Attention retailers/restaurateurs/operators and executives of other chain businesses: have you ever received an email like this before:

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Market Data, Retail Industry, Restaurant Industry, Data Quality

Throughout our many years in retail real estate research, we’ve heard businesses of all types simplify the assessment of their business’s trade area. So often, we hear economic developers and retailers describe their trade area as a certain-mile radius around a site, but in reality, there are many different ways to delineate a trade area.

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Retail Trade Area, Real Estate Analytics Tool, Analyzing Retail Sites

If you’re going to the effort of analyzing new retail sites, you should do the same due diligence when evaluating your existing store base. Your goal, after all, is to maximize the ROI of your store/location portfolio. And that involves being strategic about how you run your business. 

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Retail Industry

SiteSeer's Look at the U.S. Cities with the Biggest Increase in Youth Population

If you’re a business that serves families with children, you’ve probably wondered: what areas in the United States are seeing the biggest increase in children? For our latest data study, we decided to take a look.

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Market Data, Data Study, Population Study, Retail Industry

In August, we wrote a blog about how market research has changed over time—and there’s no question that it’s quite a lot. But as the saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Technology and the evolution of the digital era have definitely made their mark on the retail industry—and retail research. But there are many things about retail research that were true 25+ years ago and remain true today. Here are a few of the most notable:

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Market Research, Retail Industry, Landlord Rep Brokers & Owners Industry, Tenant Rep Brokers & Developers Industry, Data Quality

Like many industries, the fate of retail was significantly altered when the World Wide Web was launched in 1991. Certainly, the retail industry has evolved for centuries prior…

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Market Research, Retail Industry, Data Quality

In the early days of chain retail expansion, developers would choose sites convenient to where their customers live, work, and shop and hope that sales and profitability would follow.

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Model Builder, Retail Industry, Retail Site Selection, Analyzing Retail Sites

If you’re in the business of retail development—whether you work in a retailer or other chain’s in-house real estate or research team or are a broker or developer trying to fill your shopping centers with solid, long-term tenants—it’s not enough to collect data. You want the best possible data that gives you accurate information upon which to make decisions.

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Demographic Data, Data Partner, Retail Industry, Data Quality

When you’re opening a new business or expanding an existing one, there are a lot of decisions to make, but perhaps none is more important than choosing the right location. A bad location could mean the difference between success and failure and a mediocre location could mean you’re leaving thousands—or even millions—of dollars on the table every week.

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Retail Trade Area, Retail Industry, Franchise & Services Industry, Retail Site Selection

All it takes is a quick Google search of “retailers closing” to discover news story after news story about retail chains large and small experiencing shrinking sales and closing locations. Yes, big chains like Macy’s, JCPenney, Sears/Kmart, Payless ShoeSource, and others have been shuttering stores. Some analysts and journalists have dubbed the last few years the “retailpocalypse” and are actively predicting the demise of brick-and-mortar retail. But is retail dying?  Let’s look at some of the reasons behind recent store closures to accurately answer that question.

Topics: Retail Data Analysis, Improving Store Locations, Omnichannel Retail, Bricks and Mortar Retail, Retail Industry