Top 10 tips on evaluating and choose the retail store locations?

What can we do to make a shop prosperous? Some people will answer: it’s the commodity itself. There are all kinds of things you want to buy, and if they display products in places that are easy to find, sales should increase. The other is the attitude and decoration of the shop assistants. The store feels comfortable and customers will come back again and again.

However, Ben Dushi, the author of “the ability to find a good store”, points out that all kinds of goods and comfortable stores are not the key factors affecting sales. The “location” is not selected, so the turnover is difficult to be good.

In order to help customers find a good store location, he combined the “huff model” proposed by David huff, an American economist(the larger the store area, the smaller the distance between customers and the store, the better the turnover). And the 20-year investigation of the location of various chain stores, and sorted out 10 factors that affect the turnover And named it “turnover factor analysis”.

In this page, “location factor” is defined as five factors that affect turnover in a narrow range, such as the land or building where the store located

1, Customer induction facilities: is it a crowd distribution center?

In the city, the most representative customer guidance facilities are the stations that all kinds of people can use. If the number of passengers getting on and off the train is more than a certain number of stations, although there will be differences due to the type or type of store business, generally speaking, the closer the station is, the higher the turnover can be expected.

On the other hand, in the suburbs, you can choose a large intersection, trunk road or highway interchange or rest station; in the shopping center, it is the main entrance or exit of the parking lot, escalator, elevator, etc.

2, Identification: is the store easy to see?

Identification can be divided into visibility and visibility. Visibility is used to evaluate “visible” and “invisible” items. For example, if the store is on the second floor or basement of the building, passers-by will not see it. In order to improve visibility, it is necessary to have front signs, window displays, hanging cloth curtains Wait.

Popularity is the evaluation of “know” or “don’t know” items. For example, in every community, there are some well-known old stores or brands that people subconsciously choose. If your store is just opened, it should be widely publicized and well-known.

3, Moving line: is the road often taken by customers?

The road connecting the two “customer induction facilities” is the “moving line”. For example, the station and office building are all customer guidance facilities. The road from the station to the office building is the moving line.

Compared with the customer guidance facilities, the “moving line” is not necessarily visible at a glance and needs careful observation. At the same time, the moving line is easy to change, especially in the area where there are more than three customer guidance facilities at the same time. The moving line will become complex, which will change the daily route of customers, and then affect the number of people passing by the store door.

4, Building structure: is the store spacious and has enough seats?

The location, area, number of seats, even the number of parking spaces and entrances in the parking lot are all included in the “building structure”.

Generally speaking, the larger the store, the higher the turnover. But if the shop is located in the outskirts, there must be a parking lot. After all, the inconvenience will also affect the willingness to come to the shop. At the same time, the number of parking spaces will limit the number of people coming to the store, so more parking spaces can also increase the turnover. Finally, whether the entrance faces the main road will also affect the number of customers.

5,Intimacy: is it convenient for guests to enter?

The shop is easy to enter, which is called “closeness”. It can be divided into physical and psychological aspects.

Physical proximity, such as whether the sidewalk in front of the store is broad. Because on the narrow sidewalk, the walking speed will be faster, and it is easy to pass the store door directly. In the same way, if the sidewalk is full of bicycles, customers don’t want to squeeze into the store door, which will also damage intimacy.

On the other hand, the store is located in the basement or above the second floor. It is very troublesome to go up and down the stairs, or you can’t directly see the appearance of the store. The insecurity will make customers stay away from the store, which is an example of lack of psychological intimacy.

The business circle factors related to turnover in the area of several kilometers or even tens of kilometers can be further divided into five points:

6, Market size: is there sufficient population?

To investigate how many people live within a few meters of the radius of the store’s reservation and their consumption level is almost the homework that must be done before the store is opened. If you know before you open the store, who lives around the store, or many people work here, it’s possible to predict the turnover.

7, Nature of business district: is there a target customer layer?

If we want to open a clothing boutique oriented by young women, we must not only consider the surrounding population, but also consider how many young women there are among these population? Therefore, before opening a shop, it is necessary to evaluate the “nature of the business district”, such as different business forms (which type of shop is more), or the attributes of the customer group (such as gender, age, occupation, number of families, income, etc.), so as to find out the business district that meets the target customer group.

8, Key scale: is there anyone passing by at the door of the store?

The number of people and cars in front of the store is called “key scale”. If the store is located in the center of the city, the number of people passing through it should be considered, that is, the “traffic volume”; if it is located on the main road in the suburb,

9, Self-competition: are there competitors of the same brand?

Most shopkeepers are aware of competitors. However, he found that the owners of many chain stores often ignored the competitiveness of other stores of the same chain brand. And it was the most influential factor in the turnover of their own companies.

Generally Speaking. Chain enterprises like to open stores in a centralized way. which means that in a certain area, they are filled with their own stores everywhere and seize the market share of the whole area at one go. This can not only improve the efficiency of logistics but also improve the identification of stores in the region and enhance the brand power of the whole chain stores.

It’s also because there are advantages to opening a centralized store. So if you want to develop a new chain store of pasta, you have to consider whether it’s more benefits or the turnover pain caused by “self-competition”. Especially in the form of franchised stores. Enterprises must pay attention to the managers of each store in response to this problem.

10, Competition of other companies: are there competitors of different brands?

As long as there are competitors around the store, the turnover is bound to be affected. At this time, only from the “commodity”, “price” and “function” three points to evaluate the strength of competitors. However, she reminded me that recently, the barriers of business types or forms have been reduced. Moreover, there are many unexpected competitors, such as convenience stores selling coffee, pearl milk tea, doughnuts, etc. Therefore, when setting up stores, you can ask yourself: if convenience stores will sell products similar to your own, will there be too many competitors in a certain range?

Finally, I would like to remind you that each factor of the “turnover factor” has a different impact on turnover. Each store is different from each chain store. For example, for the catering industry, “building structure” is very important; for clothing boutiques, “business district nature” may prevail.

The shopkeeper who wants to open a shop must think about these 10 factors in detail, such as “building structure” and the number of shops, parking lots, store entrances, etc. Through actual observation and comparison of the surrounding conditions of alternative locations, all relevant factors are listed step by step. Finally, the factors with “significant impact” are selected in the final set. And finally, the locations that can bring the largest revenue are selected.

Choose the right shop location is always the first step to ensure a retail industry. There is a long way to go running a successful retail business. If you need any store fixture and retail display stands. Unique Kiosks will offer the best.