The choice of premises for a business is determined by several factors, the location is the most critical of all: beyond the quality of the products or services you sell, having a good location will be a key point for the success or failure of your project.
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Where is the public?
You have to answer this question, obligatorily: where is my target audience? In an industrial estate? In a metropolitan area? In a rural area? In a business park?
Depending on your answers, you will choose a location close to the area of influence of your target audience, since it should not be necessary for them to have to expressly travel to your establishment, but rather that they run into it during their daily transit.
Likewise, you must attend to the factors that motivate the entry of the public into establishments, as well as their possible purchase intentions.
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impulse sale
If you sell a product that does not require great deliberations on the part of the consumer to be purchased (fast food, gifts, hotels) you will have to look for an area with high commercial traffic: you will guarantee a large influx of people likely to enter your establishment.
The cost of premises in a location with high pedestrian traffic can be really expensive since they are highly valued spaces: evaluate to what extent it is worth choosing such a location, or if you prefer a secondary axis of the neighborhood or some street in the commercial reactivation process.
sale by destination
There may be other businesses around you that have the ability to attract many customers: supermarkets, shopping malls, garages… You could take advantage of this influx of people to position yourself near them and offer your products as a cross-sell.
Likewise, it is also convenient that you choose the location for your premises thinking about the proximity of other businesses that have to do with what you offer: for example, it makes more sense to open a childcare store in the vicinity of a nursery school than in an area full of nightlife venues.
Sale by proximity
If one of the key points of your business is proximity to your customers (the classic “neighborhood store”), it is logical that you fit into the immediate ecosystem of your neighbors: it may not be so important to choose a main artery of the city, but locate yourself within a small local nucleus to begin to be part of the life of the community that is closest to you.
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How is the place?
Infrastructures and accessibility
In addition to the obvious importance of pedestrian traffic, take into account if the place where you are going to locate your premises is well connected by road or public transport, and if it is easy to park near it (provided you want to attract customers from outside your area of immediate influence).
Likewise, you will have to consider the feasibility of having events, works or projects with an impact in your area: it may be that within a short time, new urban development will bring together hundreds of new neighbors near your business.
Proximity to areas of interest
Another fundamental point in choosing a place for your business will be the nature of the nearby areas: one of the factors that usually condemn a business is having chosen a location that is too isolated from points of interest for consumers.
You may be interested in being near commercial nodes, where the number of potential customers has maximized thanks to the high concentration of passers-by, or near points of tourist or recreational interest that bring together many visits (sports venues, emblematic points of the city, among others) .
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Where is the competition?
Here the question has two possible answers: you could choose to have the competition as far away or as close as possible. Everything will depend on how you have managed to position yourself with respect to them.
On the one hand, you may want the client not to be in the dilemma of choosing between your business and that of a competitor, and you prefer to be the only local point of reference in your core of activity. This will guarantee you wide margins and great brand visibility in your immediate area.
On the other hand, you may prefer to accept the challenge of your competition and occupy the same area of influence: however, even if you are very sure that you can compete with others and can attract the same customers, you may have to further adjust your prices and give added value to your services.
Although we have not mentioned it, you must also take into account how much you can pay for the premises: if you find that the desired premises are out of your budget, you will have to lower some of your expectations; make sure that your premises are in a well visible area and with the least possible architectural barriers to access it.
