Planning for Success
Multi-Channel Sales: Get More From Your Fixed Overhead Costs
By Steven Pollack
Mar 20, 2006, 08:46

Between rent, employees, and inventory, a retail store has a huge amount of fixed costs just to open the doors each day.  While you can argue that employees are not fixed costs, most retail sales staff have between 50% and 80% downtime between customers.  The point being that they are there being paid and can be tasked for additional duties if needed.

Every retail store should make it a goal to add another sales channel in the next year to make more sales from the fixed costs of being in business.  The following is a partial list of what would be good candidates:

• Create a website – This is much easier than in the past.  CityMax has template driven sites that can be set up in an hour and are already e-commerce capable through Paypal and your current merchant credit card processing accounts.  Cost:$16.95/month
• Sell on eBay – If your suppliers allow this, it is a great companion to having your goods on a website because the same product photography and product descriptions can be used for both.  In fact, CityMax will automatically feed your listings to eBay if you choose. Cost: incremental for listing or $15/month for an eBay store (recommended)
• Sell on Craigslist – This is a great resource for dumping end of season, irregular, or slow moving merchandise.  Craigslist has local classified style listings that are free in most cities (for now).  People pour over these listings all day and the response rate is great.  These are probably not your regular clientele so you will not harm your reputation by selling this way.  If they are your clientele then you just made a new customer for your regular goods. Cost: Free
• Wholesale – If you can make a profit selling your goods in larger lots then you have the opportunity to move more goods this way.  Plus you may start getting better wholesale prices if you increase your volume with your supplier.  Take out ads in trade publications:  contractor/designer magazines for home décor products, party planning magazines if you can cater events, or local book club newsletters for book sellers. These don’t need to be display ads but rather classified section ads in the back work just fine. Cost: $200 to $500 per month

You rarely see a restaurant that is only open for one meal.  The rent is fixed and the food is spoiling by the hour so it just makes sense to try to use the fixed costs as effectively as possible.  So why should retailers rely on the single venue of their storefront when the world is wide open for getting the same set of goods into peoples hands in multiple ways?  They shouldn’t, that was a rhetorical question.

For the basics of selling online, read this article.