Location is one of the major roles that you will have to consider when you think of starting your own business. Choosing the best location is a way that can help your company boost its long term performance. Even if everything else in the business is in order, if location is going to be poorly picked, then there are going to be huge consequences for your business. The wrong location can even affect or compromise your business ability to provide wholesome customer experiences, for example if you’re going to select a location that is going to have bad infrastructure such as  bad roads then the customer experience is not going to be pleasing at all.

Location can also affect visibility of your business of your business and this will in turn affect the revenue your business will get in the long run.

So what then are the 5 factors that should be considered when you want to choose the location for your business?

Accessibility 

Accessibility is described as the ease with which the organisation’s products, services, and facilities can be used by the company’s employees and customers. Accessibility also has a significance on customer experiences, and this is because if anyone wishes to engage your business, they find it easy to access you, So this means that you should not place you location somewhere far, but it should be within a reasonable distance of anyone who might want to access your business.

One way to achieve this could be through making sure your business is situated close to major road networks. The other way to improve accessibility would be through making sure that your business has a digital footprint meaning that your business should be accessible online.

Security 

One thing that should not be underestimated at all is the security of the place you want to operate in. This is mainly because if your business has large sums of inventory, the chances are high that there is going to be theft, so you will need to consider a location that can assure you that your inventory is well protected. So in short you will need to do your research on the general profiles of the towns, streets neighbourhoods etc and this is because some of them might have a reputation of criminal activity, so knowing this will help you plan the possible measures you will need to implement to make sure that your business is safe.

Consider Your Brand

When choosing the business location, you will also need to consider the value of your brand, for instance if the services or the products you’re providing are for the upper class niche, the you will need to locate your business in an area that well presented and will also be able the attract the niche you’re targeting in other occasions customers know that if they go to a place like down town they might get cheap products or services and if the prices for your products or services are going to be high then downtown might not be the best place to locate you business.

Competition.

Competition is also one of the major factors that you will need to consider in your choice for business location. There are times when it is highly strategic to be located close to your competitors, then there are times when it is detrimental to be located close to your competitors. On of the benefits of choosing an area where you competitors are based is because you will get to be innovative or you will get to find ways in which you can be ahead of your competitors, hereby keeping you one step ahead from your competition.

However competition can be a major disadvantage because it will shrink the individual company’s market share and will also decrease the customer base your business will have resulting in a low cash inflow.

Business Rates

The location you choose can be highly affected by the operating costs that are in the location, for example, you will need to consider the rentals that will need to be payed, and other utility bills that will need to be considered such as electricity bills etc. It would not make sense to choose a location with high operating costs and high rentals and this is because it would affect you business financial cash flow in the long run, so you will need to consider an affordable area that will be able to sustain your business.