Laserfiche WebLink
) <br /> ) <br /> ) <br /> io <br /> ) STEP 6. WHAT ARE CURRENT RETAIL SALES IN THE TRADE <br /> AREA? <br /> ) <br /> MEASURING RETAIL SALES <br /> A major indicator of market strength is retail sales patterns.This section contains two ways to <br /> analyze retail sales.The first exercise,retail sales per household,helps the team to compare the <br /> retail sales for the trade area to those of the state as a whole.This helps to begin to put local retail <br /> ) sales in perspective and to identify strengths and weaknesses.The second exercise,retail sales <br /> ) trends,enables the team to identify sales increases or decreases over time for specific categories <br /> of goods. <br /> ) <br /> Note that although this section refers to retail sales,most business districts are a mix of retail and <br /> services.Depending on the local business mix the team may want to include a wide range of both <br /> retail and service businesses in their analysis.See the Census sources below. <br /> In large shopping centers cash registers in each store are linked to the mall management office, <br /> so that the sales performance of each tenant can be tracked.Because downtown is a collection <br /> ) of independent businesses,this data resource is not available,but there are other resources that <br /> can be used to complete a retail sales analysis. <br /> ) 0 <br /> There are four major sources of information about local retail sales: <br /> • Sales tax reports.In states that collect sales tax,reports of sales by types of businesses are <br /> often available locally on a regular basis. <br /> • Census of Retail Trade and the Census of Service Industries,both published by the U.S. <br /> 4 government,Department of Commerce(See Sources). <br /> • Retailers.A few communities have been able to work with retailers to anonymously report <br /> their sales to a local accounting firm,who then produced periodic reports that enabled the <br /> downtown association to track sales trends. <br /> 4 • Estimates by national companies.Companies like Sales and Marketing Management(see <br /> Sources) and a number of large data firms publish annual estimates of retail sales for <br /> metropolitan areas. <br /> 4 <br /> 4 <br /> Z <br /> 4 <br /> 4 <br /> J <br /> _ •4 <br /> 4 STEP BY STEP MARKET ANALYSIS-25 <br /> 4 <br /> 4 <br />