All businesses will eventually need to try and expand to avoid them stagnating. You shouldn’t rush yourself into any expansions before you’re ready, as it may lead to a big financial loss and harm your reputation.
For that reason, this article will go over six different things to think about when considering expanding, so read on.
Expanding Online and Expanding Physically
The first thing you should think about when it comes to expanding your business is will you expand online or physically? There are questions you need to ask yourself and considerations you need to take for the good of your business.
Most businesses will find it easier and cheaper to expand into the online world first. If your business has never been set up online before, then you will need to first create a website. Your website will be free to have whatever you please on it, but it’s a good idea to remain professional and put focus on your products. Ensure your website has the system in place to allow users to purchase products directly from your website. There will be website builders you can work with who can code this for you and generally manage your website.
If you are looking to expand your business physically, then there will be some key things you need to think about. In particular, you should think about where you will physically expand into. This means finding a town to set up and a location itself. You should try to bring down as many costs as you possibly can, such as paying rent on a building or purchasing equipment and furniture, which the next few sections will cover.
Purchasing Equipment
It is likely that expanding means you need new equipment to meet the demand. For example, you may be opening up a new office space, which means you need new computers, monitors, and other key pieces of technology.
If you are opening up a new warehouse, then you will likely need new warehouse equipment, such as pallet trucks and stock management tools. Essentially, it depends on your business and what you will need from an expansion.
Before opening the doors to your new expansion, you should ensure your new facilities have everything you need. If you open too early, then you run the risk of being less effective than you could be or even being forced to close.
Purchasing Furniture
As well as ensuring you have the equipment that you need for your expansion, you will also need to think about the furniture. This means purchasing new desks and chairs for offices, ensuring you have enough for everyone. While you can buy second-hand, your employees may enjoy the prospect of new materials.
If you are opening a new expansion in a physical location, then you should certainly look into modern furniture pieces to ensure you are keeping your standards high and looking professional at all times. Not only should the furniture you purchase look good, but it should also serve as a useful service to your business in some way.
For example, most businesses will need some sort of cabinet system or storage solutions in general so that they can create a clean and productive workspace. If you need metal storage lockers, either for storing chemicals or paperwork, you should look for professional lockers that can match each other. The Workplace Depot will have the storage solutions you need, including storage cabinets with plastic bins, meaning there will be something useful to you and your expansion.
Increasing Marketing
Expanding can take up a lot of your time and drain your resources. To make all of this be worth it, you should invest in quality marketing solutions. Marketing your expansion helps ensure that people are aware of your expansion so that people are actually aware of what you are doing.
Increasing your marketing doesn’t need to be an expense; it just means you need to focus more effort on it. For example, you could utilize social media marketing yourself, which won’t cost you anything. Of course, you can go for more premium marketing solutions to try and maximize results if you want to.
Social media marketing is a useful tool for businesses looking to expand, as they can show their customers directly what they’re up to. Some platforms will be more effective than others, depending on the nature of your business and how you want to deal with social media. You can post daily stories to show how the expansion is going and allow customers to feel more involved with what’s going on.
While you can save costs on marketing yourself, it may be a better idea to look into professional services. This means you outsource either a part of your marketing or the entire department. You will still be in contact with them over time as you explain what your business is all about. They will then be able to convey the message you want to get across and what your expansion is all about.
Hiring New Staff
A large part of expanding your business means you are looking to grow. It may be difficult to grow effectively without hiring new staff. They may need to be hired to deal with new stores that have physically opened or to deal with the demand that is coming from online orders.
Every expansion is different, so expanding doesn’t automatically mean you need to hire staff for the sake of it. You will need to consider if the cost of hiring will be worth it in the short term as well as the long term.
If you decide you need to hire new staff, then you will need to go through the hiring process. An important part of this is to write a job description to help advertise the position online. You should be as honest as possible during the job description, as you don’t want to hire someone who doesn’t fit the role because the job was advertised incorrectly.
It may be better for you to be honest about the expansion too. Some expansions may be a risk, and if you wish to bring in a new employee, they will likely have concerns about their job security. Inform them of what you have planned and reassure them that they will be protected, as this will give them financial security.
Launching New Products
Finally, expanding your business will be a perfect time to launch a new product. This could be a product that is similar to what you do now, or you could be doing something completely different. No matter what sort of product it is, you will need to ensure that there is market demand for it. If you launch a product that the market isn’t ready for, then it is more likely to fail.
You can find out what the market wants from you by conducting market research. A part of your market research may include looking at your competitors to see what they are currently working on and what they may be planning for the future.
While looking at your competitors will be useful, it will be no substitute for finding out what your customers want. There will be market research experts who can analyze the market and find out what trends will be coming to the market before they happen so that you can get ahead of the game and prepare accurately.
