Retail Site Selection: Identifying the optimal location for a business

Introduction

Greg Murphy is a dedicated runner and entrepreneur. He believes that current mobile device technology can be used to improve the training regimes of middle-aged runners taking up the sport to improve their wellness. Specifically, he believes that well-educated, techno-savvy runners in this category will be motivated to continue their running programs if they can be monitored closely with the technical devices that this group uses heavily.

To exploit this opportunity, Greg plans to open a retail store in an Indianapolis shopping mall with the name CyberTraining for Health. The store will carry smart running shoes and apparel as well as the technical devices necessary to incorporate these items into comprehensive, personalized training programs. Smart running shoes measure distance, speed, and calories expended and communicate this information wirelessly to common smartphones and computers. Similarly, smart running apparel measures heart and breathing rates, as well as perspiration levels, and communicates this data wirelessly as well.

Once collected by the runner's devices, this data is then transmitted to CyberTraining for Health cloud-based software for managing training programs, where it is stored and analyzed. Results are available to runners but may also be shared with personal physicians, as well as Greg, to create a record of training activities and facilitate necessary adjustments in each runner's training regime.

The system also serves as a scheduling mechanism, reminding runners of their training plans by phone or e-mail and, if desired, prodding them if they fall a bit behind schedule.

Greg wishes to focus CyberTraining for Health on consumers between 35 and 70 with some college education, high incomes, and above-average household expenditures on sports equipment. Further, he wishes to locate in a shopping mall to take advantage of existing retail traffic patterns.

You will use web-based business geographic information system (GIS) tools to help Greg determine the shopping center whose trade area best matches the target market for his CyberTraining for Health store.

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana, core-based statistical area

Time to complete the lab

60 to 90 minutes

Prerequisites

An understanding of the importance of environmental scanning in the marketing planning process

Access to ArcGIS Explorer Online with a web browser

Data used in this lab

Demographic and consumer spending data at various levels of geography

Shopping center data

Consumer expenditure data