The purpose of this paper was to describe the technique so that community leaders involved with Main Street, the Chamber of Commerce, a merchant s coalition, an economic development committee, or a planning commission might be able to conduct a sales gap analysis on their own. Data requirements were given and ideas for locating the necessary data were discussed. Sample worksheets for calculating gap coefficients were also included. It does not indicate why the leakage is occurring, whether or not the leakage is desirable or acceptable, or how to stop the leakage from occurring. In fact, these questions can only really be answered by the community itself.
Gap analysis provides a starting point only.
In order to be valuable, the information must be used to stimulate further discussion, to devise appropriate strategies for action, and to evaluate the progress of these strategies over time. Stop the sales gap with a downtown retail analysis . Downtown IdeaExchange, 3. A workbook for downtown business development. This publication was originally published 5-00.