Retailing 101: What They Don't Tell You About Being a Retailer

Hi! Welcome to the first part of my blog series: Retailing 101.  In these series, I would like to provide an insight into the basics of retailing and what it's like to have your own store, your own inventory, supplies, how to manage your business, etc.

I'd like to begin this mammoth task with a simple introduction.

One of the things that I never thought I would do was to open an actual, physical shop.

Now, here I am, blogging my heart out while waiting for customers to come into my door where they can be entertained and hopefully, find and purchase what they're searching for.

At 21, I currently own and manage three businesses alongside my fiancee.

Two of which are online shops and the other one is a traditional brick-and-mortar store.

The Difficulties

The question to be answered now is: Is retailing easy?

The Answer: No, it's not.

Having your own shop sometimes seems glamorous, but it's only because the hard work happens behind closed doors.

Here's a list of things you might find yourself struggling with when starting out a small retail business:

• Finding a feasible space for your shop.
• Having to deal with legalities such as securing your business permit, and legal documents regarding the formation of your business organisation (articles of partnership, articles of incorporation)
• Scouring for suppliers, comparing wholesale prices between suppliers
• Figuring out the logistics of your product.
• Accounting for the cost of your product
• Calculating your desired mark up and ensuring that your selling prices remain competitive.
• Marketing
• Advertising
• Maintaining good customer relations
• Determining your reorder point

We'll tackle each individual item in separate blog posts.

For now, it's important to note that nothing in life is ever easy the first time.

It takes some mistakes to get it right and you'd find yourself constantly changing and adapting to the challenge.

Now, on to the good side . . . .

There's two sides to every coin and here's some of the highlights of having and managing your own small retain store:

• You have absolute freedom.
• You could get to know and be a part of your local community better.
• You get to meet new people and build better relationships. (They might become return customers).
• You're helping boost local economy.
• You learn to balance your time and you learn how to prioritize better.
• Your money is your money (income, net of tax).

With the pros and cons mentioned, it's vital to assess yourself first and see if you're mentally, physically, and emotionally ready to take on a big project such as opening your own retail store

.

I say mentally, physically, and emotionally ready only because if you have all of this down, the financial aspect will follow.

More blog posts will be up regarding this retail series and I hope this post has given you some insight into this industry.

Feel free to comment down below and start a conversation! :)