to touch and feel the goods.

[trogette]

I'm pretty sure that a lot of my online customers would come to a bricks-and-mortar shop from quite a long way away if the transport links were good enough. Staffing it would be the major issue for me, do I bring in partners to invest in it and share the opening hours? Do I limit the opening hours to what will fit round my family? Do I employ staff, upping the financial cost and potentially the stress?

Would really love to have somewhere where people could try things out though.

[Litmus]

Does the 'build it and they will come' saying still hold true?

[DesignsOnline.co.uk]

You need to be careful with the current financial climate.
I see too many businesses pour money in to opening a physical premesis and then closing down again a few months down the line.

Have you considered instead opening a second online shopping website.
You will likely get a much quicker profit and if you market it properly and build it properly so that it auto optimises each category and each product , you should end up with a sperate search engine entry (a page in the search engines) for each product.

I would imagine that you would find this compliments your current strategy better, and opens you to a much larger market.

If you want any specific advice on ecommerce feel free to call us: 0800 634 92 92

[Scant]

Again, thanks for all your comments and advice.
Deciding on the future is never easy.

[Aabas]

If you have an e-commerce store, or are starting one up like i am, do you have to set aside some funds to pay income tax come tax season?

[Emma]

Is that in the UK or the US?