Most people believe that in order to
achieve success, it is important to study the works of successful people and
successful organizations. While this notion holds true to a good extent, it is
also important and insightful to take a look at failures. Indeed, by studying
and understanding what causes failure, one can gain more awareness. In fact, in
order to achieve long term success, one must never ignore the aspects that can
lead to failure.
Many businesses, too, start off well
but often go awry somewhere along the way. This happens across businesses in
every industry and the reasons for businesses failing must always be studied.
In this article, we will take a look at the top ten reasons why retail
businesses fail.
Whether you’re planning to start off
a retail venture, or you have already established your retail store, it is
important for you to consider the probable causes of retail businesses failing.
Doing so will offer you a good amount of insight and may prevent your business
from collapsing.
Here are the top ten causes of
retail failure:
1. Lack of proper capital
As with all types of businesses,
retail businesses require a good amount of capital, both to start off the
venture, as well as to sustain operations. Even after starting up, many retail
businesses soon reach a stage where they require additional funds to continue
operating.
Business owners must always ensure
that they have proper access to capital and must look to secure financing well
before the business needs it. Securing capital well in time can be the
determining factor between a successful venture and insolvency.
2. Disasters
Disasters, either manmade or
natural, can be the death blow to a retail business. While it is often
difficult to anticipate and escape disasters, retail business owners must
ensure that they have a plan to combat an emergency scenario. Furthermore,
business owners must ensure that they have proper and adequate insurance
policies in place for such situations.
3. Underestimating costs of
overheads
While a large number of business
owners pay close attention to all details of their business, the cost of
overheads is often overlooked. Overheads include the fixed and running costs
that are required for the day to day operation of a business. If these costs
are not calculated accurately, retail business owners may find themselves
paying out of their pockets to sustain daily operations.
It is necessary for retail business
owners to always account for overhead expenses and keep centralized funds for
paying these costs. It is also a wise idea to keep a buffer on the estimation
in order to cover variable and miscellaneous costs, which may not occur every
day.
4. Negligence
Negligence is one of the biggest
reasons retail ventures fail. Often, entrepreneurs are the ones who start off a
retail venture. However, entrepreneurs, being visionaries, relish challenges
and once the challenge of setting up a venture passes, their interest begins to
wane.
A retail business needs a good
amount of involvement and clear directions set by its leaders in order to be
successful. Leaders will need to keep their interest in their retail ventures
and maintain performance at all times.
5. Poor sales figures
Businesses make money by conducting
sales and without sales, no business can survive. Sales are linked to many
factors, including economic trends and market awareness and company management
must always look to increase sales figures in order for the business to grow.
While it is not entirely possible to
guarantee that a business makes sales, retail business owners must look to
carefully study market trends and customer preferences. By studying the market
and by bringing about necessary adjustments in strategy, a retail business can
be responsive, and this can help increase sales figures.
6. Overexpansion
Many retail businesses start off
well and soon plan to expand in order for the business to flourish. While
expansion certainly needs to be done, it must be done in moderation. Expanding
too much, or too rapidly can lead to a variety of problems which a retail
business may not be ready to face.
Before attempting to expand and
capture a bigger share of the market, business owners must ensure that they are
adequately prepared to meet logistic challenges, financing concerns, staffing
issues and supply chain management. Expanding without preparation can make
retail businesses battle out for survival.
7. Problems with the management or
leadership
Of the many reasons why retail
businesses fail, problems with leadership or the management is one reason,
which is completely the business owner’s responsibility. While a retail
business may have been started off by an entrepreneur, it is important to
effectively manage the day to day issues.
Lack of proper experience and incompetence
of the management is one of the prime reasons why retail businesses fail.
Business owners must ensure that they spot and effectively address any
management problems before they go out of hand.
8. Economic conditions
Economic factors are often out of
the hands of business owners. Every once in a while, there will be an economic
downturn and business owners cannot avoid such a scenario. However, those
retailers, who keep themselves prepared financially for such a downturn, will
find themselves managing through the tough times.
Changing economic conditions is
never in the hands of a business owner. However, training and planning to meet
fluctuating economic conditions can prove to be the decisive factor to a retail
business succeeding or failing.
9. Fraud
Unfortunately, fraud is something
which exists in every industry and may be committed by anyone, including
partners, vendors, customers or even employees. While it is not entirely
possible to escape fraud altogether, retail businesses must ensure due
diligence and must keep themselves prepared for such scenarios. It is also a
good idea to have insurance policies in place to cover any fraud. Doing so can
allow business owners to address and combat such scenarios effectively.
10. Customer problems
Whatever business a company may be
in, it needs to be able to address customer problems. Customer problems may
range from customers not paying up on time, to customers being unhappy with the
products or services they purchase.
While there is no guaranteed way of
keeping customers happy, retailers must look to be quick in responding to
customer concerns and must always maintain clear communication with customers.
Doing so will keep customer problems from turning into business ending
disasters.