26 Jun How To Find The Perfect Retail Space

Finding the right retail space to showcase your business and properly reflect your brand’s likeness can be a daunting task. Whether you are just starting out with your first brick-and-mortar location or growing to new sites, there are a few important things to remember. Regardless, if you plan to buy or lease a retail property, we have compiled a list of helpful tips to make sure your next retail property aligns your brand with success:

#1 Know Thy Customer

The first step, and arguably the most important, is for a business to understand who their target customer is. Whether the goal is retaining existing customers or attracting a new population, any brick and mortar strategy should be customer centric. Once a target customer is identified, brands should consider that customer’s tendencies and habits. How far are they willing to travel for goods and services? What is their disposable income and what are their spending habits? The ability to answer these questions is becoming easier with the help of companies like Uber Media. They track and sell mobile data of consumers, giving researchers the ability to paint an extremely accurate picture of consumer’s daily travel patterns including how often they pass certain intersections and how long they remain inside a store/retail area.

#2 Consider the Market Factors

Once you have identified your target customer and understand their retail habits, you should have a good idea of the market that you need to locate in to best capture that customer’s business. Now you must research and understand the existing market factors. Two market factors that should be heavily analyzed are existing competitors and traffic counts. With the pressures of online marketplaces, competition for brick and mortar dollars is at an all-time high. As competition has increased, location strategy has turned into a chess game where all players are vying for the most visible, accessible, and attractive site. Retailers must not only out-position existing competitors but also defensively locate so as to deter any future entrants. Traffic counts are an important indicator for any market. Among other things, they can show retailers which side of the street is the ‘going to work’ side and which is the ‘going home’ side. That is important for many retailers whose sales are heavily correlated to the time of day; for instance, a coffee shop vs a bar.

#3 The Actual Brick & Mortar

You know your customer, you know the target intersection, now you must lock down the ideal space. To do that, retailers need to determine what site criteria is a must. Is drive-thru revenue vital to your business model? Do you need a patio for your happy hour specials? Should you pay more for the visibility of the endcap or will an inline suite suffice and help lower rent cost? Decide what criteria is non-negotiable and narrow down the market inventory based on your needs.

We’re here to help

Your retail space is a physical manifestation of your brand. It’s also likely one of the biggest overhead expenses in any business’ budget. For those reasons, it’s important to find and invest in the perfect retail space. That perfect retail space will differ by brand, market, and industry. But regardless of those details, Elifin Realty’s Retail Division is here to help.

Give me a call today to start your search! 800-895-9329