MARKETING-II MINI PROJECT

A STUDY ON RETAIL LOCATION SELECTION ANALYSIS

(RETAIL MANAGEMENT)

SUBMITTED BY: BOOPATHY. V (3511010131) CAROLINE AMRITHA. D (3511010134) CAROLINE. J (3511010135) DEEPAK CHALISSERY (3511010157) DHINESH MARTIN.V (3511010173)

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TITLE INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVES FACTORS AND SUMMARY OF FACTORS COLLECTION OF DATA ANALYSIS OF DATA FINDINGS SUGGESTIONS CONCLUSION REFERENCE AND BIBLIOGRAPHY QUESTIONNAIRE

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1. INTRODUCTION
Deciding about firm expansion is just as hard and risky as placing up the individual business for the very first time. Venturing on new department requires a great deal of research, precision, and a scientific approach. Doing this manually, nevertheless, requires lots of time, money, and power expenditure to identify targets one by one. With the new development in technology called RETAIL LOCATION SELECTION ANALYSIS, one will be able to immediately get the knowledge. An elementary factor to think about in branching out is the location. Having to scout for preferred areas, it can take weeks as much as months. With growing web utilization, commercial real estate videos have turn out to be available. Commercial real estate videos can save a lot time that an entrepreneur couldnt afford to waste, because it will enable to instantly filter attainable locations to new web location as an alternative of having to check all areas one by one. Commercial real estate videos have become very helpful in narrowing the search results. After checking the situation by commercial real estate videos, it is must to identify the potential clients, competitors, and workers, among different things. With retail location selection analysis, all these data can be accessed through software or an internet platform. Though retail location selection analysis is kind of costly, it can be a sensible add- on to the enterprise. This scientific method, retail location selection analysis provides you a marketing edge. It offers web location demographics, census and traits to observe development patterns. It provides an in- depth evaluation of market potential and demands to help determine which areas to penetrate. Retail location selection analysis aids in creating mapping analysis and entry buyer profiles, providing with a total concept of their buying habits, thus simplifying marketing strategies. Simply take into consideration an internet survey whereby data from hundred persons is collected. The concept is identical with retail location selection analysis, as only potential consumers are targeted.

Though it cannot be exactly considered as a necessity, retail location selection analysis can be extremely helpful to the growing business to keep away from incurring losses and to simplify tasks, allowing interaction among different business and associated activities. Location of retail store plays an important role compared to other business units. Manufacturers decide the location on the basis of availability of factors of productions and market. Similarly, retailers consider factors like potential demand, supply of merchandise and store image-related factors in locating the retail outlet. The number of operation units in retail is the highest compared to other constituents of the value chain, primarily to meet the needs for geographic reach and customer accessibility.

2. OBJECTIVES
There are certain objectives to be established through this study on RETAIL LOCATION SELECTION ANALYSIS. 1) To identify the factors affecting location selection. 2) To give a brief study on location selection factors. 3) To obtain the customers view about various characteristics of the retail stores and its location.

3. FACTORS AND SUMMARY OF THE FACTORS

With the advent of new retail formats in India such as planned shopping centers and malls, emergence of free-standing department stores, hypermarkets, etc., and further development of traditional business districts and other unplanned shopping locations, a retailer is presented with a wider choice of locations. Consideration of all the options keeping in view the product mix, customer profile and overall business model presents an enormous challenge. A retailer has to consider the following factors while selecting a site: 1. Kind of products sold 2. Cost factor 3. Competitors location 4. Ease of traffic flow and accessibility 5. Parking and major thoroughfares 6. Market trends 7. Visibility The above mentioned factors are briefly explained below: 1. Kind of Products Sold For stores dealing in convenience goods, the quantity of traffic is most important. The corner of an intersection, which offers two distinct traffic streams and a large window display area, is usually a better site than the middle of a block. Convenience goods are often purchased on impulse from easily accessible stores. For stores dealing in shopping goods, the quality of the traffic is more important. 2. Cost Factor in Location Decision Location decision on cost considerations alone is risky. Space cost is a combination of rent or mortgage payment, utilities, leasehold improvements, general decoration, security, insurance and all related costs having a place to conduct business operations. Traditionally, the retail community placed great importance on owning the place since this was considered prestigious in the business community. However, there are many periodic retail markets in Indian which operate on particular days of the week. The 6

