#1. Find Investors
One of the best ways to get the money you need is to get others to invest the money you need for startup costs like hiring a team, manufacturing your products, leasing space, creating marketing materials, etc. You can get these investments from angel investors, venture capitalists, or even just from people in your network who want to invest in your shop in exchange for a percentage of your profits once you start making them.
Having investors can be great since they give you the money you need and usually stay out of the way. A lot of the time, however, there are strings attached. One example is the aforementioned sharing of profits. Others may want to have a say in how you run your shop or which vendors you use.
#2. Make Use of Take-Home Layaway Programs
Take-home layaway is a program that financiers like Crest Financial Services offer to retailers. According to Crest Financial reviews, take home layaway is exactly what it sounds like: you use the credit to buy your store supplies—from furniture to computers to decor—from other retailers “on layaway,” and you get to take all your supplies with you and put them to work while you’re paying them off.
Take note that you typically can’t use this type of credit to fund startup costs like leases, hiring employees, etc. It is only offered for the purchase of material goods like office supplies and furniture.
#3. Offer Financing to Customers
Offering take-home layaway to your own customers is one of the best ways to keep people spending money in your store. While you can set this store credit up using your own system, you can streamline the process and remove the headache of collecting and processing payments by partnering with a third-party financier. This can be done by partnering with a major creditor but it is often better to work with independent companies, especially when you are trying to grow your customer base.
One of the best reasons to use independent third party take-home layaway financiers like Crest Financial (and to shop with the companies who work with them) is that most don’t require your customers to have any sort of credit before they apply. They don’t even run a credit check. Instead they base their approval on whether or not your customers meet their minimum income requirements.
#4 Sublet Your Space
One of the best ways to get the money you need to afford your space and your merchandise is to invite other shop owners to share the space. You can divide the store into sections and charge rent for the space and utilities they use. Doing this helps reduce your own overhead because you won’t have as much space to fill.
Another method of doing this is to sell items on consignment. Invite local artists and makers to sell their products in your store in exchange for a percentage of their sales. This reduces the amount of inventory you need to secure and helps bring in more money at the same time.
Perhaps the best reason to sublet and do consignment sales is that it reduces your marketing responsibility. Your subletters and independent artists will promote their work and offerings to their own audiences who will then be more likely to look around and see what you offer too when they come into the store.
#5 Crowdfunding
Setting up a Kickstarter or an IndieGoGo campaign to help generate operating costs is a fantastic way to introduce your idea to your community and build buzz for the shop at the same time. If you are confident that you can raise what you need, use Kickstarter. If you’re not, use IndieGogo. This is because Kickstarter will only release funds if the goal is met. IndieGogo will allow you to have whatever you’ve raised (minus their fees of course!). Successful crowd funding campaigns can also attract investors by showing them the demand and excitement for your shop.
These are just some of the ways you can finance your business and get your retail operation up and running. If you get creative, chances are you’ll come up with plenty more!
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