If you love sports and everything about it, you might have thought about opening a sports shop of some sort. Whether you love the idea of selling high-quality sports equipment or you’ve designed your line of sporting gear, there are some things to take into consideration. Before diving headfirst into the world of sports retail therapy, let’s look at what you need to think about.
Research your competitors
The first thing you need to do is take some time to check out your competitors. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Once you know this, you can use it to your advantage with your business strategy. Bonus points if you find a gap in the market that they aren’t already covering. While you’re at it, take a look at your target audience. Knowing what they want will be a huge advantage!
Find the right location
Finding the right place to set up shop is significant, especially in a world where everyone does their shopping online. You need to try and find a location that’s easily accessible and already has keen shoppers passing by. Pair the perfect location with a grand opening and your business will already be off to a great start.
Get the right insurance
One thing you’ll learn quickly is that starting a business is not an easy task. So naturally, you’ll want to protect everything you’ve worked so hard for. While there may be many insurance policies that offer general cover, it’s a good idea to look into insurance for sporting goods stores because you’ll have extra cover that general policies don’t usually include.
Give customers plenty to talk about
Your next step should be to stock your shelves with all of the latest and greatest sports gear. From hockey sticks to footballs to gum shields, a new sports shop will invite many keen sports players inside – and you’ll be missing out if you can’t offer what they’re looking for. Unless you’re a niche sports shop, it’s a good idea to partner with top-name brands to get the latest releases before any of your competitors do.
Work on your curb appeal
While excitement will naturally generate in the days leading up to your store being open, you need to make sure you catch the attention of passersby. You can achieve this by making sure your store looks and feels the part. Create a visually inviting window display, have the right music playing, and you could even have a mini football pitch inside to spice things up. The more exciting for the customers, the better.
Sponsor local teams
Finally, a great way to get the word out about your sports shop is by sponsoring local teams. If your name is on their jerseys every week when they’re playing it will help bring in more customers. Where possible, offer to design their sports jerseys! It could be another avenue of your business to explore that could bring in a lot of money!