retailers operating in these periodic markets keep shifting from place to place and do not own any property; instead they pay a small rental for their set-up in each market. This supports their model of selling goods at very low margins. 3. Competitors Location The type and number of competitors is another important factor. The presence of major retail centres, industrial parks, franchisee chains and department stores should be noted. Intense competition in the area shows that new businesses will have to divide the market with existing businesses. If one is not able to offer better quality and competitively priced products, one might reconsider that particular location. An excellent location may be next or close to parallel or complementary businesses that will help to attract customers. 4. Ease of Traffic Flow and Accessibility These two factors are more important to some businesses than others. Consider the nature of the business you are planning to open and your potential customers. Retailers selling convenience goods must attract business from the existing flow of traffic. Studying the flow of traffic, noting one-way streets, street widths and parking lots, is hence important. The following factors have to be considered: parking availability, distance from residential areas or other business areas, traffic congestion, side of street, width of street, part of the block and neighbors. Evaluate how accessible the site is for walk-in or drive-by traffic as well as the amount of pedestrian traffic and automobile traffic that goes by the proposed location. 5. Parking and Major Thoroughfares Parking is another site characteristic that is especially a cause for concern in densely populated areas. When evaluating the parking that exists at a retail site, there are two considerations: parking capacity (the number of cars that can be parked), and parking configuration (the way the parking lot is laid out, the direction of the travel lanes and spaces, landscaping, etc.). There are several ratios that are generally used to determine the adequacy of a parking lot. While different ratios exist for different types of retailers

or service providers, the ideal ratio for food stores is in the magnitude of 7-8 cars per 1,000 square feet of food store. 6. Market Trends Evaluate the community from a broad, futuristic perspective. Local newspapers are a good source of information. Discussions with business owners and officials in the area can also help. 7. Visibility Visibility has a varied impact on a stores sales potential. It is important when a shopper is trying to find the sore for the first or second time. Once the shopper has become a regular customer, visibility no longer matters. But consider this fact: one in five families moves every year, which means that some part of a communitys population may be shopping in a new store

4. COLLECTION OF DATA
Data is collected from various sources and a variety of methods or techniques are used in its collection. It may be from a secondary source or primary source. In case of latter, it could be census or survey, laboratory experiment or field experiment, open or hidden observation. Each method has pros and cons. When population is large, it is neither necessary nor advisable to cover each and every member but a sample would suffice. It is quicker, cheaper and, if well-designed, it can provide precise information about characteristics of the population. Methods of collection data depends upon (i) nature of problem, and (iii) time and money available. Mostly, data is collected through use of secondary source. If no such data is available from libraries or on the internet, one has to collect primary data for which a number of methods are available such as observations, in depth techniques, experiments and surveys. In this study data are collected from primary sources, say, people. The method adopted here is questionnaire. Questionnaire method: A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case. Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. Usually, a questionnaire consists of a number of questions that the respondent has to answer in a set format. A distinction is made between open-ended and closed-ended questions. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his own answer, whereas a closed-ended question has the respondent pick an answer from a given number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Again in this study close ended questions are included which consists of two to four options. 9

5. ANALYSIS OF DATA
The method of analysis adopted for this study is percentage analysis. It is one of the simplest methods to calculate the increase or decrease in percentage or number. Total no. of respondents=30 GENDER: Male: 17 Female: 13 In terms of percentage: Male: 56.6% Female: 43.3%

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Male Female Series1

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AGE GROUP: 16-21 years: 4 22-30 years: 9 30-35 years: 10 Above 35 years: 7 In terms of percentage: 16-21 years: 13% 22-30 years: 3% 30-35 years: 33% Above 35 years: 23%

