Start a small retail business with multiple sales channels

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 is significant. It’s unfortunate that many entrepreneurs attribute a small start-up 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 were well beyond most budding entrepreneurs. Today, there is no end to the different avenues of sale 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. An attractive kiosk can be purchased for less than the cost of a decent used car. Utility and maintenance costs are also inexpensive. Mobility is an added advantage. If a location fizzles out, you can always pick it up and move on.

Internet options can 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 the moment you walk it through 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 plenty 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 fine-tune them. Once you’ve ironed out all the bugs, it may still be a while before many customers start taking notice of 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 until your site was noticed or paid for expensive ads. Instead of sitting in your basement, frankly reviewing your server log, you could settle into 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 make money while starting 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 passes 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 Pay-Pal 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 get 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 newsstand and online store, your products can be sold on eBay with virtually no upfront cost. Also, there are many savvy buyers on the Internet who transact online exclusively through auctions. By opening this third channel, your potential customer base skyrockets!