From cities to small towns, new retail shops, hotels, and boutique businesses are opening up at a rate faster than ever before. While online shopping has definitely taken a bite out of their business, retail is thriving in ways that might surprise casual shoppers.

If you’re opening a retail store, you have to think differently than you would have a few years ago.

Here are five steps to getting yourself up for success in the retail world.

1. Write a Mission Statement

Creating a mission statement should be the first step to opening a retail shop. You need something to keep you focused on the task at hand and on how you’re going to reach your goals. While it may sound like a clich?, a mission statement can go a long way in driving you to stay competitive.

What you need to do is to remind yourself why you started your business in the first place. The inspiration for your spark of entrepreneurship needs to remain fresh and bright with every choice you make.

If you get overwhelmed or feel like you’re losing your sway, look at your mission statement to remind yourself of what matters most to you. Your mission statement can be a north star in those difficult times to keep you looking toward the future.

It shouldn’t be about how much money you make or how big your products should be. Instead, it should sound like an all-encompassing statement about how you’re going to change your industry.

2. Decide How to Present Your Business

When you’re meeting new clients or reaching out to investors, you’re going to be asked over and over what makes you different than other candidates. You need to know how you’re going to position yourself each time.

Your why is a simple and succinct response to tell your investors, clients, and customers why you’re opening your store.

Your business needs to benefit the community and give something back to the world. No matter what kinds of products and services you specialize in, you should be offering something they need.

Whether it’s just a place to gather or somewhere to eat, it should provide something interesting and new to your community. Take some time to think more about what you want to give to the world.

3. Balance Your Finances

It’s very common for small businesses to fold in their first few years. One of the major reasons for this is that they haven’t done their due diligence in working out how to fund the business.

Businesses are expensive to start, but you need to have a plan on how to start making money back, even if it takes a few years.

Entrepreneurs need to have a strong understanding of what it takes to support a business for the first six months. On top of that, they need to keep their own life sustained.

Without having sufficient funds in their bank account, entrepreneurs should be wary about making decisions to start a business.

If you’ve got a good product or a strong market for retail services, waiting a few months to have enough money is better than going in with barely enough. From insurance to taxes, starting a business always costs more than you think.

4. Customer Experience Is Everything

The biggest reason why retail still thrives is that people crave the in-person customer experience that they can’t get from anywhere other than in a shop. Opening a retail business is expensive and complicated, but if you can offer your customers a unique experience, they’ll keep coming back for more.

Look at what Starbucks does when it comes to personal service. It offers benefits to keep employees happy and sticking around for longer than the average food service job. Then it encourages them to ask for someone’s name and memorize their drink and their name over the years.

This builds a dedication to customer service that’s impossible to achieve online. You need to give your customers a similar experience.

A memorable customer experience doesn’t end when customers leave. You need to find ways to incentivize your customers to leave their email addresses or phone numbers. This way, you can send texts or emails to remind them to come back for a refill or get them to remember how much they love your products and services.

5. Get a Feel for Space

While retail businesses have long adhered to the idiom of “location, location, location,” that concept needs to be more theoretical than literal. It has a lot to do with space in general.

Visit your location several times to see what kind of space you really have. What does it look and feel like during the day and the night? What kind of light do you get and what kind of foot traffic can you expect?

All the little things that might not be on your lease can make a big difference.

Even the layout of your store can make or break your business. A wide and spacious layout can either feel empty or welcoming depending on where you put your displays and how easy it is to navigate. You want your customers to be immersed in your store without feeling overwhelmed.

The design is important, so make sure you don’t just think about visuals, but how things inside your store really “feel.”

Opening a Retail Store Takes Dedication

When opening a retail store, you’re sure to have good days and bad days, but with the right setup, you’ll overcome any hardships. Taking this step isn’t easy, but you can succeed in every business environment with a dedication to service and a positive approach to customer service.

If you’re building a hybrid business with an indoor and outdoor space, check out our guide for building the perfect patio!