35 30 25 20 Series1 15 10 5 0 16-21 yrs 22-30 yrs 30-35 yrs above 35yrs

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PARKING FACILITIES NEEDED: Yes: 21 No: 9 In terms of percentage: Yes: 70% No: 30%

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No Series1

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TRAFFIC A MAJOR PROBLEM? Yes: 24 No: 6 In terms of percentage: Yes: 80% No: 20%

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No Series1

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CUSTOMER LOYALTY: Yes: 19 No: 11 In terms of percentage: Yes: 63% No: 36.6%

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Y es No S e rie s 1

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NUMBER OF RETAIL STORES: Only 1: 6 2-4: 14 More than 4: 10 In terms of percentage: Only 1: 20% 2-4: 46.6% More than 4: 33.3%

50 40 30 20 10 0 only 1 2 to 4 more than 4 Series1

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6. FINDINGS
From the total respondents of 30 people, the information regarding the main aspects like where and how they want their stores to be located are analysed. Following are the approximate results of the study made on location selection analysis. People belonging to the age group of 30 - 35 years make more purchases, say 33% Parking facilities are expected by 70% which is considered as an important issue. Another important issue sorted out in this study is traffic. 80% of the respondents felt this as a major issue. Customer loyalty is the biggest challenge again here. Nearly 63% people stay loyal to their stores. Number retail shops: For the population of 46% there exist 2 4 shops. For 33.3%, more than 4 shops exist.

7. SUGGESTIONS
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Based on the study done and after analysing the findings, certain suggestions can be proposed here. Analysing the age groups and also the male and female numbers, the stores can concentrate on the goods they sell. In order to attract more young customers and female customers they can have a research on their purchasing styles. Parking facility is the must in all stores which are located in the main area of the city or where ever. Because of growing population the number of vehicles usage also increases gradually. So parking facilities should be taken care of. Even if the space in front of stores is not available underground parking should be arranged. All these should be planned before the commencement of store. Traffic problem cannot be dealt by the stores. But still it is in the hands of the stores management to be capable enough to make their customers to stay with them. Customer loyalty is the major issue. In the scenario of the growing competition, making the customers to stay loyal is challenging task. So the stores management should keep improving their customer satisfaction methodologies. Also they must be ready to face any sudden and new competitors. As the population increases their needs also increases, so retails stores also increased in number. But not all the stores are successful. So stores should be always ready to counter attack any problem they arise suddenly.

8. CONCLUSION
Thus the study on RETAIL LOCATION SELECTION ANALYSIS is done and the suggestions are also made based on the findings.

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From this study it is clear that simple approach to successful store location consists the following: know who the specific retail customer is, know where they live, locate in a position to capture their sales. Nowadays technology is used to analyse the retail locations. Site selection technology isn't just about choosing real estate anymore. It's about creating targeted marketing, managing consolidation, valuing customers and even determining merchandise mix. Sure, the technology still does wonders for finding and choosing greenfield sites. But faster computers that can now crunch more complex data let retailers and retail real estate companies fine-tune merchandising and store management long after a site is selected.

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCE The sites referred are: www.mappinganalytics.com www.retailstudy.com 18

www.6articles.com www.retailtrafficmag.com

QUESTIONNAIRE
The following questionnaire is for the study of RETAIL LOCATION SELECTION ANALYSIS. 1) Tick the appropriate choice:

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A) Gender: Male Female B) Age group: 16-21 22-30 30-35 Above 35 2) How often you purchase goods in a month? a) once a) yes a) yes a) yes a) yes a) yes a) yes b) twice b) no b) no b) no b) no b) no b) no c) thrice 3) Do you expect good parking facilities in stores? 4) Do you want the stores to exist very close to your residence? 5) Is it must for retail stores to have convenience goods(soaps,newspaper,etc)? 6) Do you want the items and their rates to be displayed on boards in shops? 7) Do you think customer feedback really help the stores to improve? 8) Do you mind heavy traffic on the way to your favourite store? 9) Will you remain loyal to your favourite store if some other competitor offers better prices and quality goods? a) yes a) only 1 b) no b) 2-4 c) more than 4 10) How many retail stores are present in your area?

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