Who needs Retail Site Selection and Why
Investing in a retail site selection firm may seem like something reserved for multi-million-dollar corporations with unlimited budgets, but this is an investment that no business can afford to forego.
Poor location dooms a dream
Since graduating from high school, Ashleigh’s dream has been to own a luxurious salon where glamourous clients will book decadent treatments and emerge with cutting-edge styles. After years of saving and borrowing from family she thinks her dream is about to come true when the ribbon is cut on her new location.
Ashleigh thinks she covered all her bases. The salon boasts unique, upscale décor, her hair stations are personalized with perfect lighting, and separate treatment rooms offer space for facials and waxing. She’s invested in a great logo and a user-friendly website.
What Ashleigh doesn’t know – because her research didn’t focus on many of the most important factors that determine success – is that her new business location, although highly visible and easily accessible, will doom her to failure. Surrounded by families who view Ashleigh’s services as an indulgence, she’ll struggle to attract the clientele who will visit regularly enough to make the salon profitable. The few clients who do book services complain about the commute and eventually find a salon closer to home or work.
By investing in site selection, Ashleigh would have learned that locating her salon in the next town would increase her chances for success – by making the salon convenient to those who would be excited about her services.
Modeling should happen before looking at locations
A busy chiropractic team has decided to open a new office. The managing doctor has found what she thinks is the perfect spot. It is 20 miles from their existing location and in a busy shopping center with lots of traffic. She signs a long-term lease for the best deal and takes out a loan against their business to make needed improvements to the office, adding separate rooms and investing in expensive imaging equipment.
Unfortunately, not everyone values chiropractic services and those busy shoppers don’t have the time or the inclination to stop in for regular adjustments. The doctor’s investment is lost and her plans to retire early are put on the back burner.
Investing in site selection before signing a lease – or even looking at potential locations – would have revealed better options for a new chiropractic office, clarifying where potential patients live and work.
Site selection can reveal a community’s tastes and habits
The real estate site selection manager for a group of popular Italian restaurants has his eye on a prospective location. Research has revealed there is not another Italian restaurant within seven miles and his favorite real estate broker has a deal on a lease. He pushes the corporate office to pull the trigger without exploring other options.
What the site selection manager didn’t realize is that the reason there wasn’t already an Italian restaurant nearby is because the population who lives in the area is only 50 percent as likely as the average US household to eat at Italian restaurants. Knowing that in advance could have saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars – and saved the real estate site selection manager his job.
The right site selection firm can help lead you to success
Site selection research analyzes the area around your potential location from two main perspectives: The relative concentrations of your best customers in the area as well as the absolute number of them. Both are important factors that determine success.
No matter what business or industry you are in, you need to have the right firm at your back when you make a decision as momentous as choosing a new business location. Our data-driven site selection modeling will help identify where your next success story will be told – and it will also help you avoid the missteps and misdirection that can lead to failure.
Click here today to schedule a free retail site selection consultation with Open Door Data.
