Renovating your retail store can be a core strategy to attract new customers and change the positioning of your brand. Renovating is a preparation for future commerce. These renewal activities help your business or brand to remain as competitive as possible.
However, the decision to renovate and change your retail store is not a small one. It will open up an exciting new tale about your brand. It can also take some time for the customers to settle for the new look of your store. The new take will pull you away from the normal operations and marketing activities. Hence, it needs proper pre-planning.
Projects whether small or large, end successfully only if they are started with a fool-proof plan without any potholes. The article provides some tips to safely plan the renovation of your retail store.
Value Employee Input
Your employees cover the floor of your retail store countless times a day, taking care and servicing the customers or arranging and stocking the shelves. Ask their opinion on user-friendly flooring, point of sale, storage, or display options.
Explain your renovation goals to your employees and then ask them to come up with individual suggestions. Discuss the suggestions in a team meeting and come up with an integrated renovation plan.
The employees take the renovation more seriously and personally when they feel they have an important role in the outcome.
Don’t Reinvent The Wheel
Scrapping your walls and ceilings, makes you face the expense of moving and changing the existing infrastructure. Ductwork, plumbing connections, electric wires, or other structural fittings do not require replacements during the retail renovation process. So, it is better to plan and guide your renovation contractor to work with and around what is already in place, in terms of structural fittings.
It is better to decide on the remodeling strategies and work without rerouting and relocating the infrastructure and save some money.
Developing A Realistic Timeline
Generally, the retail commercial renovation projects close the store doors for the customers. The customer’s traffic can distract and hinder the construction work. Moreover, the construction limits the space to perform regular business activities.
Therefore, remember to calculate everything from time taken by renovation itself to the sales lost in this time. Work on-time schedules to minimize business loss and maximize construction efficiency. Determine the construction design that suits the best to your business – explain the realistic expectations and demands to your retail store renovation contractor.
Also Read: Benefits of Design-Build Construction Approach
Balance Needs And Wants
Retail success is a tricky thing, it needs you to dream big but also demands you to stick to a certain budget. Extravagant store designs are always tempting when you want to give your store a new look. However, they then demand a generous budget as well. It is better to perform a cost-benefit analysis and determine, comparing the lavish design budget to something more practical, you can assess the places where you can use those savings as well.
This process is not pinching pennies, but valuing every dollar. Take pride in working smart and stop your renovation budget from stretching unnecessarily.
Interview Several Contractors
Trusting someone for such an important task impacts your business in every aspect. It is not easy. Therefore, spend some time selecting a renovating company. You can search online for the reputed companies in your area, go through their social media, websites, and know about the quality of services offered. You can go through the customer feedback or comments on social posts and get a better idea about their performance on the ground.
After doing the online search, select 4-5 contractors and interview them. A professional contractor will sit with you, listen to your plan, clear plan ambiguities, and answer all your questions. Once you are satisfied with the contractor’s professionalism, hire them and give them your plan, needs, and demands. This will provide the contractor a well-thought base plan to change the face of your retail store completely.
