When it comes to running a business, you should always be striving to grow and improve, and there will normally come a point when your business is ready to expand. This will usually occur when your business has been up and running for some time and you are making a steady increase in the business profits. At this point in your business venture you will need to look ahead and shift your focus on expanding your business. A profitable business should not remain stagnant as this can cause problems and can even lead to failure, therefore always strive to do more and expand your horizons.
If you are investing your early profits back into your business then you are setting up a strong foundation for growth. With growth comes more opportunities, so make sure that you seize those opportunities and make the most out of them. Here are some ways in which you can expand and grow your business.
New products
Developing new products or services for your small business is probably the most common way of expanding your business. When it comes to creating new products or services for your small business, make sure your client base is at the forefront of your ideas and plans. Assessing your current customers can help you produce product ideas for instance by looking at how your customers can benefit from complimentary products. Consider if there is room in the market for any of your potential ideas and if the new product or service is going to appeal to a bigger customer base than your current one. Additionally, you should keep your brand in mind. You want to strengthen your brand, therefore focus on ideas that correlate with your brand name and identity.
National expansion
Another obvious form of expanding is by opening up in new locations, whether you run a coffee shop or a retail store. If your current business is thriving, why not open another branch in another town or city. Make sure that you have carried out sufficient market research, as you may not be familiar with the consumer trends in other areas. If you are running a bakery in your local town and want to expand to a city, then market research is essential in helping you get an idea of what consumers want and need in that particular city.
International expansion
You might want to skip the national expansion and dive straight into growing your business on a much larger scale by expanding internationally. If you have an online business then you could achieve this by shipping your products internationally. If you have previously only been shipping to customers in your country, then offering your products to customers abroad can be a great way to expand your reach. You can also open a branch internationally, for example you might want to open another restaurant like your existing business in another part of the world. However, you will need to thoroughly research the laws, rules, regulations, culture differences and consumer trends and needs as they can be extremely different. Alternatively, you might consider exporting your products and selling them to big companies as a supplier; this can help you make an easier entrance into a international market.
Create a franchise
If you are running a successful, profitable business then you could also consider investing in creating a franchise of your business. In order to make your business a franchise you will need to have mastered every aspect of the business operation so you are able to recreate a successful business model. You will need to be completely confident in the way you run your business and if there is a need for more businesses like yours, then franchising can be a great way to expand. There are plenty of pros and cons of creating a franchise to consider, so research is key when it comes to growing your business in this way, and you need to invest time in doing it.
Merge and extend
Merging with other businesses is another option to contemplate when it comes to growing your business. You have plenty of options, from merging with a competitor to remove the competition, or merging with a business that compliments your existing one. If you have a competitor that is looking to sell then you could consider buying their business. Although this will eliminate the competition, you need to make sure that you have sufficient funds for the transaction and also whether there is a need to have two same businesses in the same place.
There are many ways in which you can grow your business, and you will need to consider each idea carefully and decide which is most suitable to you and your business, before making the move.
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