Abstract

A Race without a Course
Track: Business and Commercial
Authors: Kevin Gerads, Alberto Mendez

GIS has provided the tools to methodically create a national retail rollout strategy in which we can provide answers though visual representations of abstract data. Our macro to micro approach is achievable due to the flexibility in scale GIS allows. We determine market suitability by quantifying the target audience using population and census/tapestry data, and locating competitors. Common tools and techniques used in this type of analysis are the geocoding tool, custom rank markets tool, spatial join tool, and spatial overlay tool. It is a creative, direct and simple process that yields great results.

We have found that when verified with local market knowledge, the results are overwhelmingly consistent.

Using GIS to map a clear route to retailer has been an exiting venture and we feel other will find his methodology useful in their practices as well.