Find a Good Location
In the world of business and marketing it is very important to consider and find a good location for your company in order to create traffic in the store. Throughout this blog I will talk about the different retail locations and how they will help companies to increase their sales.
On 1950’s people started to build malls in order to locate different stores and facilitate people’s access to them. On 1970’s the Factory Outlet Centers started to appear. On 1980’s appeared the Power Centers which are the Big Box Stores. The lifestyle centers were constructed on the 1990’s and they were good because nowadays people do not have time for walking in a mall (McGraw-Hill, 2007).
There are many options where a store could be located but in order to be successful they should analyze and decide which option is the best for them. They could be situated on shopping centers which could be strip shopping centers that have big stores that drop people in, shopping malls, outlet malls, lifestyle centers, or superregional which have three or more anchor tenants. They could also locate on the city or town, on free standing sites like outparcels, or in another location (McGraw-Hill, 2007).
There are advantages and disadvantages that should be considered. Locating in a mall is good because it is a source of entertainment and recreation where people will be protected against the weather and they will be secure. But as it is good, locating in a mall could be bad because there is a lot of competition, the mall rent is high, the mall controls when you are open and close.
By locating in a city or town the store will be located in a nicer place. The problem with this location is that it could be insecure and that the store sales will depend on the traffic of that place. If a company decides to locate their store on a free standing site they could think of an outparcel which is in front of a strip center but it is alone. These locations are very expensive because they attract many people without being in a Shopping Center, an example of an outparcel is Walgreens. There is also the option of locating in an airport which is a great location for a store or inside a store like Subway in Walmart.
The most expensive stores in the world are located in really expensive streets such as the Fifth Avenue in New York were the cost per square foot is $1500, also Bond Street in London were the cost per square foot is $860, and the Avenue Montaigne in Paris were the cost per square foot is $660.
Finally before choosing the location for your store it is important to consider a place where your store could have visibility from the street, a site where there is traffic flow, you should choose a place that has parking available, the address should be recognizable so your customers could find it, and very important it should be a location that fits with your target market. In conclusion, the success of a store depends on where it is located.
