Relocating - advice needed

[Luddite]

Hi. As some of you may know, my business is both a website and 'bricks & mortar' shop. We close our current shop in about 2 weeks time, and due to long delays (we were supposed to have opened new shop in June), our new shop will not open until mid November. However, we have negotiated a temporary shop to trade from from Early October throught til January (2 shops over Christmas - not sure if thats good or bad at the moment!).

Anyway, my reason for posting is that the website has to be consistent during this transition. In my head, my plan was to go and buy a laptop and run it from there until we are fully relocated. However, i'm abit troubled by the security aspects of this. Maybe we should set up the PC at home and run the website from there - but then we have logistical problems in that all the stock/packaging materials/staff are at a different location.

I'd be grateful for any advice on this.

Cheers - Nick

[pinbrook]

I'd probably go for the PC at home, print off your packing lists/invoices and go to the stock location with these.

[jont]

Run the PC from home (ie a central location) but make sure you have copies of any recent orders available (on paper) in case of delivery queries, phone calls etc so you can answer them there-and-then.

2 shops over Christmas

[Luddite]

I read somewhere once that people only ask advice when they know what they want to do, but want to hear someone else say it too. How right they were! Thanks - I'll be doing as you both suggest.

2 shops over Christmas

3 shops if you include the website! Lets hope the hassle converts into ££.

Nick

[pinbrook]

3 shops if you include the website! Lets hope the hassle converts into ££.

be sure to keep the actual processing to the PC at home, but feel free to take a snapshot for reference only to the shops if you think you will want to be able to refer to order detail for phone calls etcetc.

[jont]

I read somewhere once that people only ask advice when they know what they want to do, but want to hear someone else say it too

I think "hear someone else say it too" should be "to blame someone else when it goes pear-shaped"

[buspassjohn]

2 shops and a wesite for Xmas?

Hi Nick,
you are either extremely brave or reckless to open a new shop in November, as you persevere with Actinic I guess it must be brave.
Personally I would never try running the website from a different location to the stock and despatch, there is no way you will keep up with the flow in & out of stock in the xmas bulge.
We had a nightmare to keep on top off sales thru the shop and the website last year when they were together, there was no way to stop a B & M customer buying the remaining stock at the same time a customer ordered online. With a remote location that will be even more impossible (not very good english, is it?).
Our decision was to close the shop and get out of B&M after 25 years and to be honest it's the best thing we ever did, we can now concentrate on the website and its growing like crazy.
Good luck on the move, hope to get to Norwich soon, work permitting.

[Luddite]

For:

you are either extremely brave or reckless to open a new shop in November.

Read:

(we were supposed to have opened new shop in June).

We won the tender for the new shop back in February, and to be honest, its been a complete nightmare ever since. The whole deal nearly collapsed on Friday, and would have sunk the business were we not able to salvage it yesterday. So opening a shop in November, when compared to being left with no shop at all for the only period you actually make any decent money, wasn't much of a decision.

We toyed with the idea of going online only, but we love having a shop - sure its a pain in the arse sometimes - but we figure that 2 income streams are better than 1, and the move also enables us to operate 2 additional businesses from the same location. I can see the benefits of not having a shop, but for us its as much a lifestyle choice as a means of making some money.

Be good to see you when you are over our way. I'm the one with the big nose and glasses!

Nick

[jont]

sI'm the one with the big nose and glasses!

... who sounds nothing like how he types!!!!

[Luddite]

... who sounds nothing like how he types!!!!

LOL. How does my typing sound?

[jont]

Tappy, tappy, click, clack

I type in a Scottish accent apparently

[Luddite]

Bizarrely, even though I know you don't have a scottish accent now - I still read your posts with the scots accent in my head! Anyone else going to 'fess up to how they imagine other users sound (please don't say i'm the only one!).

[NormanRouxel]

I definitely type in a Scottish accent, in spite of my French surname and being in Turkey.

[pinbrook]

can you detect my debonshire accent?

[Legends]

I don'y trype wiv an aksent cuas i do all mi tipeing in th e dark!