Welcome
to Retail GIS Test Field Web !
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| Retail location and forcasting problems | Location
is often considered the most important factor to the success of a business.
It is through the location that goods and services are made available to
customers. Good locations allow ready access, attract large numbers of
customers, and increase the potential sales of retail outlets. Location
can be a key in keeping operating costs low and accessibility high. Birkin and Clark summarised the retail business strategies into four Ps: product, price, promotion and place. Among these they think that place is "central to successful growth strategies." In the intense competition of the retail business, products can be duplicated, prices can be matched, promotion can be imitated, but the disadvantages of a poor location are difficult to overcome because site location is a long term fixed investment. Furthermore the failure of a retail store due to a poorly selected location will have a negative impact on the corporation�s image. Therefore as Birkin et al have argued "detailed analysis at the local level demonstrates that market share is significantly determined by the location of outlets with respect to local market demand and to competitor locations." (Birkin, Clark, et al, 1996, pp. 7) Although the importance of a good location is obvious, finding such a good location is not simple. It requires experience, detailed analysis, trial and error. Otherwise it may lead to false judgements and conclusions resulting a poor store location. |
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| GIS is repeatedly identified as a "hot" information technology sector with apparently unlimited growth potential (eg. US News and World Report, 1995). The business community is rapidly becoming one of the largest users of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Frost and Sullivan (1994) estimated an annual compound growth rate of 21% through 1999, while the business planning segment is currently the fastest growing share of the GIS market. Industry analysts predict that GIS will be as commonly used as word processing and spreadsheets in a wide range of business applications. | GIS For Retail Problems | ||||||||||||||||
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| GIS and Business Mapping Softwares | Because
GIS�s potential value to business and therefore to GIS development companies,
there are quite a few Business GIS packages developed in recent years. Arc/Info - Arc/Info is
a GIS for storing, analysing, managing, and sipalying opologically structured
geographic data. The ARC subsystem, developed by ESRI, stores cartographic
data, while a commercial relational database management system - such as
Oracle, Ingres, Informix, or Sybase - stores attribute data. The Arc/Info
system was developed as a generic GIS that could be applied to any geoprocessing
task. The Arc/Info network extensions support the analysis of a network
of linear features. Network analysis models the flow of resources, such
as vehicles, through connected linear networks, such as streets. This pakage
can also perform goecoding, the process of linking address informaiton
to a street network. |
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