Small Business Owners: Should Your Business Be Storefront, Online, or Both?

Small Business Owners: Should Your Business BeStorefront, Online, or Both?Are you in the process of trying to start your ownbusiness or are you already a small business ownerwho would like to expand? If you are, how is yourbusiness currently being operated? Is yourbusiness in a storefront location, one where yourcustomers can come and visit you, or is yourbusinesses address primarily a .com one? Howyour business is run may have an important impacton its success and the profits that you are ableto make. That is why it is extremely important

that you thoroughly research all of your smallbusiness decisions, especially this one, beforemaking them.When it comes to deciding if you should start astorefront business or an online business, thereare a number of important factors that need to betaken into consideration. One of those factorsis your local economy. There are some areas ofthe United States, where unemployment rates arehigh. These are the types of areas where it maybe somewhat difficult for you to start astorefront business. Of course, that doesn 抰mean that you can 抰 try though. Other factorsthat should also be examined include thecompetition and the available commercial space;are there any affordable spaces available in oraround your intended location?In addition to examining starting a storefrontbusiness, from a local standpoint, it is alsoimportant to examine starting an online business.

What you may not necessarily know is that justabout anyone can create an online store, but thatdoesn 抰 necessarily mean that they will end upmaking money with it. To have a profitableonline store, you need to have a freshly designedwebsite, particularly one that is easy tonavigate. You also have to have a sellableproduct, particularly one that is easy to sellonline and easy to transport to your customers.As with starting a storefront business, the lessonline competition you have, the better yourchances of being successful are.If this is your first time starting a smallbusiness, you may want to take the time tothoroughly research and examine your two abovementioned options, having your business have anonline address or a physical one. This isbecause it is often advised that small businessowners start out small and then gradually expandtheir business. This often reduces thelikelihood of failure from trying to expand to

quickly, which is actually a common mistake thatmany small business owners make, but it is amistake that you will not want to make. Once youfind that your small business is doing well, itmay be a good idea to consider expanding yoursmall business to the point where it is able toservice more customers.When expanding your business so that it can servemore customers, you will want to examine yourcurrent business situation. For instance, ifyour business is being operated out of astorefront location, you may want to think aboutsupplementing that with an online store. If yourbusiness is solely online, you may want to thinkabout opening up a physical store. Waiting untilyour business is proven to be profitable or atleast successful is a great way to reduce orminimize your risks of failure.The decision as to whether or not you want to haveyour small business be a storefront business or

an online business or both is yours to make, butit is one that should be carefully decided on.How your business is operated will plan animportant role, perhaps actually be the decidingfactor, in whether or not your small business isa successful, profitable one.PPPPPWord Count 609