Retail Marketing Fall 2002
Homework 2:  Location, location, location!
Demographics, Online Mapping, and trade area analysis
 RETAILING AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE  52:630:368  - Fall 2002 - 3 credits
Course Index:  71175  -  Sec 01: T-TH 4:30 – 5:50pm  –  BSB 106
Dr. Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, Associate Professor of Marketing - Office:  BSB 219




Due: Thursday, October 24
Relevant Skills:  retail site analysis, use and analysis of demographic data,
                             mapping skills, zoning laws,  franchising  agreements
Course Contribution: 20 points

This homework is designed to build your skills in trade area analysis and site selection. Many firms fail because of a poor choice of location. It works through Figure 10.8, “A Location Site Evaluation Checklist.”

Suppose that you were the site planner for Seven Eleven. You’d want to pick a good location that has high traffic, good commuter access, mass transit, and so forth. You’d also want to find proof that there are “enough” people in the trading area that are in your target market. You also want to match the products you see with the target market’s needs. For instance, some Seven Eleven’s sell gasoline, while others do not. Let’s use some tools to try to build good site evaluation skills. You will be sent an email of industry article excerpts that describe 7-Eleven’s strategic plans.
http://www.7-eleven.com/
http://www.7-eleven.com/franchising/franchising.asp
 

1. INTRODUCTION:
a. First, introduce the report as if you are a consultant for the firm.  Provide a description of the variables that you think would be most important to the success of your business.  These can be variables associated with the actual location as well as variables representing the population in the area.
b. Select a location near your home or work that you think might be a good possibility. This can be an existing business and is not limited to sites that are for sale or under development. Determine the approximate address, town, county, and zip code. Take a photo or series of photos of this location and provide full address information. Use the photos to describe the site.
 

2. ACTUAL LOCATION IN ITS CONTEXT:  Evaluate the site using a mapping program. Find out what is in your trading area, especially competition.  Print out at least two maps and evaluate the site in terms of roadways, businesses, and so forth.  Be careful with highway names and intersections!  You can pick from the sites below.

a. http://www.esri.com/data/online/quickmap.html
b. This next site, Maps On Us, is a business-oriented site that allows you to plot an address, and then request that businesses of a certain type or a certain name to be plotted on your map. You will retrieve detailed information about the businesses. http://www.mapsonus.com/
c. MapQuest is a familiar mapping program that allows you to add limited types of businesses to your map. You can add auto repair and auto supply locations: http://www.mapquest.com/
d. MapBlast allows you to input an address, add business services, plus add points of interest that might be related to traffic to your store location: http://www.mapblast.com/myblastd/
 

3. IS MY TARGET MARKET PART OF THIS LOCATION?  Next, use online Census Data to provide detailed evidence that your target customers are in the trading area. Go to the Census Bureau Factfinder web site. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet.  There is more than one method to provide the Tables you need to assess the market potential of your chosen site. You should produce 5 tables that would be relevant to a good choice of location.

a. Input the exact address on the homepage. The next screen will ask you to select the geographic area surrounding the address you want to evaluate. The area should match the homes/workplaces of your target customers. Select the area description. The next screen will give you several options for tables. Select the “Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3)”.  Click on the “more files” link. The next screen will list numerous tables that are available.

b. This other approach gives you a bit more control of the specifics of the trade area for your evaluation. I think that it is more complete. You can choose numerous towns or areas to include, rather than working from just the specific address:

1) Click on the link named “Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3)”
2) Click on "detailed tables"
3) You first need to input the location that you want to study.  Go to "select a geographical type" and choose selection that best matches your location. Is it one specific "place", is it a census tract, is it a larger area?  You may need to try this a few times in order to select the choice that will subsequently contain your location. The descriptions will help you understand these terms.
4) On the next screen, you will be given the option to select the state. Select New Jersey.
5) A list of towns will appear. Select the town that you are studying. Click on "add" right below it, and then "next."  If your desired location does not appear, go back to step 3 and try a different type. The area you want may contain a few towns, especially if you are evaluating a trade area that is larger than one specific town. You can click in several in order to represent the area you want to analyze.
6) After you have done this, it's easy!  You can now select all the tables that you want and their names will appear in the box below. When you have created all the table names, simply click on "Show Table."
 
 

4. LAWS CONTROLLING THE SITE:  Visit your local Chamber of Commerce, Municipal Building, or local Business Development Group. Interview them about zoning laws for the location you have chosen. NOTE: you will learn quite a bit from this step. Describe what you have found and include any handouts or charts in your appendix. How do the laws affect your proposed business?

You can also complete some of this work on the web, if the location has posted its zoning information.

http://www.generalcode.com/webcode2.html

Other municipalities have their own web sites, such as Cherry Hill and Haddonfield.

Here are several links to sites that provide NJ information. Some are useful, and some are not, depending on the location.
http://www.2chambers.com/new6.htm
http://online-chamber.com/NewJersey.html
http://www.new-jersey.com/business/coc.htm
http://officialcitysites.org/state.php3?st=NJ
 

5.SITE EVALUATION:   Finally, evaluate the site using the format given in Figure 10.8, page 340. Be sure to use the chart correctly!  Duplicate this chart and enter your ratings. NOTE: You are not asked to collect specific information on actual occupancy or costs of the site. Your ratings should be based on the information that you have found.  In 4-5 pages, discuss your ratings, referring to the data gathered in Steps 1-4. Put the site photo and your information from Steps 1-4 in an Appendix for reference.