Another good site is one between a major parking area and a department store. A retailer dealing in shopping goods can have a much wider trading area. Without a heavily trafficked location this more expensive type of store can generate its own traffic. In this case, a location with low traffic density but easy accessibility from a residential area is a satisfactory site. The consumer buys these goods infrequently and deliberately plans these purchases.
Consumers are willing to travel some distance to make shopping comparisons.
If you offer shopping goods, however, you should not locate too far away from your potential customers. One study of a discount department store showed that 79.6 percent of the shoppers lived within five miles of the store and another 16.1 percent lived within a ten-mile radius. The magnitude of the trading area for a shopping goods store can be determined by a customer survey, automobile license checks, sales slips, charge account records, store deliveries, and the extent of local newspaper circulation. Specialty goods usually mean high unit price, although price is not a purchase consideration, bought infrequently, requires a special effort on the part of the customer to make the purchase, no substitutes considered, and sold in exclusively franchised outlets. Stores catering to this type of consumer may use isolated locations because they generate their own consumer traffic.