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.
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