| Location! Location! Location! We have been told time and again the value of good location in our businesses. However, there are only a few reference materials teaching us how to choose a good location. Most of the materials are even too general to come up with a good idea on how we can position our businesses to be near our target market. This article will provide you an overview on how to pick ideal locations for your business. It doesn't matter if your business is a food cart or a stand alone shop, this article will outline the details of how you can choose locations that maximize the flow of traffic for your business. There are several things to consider when looking for a good location for your business. These are: 1. Target Market - your store should be close to your target market. Have an idea on their buying habits and purchasing power. Do they have cars whenever they travel? Or can they access your store even if they walk? When does foot traffic increase? 2. Trade Area - an area is where most commercial activities happen. A particular location may have more than one trade area. They may overlap one another but different activities happen in different trade areas. 3. Traffic Generators - the reason why most people are going in the trade areas are because of traffic generators. These places may be malls, schools, places of worship, parks, etc. 4. Convergence Points - this where most foot traffic occurs. It may be the entrance of exit of malls, near pedestrian crossings or even terminals. The important thing to consider is to know why your target market is there. 5. Traffic Count - when you have identified the four points and you already have an idea where the ideal location is, the next important thing is to conduct a traffic count. The traffic count gives you an estimate on how many people will be going in your store; this is defined as the capture rate. In the following articles, we will discuss in-depth how each one works and how you can effectively pin point good locations for your store. |
| Entrepreneurship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||
