Store Characteristics
There are two major categories of site characteristics that can influence the performance of your points of sale; those that you can control and those you can’t. You can definitely control the number of square feet, the lighting, the arrangement and display of your products and the kind of inventory. You unfortunately cannot control the degree of urban development in the vicinity of your site, accessibility, public transit, etc.
If a sub-group of your points of sales is located in very analogous socio-economic environments and the management teams have similar skills, but their performances differ, the only explanation can be the characteristics of the sites. In the event that you aren’t aware of these characteristics, Indicia can help you develop methods to quickly and economically collect this data.
Knowledge of the characteristics that impact upon your sales enables you to optimize the performance of your current sites, to better orient decision making when leases come up for renewal and to ensure that new sites will not suffer from the negative effects of any characteristics that have now been determined as detrimental.
One low cost and time effective strategy is to use online survey management tools. Once developed, the survey can be sent to store managers by email and their answers are automatically compiled in a database.
Fax-based surveys or on-site visits are also possible.
Store Characteristics
• Year built
• Year opened
• Year renovated
• Square footage
• Selling square footage
• Banner size
• Windows in the front
• Advertising space on exterior store walls
• Pylon or large exterior sign
• Parking spaces devoted to store
• Interior lighting
• Interior configuration
• Number of departments, number of SKUs
• Number of out-of-stock items
• Annual inventory turnover rate
Neighbourhood Characteristics
• Mainly residential, commercial or industrial
• Near major roads or is a local enclave
• New development, established community, run down, or in redevelopment
Site Accessibility
• Access; turn left, turn right, lights, number of entrances
• Serviced by public transit? Bus, metro, train
• Traffic count on main and secondary roads
• Street level, above ground, underground
• Distance from street
• Visibility from street
• Speed limit on main road servicing the store
• Corner lot
• Left turn or U-turn permitted
• One-way street
• Elevation from ground
Mall Characteristics
• Stand alone, strip mall, local mall, regional mall
• Anchor tenants
• Traffic generators
• Number of boutiques
• Number of levels
• Total parking spaces
• Total acreage of property
• Rank compared to surrounding properties (AAA down to CC)
• Year built