Are you looking to open a physical storefront for your business? While online shopping is popular, many customers still love to visit brick-and-mortar shops. Before taking the jump, consider these three steps to find the right location for your business.
Step 1: Know Your Target Market
Business to Consumers
You need to know who your target market is. While you might think your product or service caters to everyone, you must get specific. To get help with this step, check out our article, How to Research Your Market.
For example, if your target market were men between the ages of 15 and 34, who spend money on video games, you should identify their locations so you can market to them. You could attend events in their area and spread the word about your new game or advertise on local business websites.
Business to Business
If your target market is other businesses, you need to know what businesses will likely buy from you. You might want to consider the size of the business, how old it is, and so on. Then, you should find out which communities have this type of business so you know where advertising would be most effective.
Step 2: Find Reliable Sources of Information
A good source should be extensive in its methods and provide the most accurate and reliable information possible. Statistics Canada is a great place to start. They conduct a census every five years that covers the size of families, household income, occupation, education, ethnicity, and so on.
The provincial equivalent to Statistics Canada is BC Statistics. It has a high standard for accuracy and can provide you with information more specific to our province.
To get an idea of where businesses are located, you could look at your city’s Business License Department. You can filter the number of businesses by type and discover their names, the type of business, and how many employees they have.
Step 3: Find Your Customers
Business to Consumers
BC Statistics also gives you insight into population projections by five-year age groups, as well as their gender and their city or local health region.
Business to Business
Reference Canada allows you to find out more about different types of businesses, their size, age, and gender of the owner, as well as their contact information. This database can be accessed through selected libraries such as the Vancouver Public Library.
Small Business BC is Here to Help
SBBC is a non-profit resource centre for BC-based small businesses. Whatever your idea of success is, we’re here to provide holistic support and resources at every step of the journey. Check out our range of business webinars, on-demand E-Learning Education, our Talk to an Expert Advisories, or browse our business articles.
