Retail Market Analysis - What is Retail Market Analysis?

Retail market analysis seeks to identify market trends in local and regional retail sectors using detailed demographic and retail sales data on local communities. The goal of the program is to provide relevant information and analysis that can be used as input into economic development strategies for local communities. The final product is a retail market analysis report that contains the following components:
  • Economic and Demographic and Trend Analysis. Data from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses (including the 2005 updates) are used to describe the current and past characteristics of the local population, including trends in selected population, income, housing, commuting, and employment characteristics.
  • Delineation of Local Retail Trade Area and Competing Areas. Input from community members and population and retail sales data are combined in a geographic analysis using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify the boundaries of the local community’s retail trade area. In addition, this technique is used to identify the competing trade centers and their respective trade area boundaries. Annual retail sales from 2005 are reported for the local trade area and neighboring trade areas by specific retail sector.
  • Retail Surplus/Leakage Estimation. 2005 data on retail sales is used to calculate the degree of surplus or leakage of retail dollars within specific retail sectors for the local trade area. This analysis helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of specific retail sectors within a community by illustrating where consumers are spending their money within the region.
  • Other Products. Communities may choose among several different products, depending on the level of analysis in which they are interested. Products can be customized depending on the goals of the community. Two examples of tailored products are neighborhood-level retail analysis and cross-state community retail comparison.

This program is targeted at Ohio communities that are located in rural or exurban areas and that have a population of 25,000 or less. Participation in the program requires a community taskforce and taskforce coordinator, who is responsible for coordinating meetings, gathering input for the trade area analysis, communicating the results to the community, and integrating the results with the community’s overall economic development plan.