Now that you have seen trade area basics of how they are created, how can you effectively use them? Remember that trade areas are a subjective thing that can be adjusted on the fly when new data is presented to the equation. So lets start adding more data to see if our trade area approach works. Trade Area Basics We had a client project that fit this sample set perfectly. We started from a location list of over 300 stores…
Step three of our example set continues on with Trade Areas. We will focus on the art of designing a potential trade area based on multiple variables. Straight distance or a radius, drive times, mental barriers and taking into account other locations. The Trade Area We take the best of all variables and draw what the typical pattern would be for someone to get to your site. Most importantly including number of other locations someone could go to. Radius and…
Step two in our Trade Area Basics is the Drive Time. The Drive Time takes a center point or site and runs through a road network to find acceptable routes a driver can traverse within set times. The Drive Time Basically this is done by accessing road type and an associated speed for each road segment. The software estimates out the area one could travel at assumed posted speeds. Also the model typically does not include for any time stopped…